Salaries Are In The Open New websites let employees share pay rates; employers should take heed.

E-mail marketing firm iContact is open about its financials--except for salaries.

Co-founder and CEO Ryan Allis, 24, thinks disclosing salaries would be a huge distraction for the Durham, North Carolina, company's 140 employees and would eliminate management's advantage in the salary negotiation process. "Certainly for us, it would not be a good thing," he says. "It's fraught with the potential for difficulty."

He's not alone: Most U.S. companies remain secretive about salaries. But the secrets are leaking out via websites like Glassdoor.com, PayScale.com and SalaryScout.com, which let people post their salaries and learn what co-workers and competitors earn.