What if everyone’s salary were public?
Your boss, your neighbour and your ex can all look up exactly what you earn. And you can look them up too.
Monday morning, day one. Everyone is looking at the same website, and nobody is working.
15%chance it
ever happens
15%chance this ever happens
Could it actually happen?
This one is already half real. In Norway anyone can look up anyone else’s income and tax, and people have done it for generations. A new EU law makes companies put the pay range in job ads and lets staff ask what colleagues in the same role earn. Making every payslip public everywhere is a big step further, but it is a step countries are already taking.
Launch day
A government website goes live at midnight. By breakfast it has crashed twice, and by lunch the whole office knows that the quiet guy in accounts earns more than the manager.
The first three searches are nearly always the same: the boss, the best friend and the ex.
The first pay round
Asking for a raise gets easier. It is hard to argue with someone who walks in holding a printout of what their colleague earns. Companies rush to fix the worst gaps before anyone else finds them, especially the ones between men and women doing the same job.
It stays awkward, though. Family dinners now include a round of comments about who earns what, and some friendships don’t survive it.
Ten years on
Children grow up thinking salaries are as public as football scores, and can’t understand why they were ever a secret.
The search site shows you who has looked you up, the way Norway’s does. Checking that list becomes a small weekly habit, a bit like checking your likes.
Who wins
- People who were underpaidThey finally have proof, and a number to ask for.
- Women doing the same job as menAn unfair gap is much harder to hide when anyone can check it.
- Job huntersNo more guessing what a job pays until the third interview.
Who loses
- Bosses who paid by moodEvery odd decision now has an audience.
- The colleague who earns the mostExpect a lot of questions at the coffee machine.
- Anyone who exaggeratedYour cousin knows exactly what you make, whatever you said at Christmas.
- PrivacyYour income becomes about as private as your height.
The catch
Knowing what everyone earns doesn’t make anyone earn more. It just means the next argument about money starts with real numbers instead of guesses.
Would you want your salary to be public?
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