According to new research into salary transparency among 2000 jobseekers by Talent.com, 98% of candidates believe it is important to know the salary before applying for a role.
However, the report, titled Measuring Attitudes Towards Salary Transparency, found that only 20% of job postings available via Talent.com in the UK include this information.
Furthermore, a whopping 81% think employers should be required to disclose salary ranges in job descriptions, while 79% would also support a law requiring this information to be disclosed in job postings.
It’s like reading a book to the end and finding out someone has ripped out the last page, yet many employers still like to leave the salary range in their job adverts blank.
In today’s world of information and data, this reluctance to bare all must surely be a red flag, potentially pointing to unfair pay within the company, whether it be based on gender, age or even race.
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Earlier this year, the government launched a pilot scheme to level up job opportunities for women and improve pay transparency, whereby participating employers agreed to publish all salaries with job adverts and to stop asking about salary history during recruitment.
Baroness Stedman-Scott, Minister for Women, who came up with the idea, says: ‘increased pay transparency will build on positive evidence of the role information can play when it comes to empowering women in the workplace.’
But this is also about empowering women before they actually reach the workplace.
A study from the Fawcett Society reveals nearly three-fifths of women felt they ‘had received a lower salary offer than they would have if the question had not been asked during the application process.’
It’s not just women who would benefit from new regulation.
Workers from black, Asian, mixed race and minority ethnic backgrounds are reportedly paid 84% of what their white counterparts earn, according to People Like Us, and the gap is set to widen.
The statistics get even worse, with a third of employees overall saying they have already experienced pay discrimination in their career, with the younger generation most affected.
On the other side of the interview table, businesses are now admitting that nearly two-thirds of their new staff are not working out, casting a further shadow on recruitment habits and culture.
It would seem salary disclosure at the first point of the application process could increase recruitment efficiency for businesses as well as pave the way for a fairer and more equitable working environment.
So, is the government thinking of enshrining salary transparency in UK law? This two-year pilot scheme suggests the idea is at least on their radar. Fingers crossed.
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