By David Forbes | Dec 4, 2024

There have been a lot of conversations recently about including pay information in job postings. An expanding list of states and municipalities are creating laws and ordinances requiring salary information on job postings. Additionally, there are also social forces with the younger generations wanting to know the information before even considering applying for an opportunity. The result is an increase in companies including salary information on their job postings. Indeed Inc., the job posting site, has statistics that show that just about 60% of their postings in September of 2024 contained some salary information. Requiring this information on job postings isn’t universally accepted or required in the U.S., but the momentum is growing. The question is, if you are not including that information in your job postings, should you?

Transparency about pay in job postings has pros and cons, and there isn’t a simple answer to the question I posed. In my experience, the benefits of including the information can outweigh the negatives. However, it’s not something an organization can start doing without some preparation. Pay transparency means everyone, including the current staff, can see a salary range for a posted position. Even if they don’t see it, someone will, and people love to talk about salary. It makes sense to ensure that the advertised salary range covers the salaries of your employees currently in that role and is comparable to the rest of the market. Any outliers below that range will let you know, either by talking to management or finding another position. You will also have employees ask why they aren’t at the upper end of the range. This presents an opportunity for a career path conversation to help those employees understand what it might take to get to that level. Without proper preparation, these can be difficult conversations and will make the transition more challenging.

Those opposed to this practice have suggested that including pay ranges in postings will reduce the number of people applying for a position. While this is true, it also increases the number of applicants who better fit the opportunity because the people applying will already know the salary range and self-select accordingly. There are no universally accepted job titles and corresponding salaries, so transparency can reduce the time spent on the guessing game we play to determine if applicants are within the salary range. Additionally, when the salary range has been socialized – and hopefully reiterated throughout the interview process, chances of an offer surprising the candidate are minimized.

In my opinion, the true advantage of pay transparency is just that: transparency. If a company or organization is honest about salaries, conventional wisdom says they are likely honest or transparent about other aspects of working for them. This will positively impact an employer’s brand to the workforce at large. Advertising the salary may become necessary to protect an employer brand. As more employers advertise their positions’ salary ranges, those that don’t may cause people to ask, “Why not? What are they hiding?” People may choose not to apply for the position because of this. Add in the news about younger generations not applying for positions that don’t include the salary in the job posting, and it can adversely impact your employer brand.

Companies and organizations may not have a choice in implementing pay transparency depending on their location. But it is something companies cannot do haphazardly, either.  Prior planning, including salary reviews, additional market data, and preemptive conversations with employees, may be necessary to ensure a smooth transition to including the information on job postings. For those that are not required to advertise salaries, it may be worth considering. Given the importance of employer branding in a tight labor market, it could make a difference in a company’s ability to be competitive for talent.

If you would like additional information or have questions about how to include salary in your job postings or other employer branding topics, please contact me or any of our Converge HR Solutions consultants.