Show the salary on job adverts to close pay gaps and drive inclusion

Many organisations in the UK charity sector don’t publish salaries on their job adverts.

New research shows how omitting salaries discourages many applicants from asking for better pay, particularly people of colour and women. As employers know a job applicant is underpaid, they can get away with offering a salary only slightly above the applicant’s current pay.

People of colour are generally offered lower salaries by hiring managers and often find negotiating harder, as unconscious biases in recruitment processes often position them as less deserving of higher monetary awards. These discouraging perceptions mean that people of colour often find themselves doing the same role as their white counterparts for significantly less money.

Hiding salaries also perpetuates the gender wage gap. Research shows that men are often seen as aggressive negotiators while women are less likely to haggle for a higher salary, resulting in women being paid less than men to do the same job.

Something as simple as providing a clear salary range eliminates this uncertainty and helps address pay inequality in the sector.

Committing to inclusive recruitment

For too long now, the onus has been on the candidate to negotiate their salary, often going into an interview with no idea of the pay.

As part of Bond’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in the charity sector, we have joined the #ShowTheSalary campaign. We pledge that it will now be mandatory for all jobs posted on the Bond jobs site to include the salary information.

Our jobs site attracts over 500 job adverts a year from a diverse range of organisations across the international development and humanitarian sector. By forcing organisations and recruiters to show the salary on their job postings, we’re pushing organisations to close the unfair pay gaps in the charity sector.

Why wouldn’t you show the salary?

As an employer, you run a few risks from not clearly showing the salary. Good candidates often aren’t interested in applying for roles where the salary is not shown, as they assume the salary is low. You may receive a greater quantity of responses when recruiting, but you risk sacrificing the quality of candidates.

You need to clearly consider your reasons for not posting the salary. The often-cited argument that “you have always done it” is as redundant as it sounds. Recruitment practices evolve like every part of your organisation and not disclosing renumeration is quickly becoming an archaic way of doing things.

If, as an organisation, you are embarrassed by how low the salary of a role is, then that should be a signal that you need to look at your organisation’s effectiveness. Do you really need this person if you can only pay such a small amount? I think this is particularity important within our sector: we are supposed to oppose exploitation in whatever form it takes.

There is also an age-old argument that showing the salary of a role will cause existing employees to be disgruntled. If they are unhappy, then there is potentially something wrong with your salary model. This would be an opportunity to tidy it all up.

Want to recruit the best talent for your organisation? Check out the Bond jobs board, a unique jobs platform dedicated to international development and humanitarian recruitment.