A few of my collegues have privately discussed their pay rates. (Forbidden I know.) They have offered me to know as well but I feel like if I know my rate is lower or on par with most of them, I would feel demotivated and would have harder time doing the specialized position I do. If it was higher than most of my colleagues and they would know, I feel like they would be more sensitive to the portion of work hours I tend to not focus on work related stuff and I would feel more watched. I have nevertheless agreed for a snip of a information and was let known our boss is telling everyone in private they make more than most of the team, which has proven to be straight out lie after they figured each other’s rates. Even the one making the lowest has been told she can not get a too big of a rise, because she is “making almost the most” or “is rated high compared to the team”.
I am not going to be disclosing this to my superior as it would only bring suffering and possibly discharge of me and my colleagues but I wonder, is this something that is normally practiced but not obvious? If you had a team of people and had decades of experience (but was not the business owner) do you think you would do the same or similar?