Revealing to coworkers how much money you make has long been considered taboo, and sometimes even banned by HR departments eager to keep such salary discussions on a strictly “need to know” basis.

But amid renewed emphasis on pay equity in the workplace, including closing gender and racial wage gaps, ideas about what we should know about our colleagues’ salary are changing in ways that could benefit employees and employers alike, according to experts.

“Pay transparency is the future. There is no way of getting around it,” said David Turetsky, a compensation expert with Salary.com. “Some states are even codifying that by ensuring when a job is posted, the pay range for that job also gets listed.”