I was active duty army for 10 years. I knew I was living in a different world, but it didn’t hit me until I started working in a proper civilian organization. Suddenly, payroll discussions were top secret – no joke. Why? What is there to hide?

For those with no government experience, payroll is quite hum drum. Especially in the army. I wore how much I made on my chest – our rank was the major factor in what we made. Compared to the military, the civilian sector is utterly dysfunctional. A mess of unintended bias, clandestine operations, and inconsistency, it hardly resembles anything fair, decent, or respectable. And the reason is simple: we don’t value people, only the economic value they provide from the perspective of those in charge. The name says it all: Human Resources. It might as well say “cattle,” or “robots.” In the army, the pay scale is much flatter and transparent (for real, not the dishonest way business people use the term). It values the ones doing the fighting and dying by not over-valuing the generals making decisions behind desks.

So why is money a touchy subject? Because our pay system is screwed up beyond belief! And those who benefit from that gross inequality know it and are uncomfortable. And those taken advantage of are a little embarrassed and indignant at how poorly they are valued by society. And even looked down upon by their “betters.” To be clear: we need janitors. We need mechanics. We need people in restaurants and stores and receptionists of all sorts. These are the people I am grateful for. They make daily life work. And they deserve to be able to make a living doing it. How dare our society look down on them.

Utopia is a dream. It’s unrealistic. But that’s not what I’m working toward. How about we aim for a system like the military where the difference between generals and privates is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of millions. Let’s actually be transparent with pay in the name of eliminating inconsistency, cronyism, racism, or any other bias. We desperately need to restore the humanity in business.