[Superman]

This is an area in which I have had an interest for more than twenty years, and in which I have done substantial research and consulting. In my always-humble opinion, companies that make compensation decisions willy-nilly, and companies who attempt to conceal compensation analysis and salary range work product are asking for trouble.

Every large company worth it's salt conducts compensation analysis research, and should share some of that information with staff. First, it is widely understood that a conscious decision to pay staff at the lower end of the range of salaries for comparable positions elsewhere results in that company attracting and retaining the poorest of talent within the available labor pool.

But even more devastating is workers' perceptions of pay inequity, and particularly where perceptions are formed through guesswork because the company prefers to conceal that information. We all know that one of the most effective ways of torpedoing productivity is to permit workers to develop the perception they are being cheated. Workers will adjust their productivity/loyalty levels to match their perceptions of equity or pay fairness. From my perspective, there are few things that more effectively cause poor corporate performance than screwing up this compensation analysis strategy thing. In fact, it is my opinion that there is no better way to screw up a company's performance than this. This is the number one way, IMHO.