Employers, it’s time for us to think differently about salary transparency and pay equity. As we enter into one of the busiest hiring times of the year, consider including salary information on your company’s job descriptions. Here’s why:
Without an intentional approach to salary equity and transparency, your pay structure is almost certainly perpetuating racial inequity in your workplace.* By sharing salary information up front, you are making your commitment to pay transparency known. Pay transparency is the first step to achieving pay equity. Once you see (and show) salaries across positions, you can begin to identify where inequities are showing up and take steps toward mitigating them. *If you don’t have an intentional policy set around salary equity and think that you don’t need one, I’d urge you to test your theory by conducting a compensation study at your organization.
Salary negotiations and anchoring on previous salary perpetuate systemic racism. The negotiation process is fraught with bias and racial inequity. Women and particular BIPOC women are often penalized socially and financially by potential employers when they try to negotiate salary. And because pay inequity is so prevalent, anchoring on previous pay only furthers perpetuates the pay gap. By sharing salary up front, you can reduce or even eliminate the need for salary negotiations, and help disrupt the pattern of pay inequity.
It will strengthen your candidates’ experience. As a candidate, you’ve probably been there. That moment when you’ve gotten to the end of a time-intensive interview process, only to find that the salary is a dealbreaker. It’s a frustrating experience that can leave candidates with a not so great impression. What’s more is that because candidates are often penalized for asking about salary too early in the process, there is societal pressure to avoid the topic early on, leaving candidates in the dark from the get-go. As employers, we have the power and responsibility to disrupt this dynamic and let candidates know when we can and can’t meet them on salary requirements. And in our experience, you’re far more likely to get not just more candidates, but more aligned candidates when they know the salary up front.
As we navigate new ways of working in what has been a disruptive time, let us reexamine our practices to make changes that empower our employees and make our organizations more equitable. Committing to pay equity and salary transparency is one small way organizations can move beyond conversations to actions for equity.