Why is it soooo taboo to ask co-workers salary?

Because your boss won't pay the same salery for the same work. If you don't know that your Co worker earn 20% more than you...

I don't know, I have no problem telling people my salaray when asked. When I ask, people usually (evidently) lie or just don't reply.

@JackToolsNet may be! I'm was referring in general sense! In all working environments!

I have no clue why it is such a secret. I don't mind telling anybody, I mean since I'm a trainee it's very little so nothing to be jealous of.

BTW in Germany it's law that your employer has to tell you what somebody in the same position as you is earning if you ask.

@jonii that's a great law!

Because your boss knows its easier to fuck someone over when won't compare paychecks.

@achintyakumar this what I was talking about! These aren't lawful!

IMO I think a lot of people are misguided about what 'the same work' is. Is one thing to produce the same end result, but another to be proficient and efficient at doing so and being competent enough to support others in doing the same

I would share my salary with friends, but not with colleagues.

I see some companies choose to publish salary ranges for positions and I think this is much better than legislation saying that they have to disclose when asked. I'm going to guess that some people at the lower end of the pay scale benefit less from this as a) they may be less inclined to ask management and b) knowing is not the same as negotiating your own salary.

@cha-m-ra Yeah there's no contractual basis for this - it is unenforceable. You could theoretically still be disciplined for discussing pay *unless* you think there's some kind of systematic unfair pay issue in the company.

It's not a taboo where i work

I think in general it's better not to disclose your salary. The salary should be a personal thing based on your abilities, performance and work behavior.
Comparing your salary with other coworkers might stir up some negative feelings, because people get easily pissed off if they think their coworker earns more for the "same" job. But actuall they may not do the same job or have the same performance and diligence.
I think some of this also applies to women who complain about earning less. Of course in some specific areas, where men and women do EXACTLY the same job, there may be some companies that may pay women less, but a lot of studies about this subject forget about different factors.
Men and women are biologigally and emotionally not exactly equal which leads to the different preferences, habits, strength and performance in different jobs.
I don't want to live in a hypersocialist world where everybody earns exactly the same despite different performance, efficiency, intelligence, etc.bIt would be rather unfair

@achintyakumar Oh for sure, it's not illegal and it can't be a breach of employment contract either. It is a disciplinable offence except under specific circumstances.

I'm not convinced this could be protected under an NDA, as who is this information confidential to? The employer also shares the information with other parties (e.g. governments for tax purposes) and they aren't under NDA.

@PonySlaystation this not about every having same amount of salary! It's just why it's sooo unsocilazied!

@Jakuho good an its should be like that everywhere

@cha-m-ra true 😅

I personally have no issue talking about it, and up until recently it was actually legal for companies to prevent you from doing so - this is no longer the case in the U.K., it’s actually illegal for companies to prevent you from talking about it or even reprimanding you for doing so.

It really does come down to the fact that Salary is a highly personal, and negotiable thing, and ultimately they’re only going to pay what they can get away with.

It upsets the apple cart when staff start discussing these things, you only have to look at the stink Google kicked up when their staff started discussing and comparing salary.

@cha-m-ra yes, i mean we find it normal to have differents salary depending on everything

@Jakuho we shouldn't be ashamed of what we make! If we want more we should work harder or start our own business!

@Brolls companies are doing this so that employees don't get organized and ask for more money!

@PonySlaystation
by the way, I get your point 😌 I get involved in exactly that discussion with people (mostly women) frequently, and I am all for equal pay for the same work, but I can't see how you are going to measure "same work" in most cases. Its like asking, how much is this piece of bread worth? There is no law how much a bread should cost or even that all bread should cost the same, because the value of something depends on EVERYTHING it relates to. so the value of bread is that what people pay for it and the same goes for work. and if you are waiting for a law to force your employer what you think you deserve, then you will never get as much as the person who just says "pay me more, or im out of here!"

@PonySlaystation what you say would be fine if everybody was on equal understanding about the value of their time. If someone grows up poor but has the same skills as someone who grows up rich you shouldn’t pay the person who grew up poor less just because that person had less in the past and feels differently about time.

@jeeper
if a person is offering the same work for less money, then thats their responibility. the responisbility of the law is to ensure that everyone knows what other people earn, so that you can get the relations right.

@jeeper I do think that somebody who grew up poor should earn the same amount as somebody with the same skills but grew up rich. But there are other factors besides skills, for example how is the person's motivation and contribution to a healthy work spirit and how the employee sells himself/herself.
Poor or rich should not influence the payment at all.
(All point only concern if both are working at the same company)
Obviously we cant compare salaries across countries.