Show me the money | Should job ads without salary info be illegal?

Job adverts which don’t list a salary range should be made illegal, as should questioning job candidates about their salary history, according to the leaders of an ambitious new campaign.

Technology-led talent platform, Liberty Hive, a dedicated technology platform for media and marketing specialists, has called for a ‘salary reset’ and demands that it becomes illegal for companies to ask a candidate’s salary history and makes it a legal requirement to list salary details on job adverts.

The campaigners say that the failure to list salaries on job adverts, as well as asking a candidate’s previous salaries, are two processes that uphold inequality and slow the pace of change, especially for those who’ve been historically underpaid, mainly women and those from underrepresented groups.

In the UK, a salary transparency pilot scheme was launched in March 2022, where participating employers list salary details on job adverts and stop asking about salary history during recruitment. The scheme, run by Baroness Stedman-Scott, indicates that legislation change may also become a reality in the UK soon.