A friend of mine was telling me that their boss was complaining that people at their company have begun sharing salaries and it's causing too much angst. His argument was that if you accepted the salary, you clearly could live off of it, and wanting more was just greedy.

First time I've heard that perspective. Is this why companies don't want salary sharing?

Companies don't want salary sharing because it creates discontent between employees who believe that they are (rightly or wrongly) being unfairly compensated. If the organization has a strong compensation structure that employees understand and accept as being fair it will mitigate these feelings of discontent. Sadly, many companies don't have that strong, transparent comp culture so they rely on nobody openly knowing who makes what to manage discontent.

Make sure your friend knows that, in the US anyway, employees have the express right to discuss their pay with their coworkers. This is covered by the National Labor Relations Act.

Companies that have transparent compensation structures and share how they gather their market data to ensure they are within, or even above, market rates don't have this problem.

Greedy? Ok, you're paying me for a certain level of effort and output. Wanting more for the same pay is just greedy

This is the reverse of the discussion about cost of living raises. What I can live off of has no bearing on what a position's value is to a company. Maybe my grandparents gifted me a home and my car is paid for, that doesn't mean that a particular role isn't still worth $150k to whomever is successfully performing the role.

It's actually greedy for the company to not pay a fair wage to everyone in a particular role.

They don’t want people to share so they can get away paying some people less. I do think those days are fading because things like Glassdoor exist. The company can dislike it all they want but everyone has the right to do so.

I guess greed is only good when it's for shareholders. Wanting more money than you "need" to live isn't greedy. It's vacation. It's retirement. It's a wedding. It's moving from renting to owning a home. Maybe that's still greedy if you're a monk.

Your friend’s boss is just frustrated at losing his power in the comp negotiation game. In a free market capitalist economy like the US, that’s how any player wins.
I frequently remind an IT services company owner (that I mentor) that free market economy works both ways. A company can use market intelligence to hire and fire employees and so can employees.
And more employees should use that power to balance the tremendous inequity that has spread within the system - rewards are heavily weighted towards the capital owners (shareholders) compared to the labor owners (employees).

That’s rich for a boss- ‘greedy’? What? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Salary sharing raises class consciousness and gets employees organizing, like you described. Companies are terrified of that because it means they need pay people more and treat them fairly.

People should be fairly compensated. It has nothing to do with greed. We live in capitalist economy, making money is a virtue- unless your friend lives in a country where it’s not.

Just like you want to optimize cost when you are getting your house repaired or buying flight tickets, companies do the same. So minimize the cost. But if you have leverage such as unique skills or other offers, you can make a better case for yourself. Another reason is that most companies have large bands for a role. So your coworker makes more because they negotiated better and/or they are better performers. So they don’t want employees to make an argument around “A gets paid more than me, so pay me more”. Everyone cannot get paid the same for the same role , because everyone doesn’t have the same level of proficiency. That’s why not everyone gets promoted or move at the same pace. And that’s why we have bands. You can make a case for yourself based on your own merit. Or if you think you are discriminated against, you can follow the law. Finally if nothing works, find a job that pays you well. As long as people understand that when they hear someone making more, then it’s fine.

So your friend’s boss is wrong about argument part. But there are more nuances to it

If you don't give people a reason to complain, maybe they won't.

I treat my compensation as what I do and contribute. other peoples pay is not my business.

Accepting the salary just means you accepted it. Nothing more. It certainly doesn’t mean that the costs of living (or the scope of work) has stayed the same.

What a crybaby. The entire theory of capitalism is business tries to maximize value from a laborer’s efforts (for as cheaply as possible). It’s quite literally exploitation.

Sounds like a skills issue.

Today's workforce development often requires hiring people at higher salaries. Someone who has been with company five years finds out that some new hire was started at or close to their present salary is undoubtedly going to be antagonized by this. Besides being unprofessional, sharing salary information can erode commaraderie instantly. Even if the new hire brings a needed skill to the workforce.

Revealing salaries is generally against most companies policies, the manager should address the group as a whole and issue warnings to those who defied company policy. Sounds immature to me, are these young kids or just unprofessional types? If the boss complains but does nothing he' is a real lightweight and I'd think of working elsewhere

Even very small differences in salary for what is perceived to be the same position will definitely cause discontent in an organization. And people usually discover some large differences in salary for the "same position".

Invariably, the lower paid people will want raises. The department probably does not have budget for adequate raises. Managers do not want to deal with this problem.

It's fully transparent in states like California, New York, and Washington.

Well these days people need money to live on basically every aspect of life and people are going to discuss money. I seen someone said pay fair and no worries.

If the company fostered an open environment where pay ranges were known, and the company was not trying to be cheap. There would not be an issue. Employees talk, it's what they do; companies cannot stop that from happening.

when I hear someone complain that someone has a better salary i ask if they negotiated the salary they have and agreed to and accepted it?