Those paying attention will note that there are two things hidden in there, so let’s start with “publish salary ranges on job adverts”.
It’s really annoying to see an advert for an interesting role, click on the link and find either no salary information at all, a link to a pdf document full of meaningless salary scale codes or the words “competitive salary”.
Firstly, “competitive salary” is often code for “negotiations will be entered into”. Large scale negotiation in terms of salary contributes to gender and ethnicity pay gaps (because western society still tends to view white males who negotiate more positively than women and particularly women of colour, and white males may be more confident in negotiating), adds a barrier to qualified candidates who would bring value in terms of different perspectives and experiences but who don’t have insider knowledge of the industry, and puts off those less confident in interview situations.
Secondly, you risk wasting your time, and potential applicants time, if their expectations don’t match what is on offer and this isn’t clear from the start. Personally, I’m not going to waste time applying for a role when I don’t know whether it’s financially sensible for me to do so. In short, you are going to miss out on talent and you are going to pay women and people of colour less than they deserve. There’s been something of a campaign on this on billboards recently, so I hope this will change soon.
And then the second part – “don’t ask previous salary”. If you know the role you are appointing to, and what skills and experience a successful applicant needs, then you will have placed a value on that role. If someone meets the criteria, then it doesn’t matter what they are currently earning because you are paying them for the role you want them to do, not the role they are doing now. If that person is being underpaid in their current role, potentially due to gender, ethnicity or disability pay gaps, you risk perpetuating that underpayment if you are tempted to use their current salary as a guide. On the other hand, many people face discrimination when “down-sizing” their career and applying for a job at a lower salary as assumptions may be made about whether that person is really serious or is likely to accept the job. Note that this is often phrased as “overqualified”. Again, if they meet your criteria, they may bring a valuable different perspective.
Being open and transparent about the salary you are offering, and taking negotiation of salary out of the equation, is a good way to be more consciously inclusive.
Those paying attention will note that there are two things hidden in there, so let’s start with “publish salary ranges on job adverts”.
It’s really annoying to see an advert for an interesting role, click on the link and find either no salary information at all, a link to a pdf document full of meaningless salary scale codes or the words “competitive salary”.
Firstly, “competitive salary” is often code for “negotiations will be entered into”. Large scale negotiation in terms of salary contributes to gender and ethnicity pay gaps (because western society still tends to view white males who negotiate more positively than women and particularly women of colour, and white males may be more confident in negotiating), adds a barrier to qualified candidates who would bring value in terms of different perspectives and experiences but who don’t have insider knowledge of the industry, and puts off those less confident in interview situations.
Secondly, you risk wasting your time, and potential applicants time, if their expectations don’t match what is on offer and this isn’t clear from the start. Personally, I’m not going to waste time applying for a role when I don’t know whether it’s financially sensible for me to do so. In short, you are going to miss out on talent and you are going to pay women and people of colour less than they deserve. There’s been something of a campaign on this on billboards recently, so I hope this will change soon.
And then the second part – “don’t ask previous salary”. If you know the role you are appointing to, and what skills and experience a successful applicant needs, then you will have placed a value on that role. If someone meets the criteria, then it doesn’t matter what they are currently earning because you are paying them for the role you want them to do, not the role they are doing now. If that person is being underpaid in their current role, potentially due to gender, ethnicity or disability pay gaps, you risk perpetuating that underpayment if you are tempted to use their current salary as a guide. On the other hand, many people face discrimination when “down-sizing” their career and applying for a job at a lower salary as assumptions may be made about whether that person is really serious or is likely to accept the job. Note that this is often phrased as “overqualified”. Again, if they meet your criteria, they may bring a valuable different perspective.
Being open and transparent about the salary you are offering, and taking negotiation of salary out of the equation, is a good way to be more consciously inclusive.
Those paying attention will note that there are two things hidden in there, so let’s start with “publish salary ranges on job adverts”.
It’s really annoying to see an advert for an interesting role, click on the link and find either no salary information at all, a link to a pdf document full of meaningless salary scale codes or the words “competitive salary”. Firstly, “competitive salary” is often code for “negotiations will be entered into”. Large scale negotiation in terms of salary contributes to gender and ethnicity pay gaps (because western society still tends to view white males who negotiate more positively than women and particularly women of colour, and white males may be more confident in negotiating), adds a barrier to qualified candidates who would bring value in terms of different perspectives and experiences but who don’t have insider knowledge of the industry, and puts off those less confident in interview situations. Secondly, you risk wasting your time, and potential applicants time, if their expectations don’t match what is on offer and this isn’t clear from the start. Personally, I’m not going to waste time applying for a role when I don’t know whether it’s financially sensible for me to do so. In short, you are going to miss out on talent and you are going to pay women and people of colour less than they deserve. There’s been something of a campaign on this on billboards recently, so I hope this will change soon.
And then the second part. “don’t ask previous salary”. If you know the role you are appointing to, and what skills and experience a successful applicant needs, then you will have placed a value on that role. If someone meets the criteria, then it doesn’t matter what they are currently earning because you are paying them for the role you want them to do, not the role they are doing now. If that person is being underpaid in their current role, potentially due to gender, ethnicity or disability pay gaps, you risk perpetuating that underpayment if you are tempted to use their current salary as a guide. On the other hand, many people face discrimination when “down-sizing” their career and applying for a job at a lower salary as assumptions may be made about whether that person is really serious or is likely to accept the job. Note that this is often phrased as “overqualified”. Again, if they meet your criteria, they may bring a valuable different perspective.
Being open and transparent about the salary you are offering, and taking negotiation of salary out of the equation, is a good way to be more consciously inclusive.
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