Salary Transparency: Helpful or Harmful?

In our world today, almost everything is being exposed to the Internet, but imagine waking up one day to discover that everyone's salaries and monthly earnings are now exposed publicly. This means that your neighbors, enemies,friends , church members, etc. will know how much money you earn monthly, including a stranger; obviously that wouldn't sit well for many people, including me.

There are some decisions that, when you look at them at the surface, sound good, but think deeply into them and see the downside of them; this is one of them.

Transparency in this subject is a good idea, as it can expose hidden corruption going on today with many citizens and all the financial crimes going on in our country over the years. We can easily question the suspicious wealth accumulated by our top politicians and other public officials, including others living extravagant lifestyles not equal to what they do. Maybe this idea could reduce corruption and bring about accountability, but then, its downside can never be overlooked.

Let's forget about the government officials and look closely to our fellow citizens. Personally, I feel that exposing everyone's earnings publicly will only create more troubles than the solution we expect. Naturally, humans like to do comparisons with each other, and from experiences, it usually causes unnecessary pressure in our society. When colleagues discover the differences in their salaries, whereas they are putting the same effort into the same job, there could be envy, bitterness, evil thoughts, and the like.

The idea of exposing salaries publicly could become awkward too among friends and family members. Some people already know how to feel entitled, asking you for money they didn't give you to keep for them, simply because you guys are related, yet they have no idea how much you earn ; they believe you are rich. They also have no idea of your own personal challenges. Now imagine when they finally know your monthly salary, financial requests will be unimaginable, coming from diverse directions, and you could create enemies in the process because some people don't like to take NO as an answer; this will increase financial burdens, no doubt.

I have been there; people sometimes saw how my husband handled particular financial responsibility, and boom, more financial requests were flowing from extended families. We could barely breathe then; the pressure was much. Unknowingly to them, we were even managing but saw the need to give, but people nearly drained us both financially and emotionally.

What about the security aspect of this? It's risky in this kind of my country. If people notice you are wealthy, you might be kidnapped the next day, lol. We will also be at the risk of online scammers; in fact, the idea may end up creating golden opportunities for criminals, so it's a no-no.

Overall, not everything needs to be revealed in the public even with the few advantages of it. It may never make society a better place but rather make life more complicated.

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