> I didn't down vote, but the comment would be better if it were expanded with some details about why he thinks people who are good at their jobs should avoid open salary workplaces.

I've tried a handful of different ways to explain this (before backspacing out this comment box and trying again), but here's the best I can come up with:

You always have the ability to negotiate for higher pay. If you've spent much of your life in different workplaces, you'll probably know that people (generally) think they deserve raises for reasons other than those that make sense. Those can include:

* Poor personal money management

* Poor life decisions leading to more money needed

* Number of years spent with the company

* Number of hours worked each week

* How busy they appear to be

* How much they think they get done

* How much more work they think they do than they did last year

* How much more work they think they do than their peers

* and more

None of those things really matter, though. Factors that actually matter include:

* How much other employers will pay for your skillset

* How likely you are to leave

* How much it would cost to replace you

This is important because the people actually running the business have to understand this, but the rest of the employees don't. As a high performer, you'll be negotiating a raise based on those factors that actually matter and your boss (hopefully) understands that. You don't want to put him in a situation where he can (or has to) fall back on how the rest of the company will feel about your pay, because they don't necessarily weigh the correct factors in deciding whether or not you "deserve" it.