You’re an HR leader talking to the executive team about pay transparency and the need to comply with the laws in the U.S.
There are BIG feelings about the need to post the base pay range on job postings now.
1. “Our competitors will find out what we are paying.”
2. “Employees will know if they are paid low in the range. Managers will have to answer a lot of questions.”
3. “Do we have employees paid below the range minimum?”
4. “We don’t pay as much as other employers. Won’t this cause fewer candidates to apply?
5. “This is confidential information. Unless we are going to offer someone the job, they don’t need to know the base pay range before applying.”
6. “Aren’t candidates going to want to be paid at the top end of the range that is posted? What do we say when they ask for more than we offer?”
7. “What if an employee starts keeping track of the base pay ranges, we post on job openings and then shares that with other employees in a spreadsheet? What if a competitor does this?”
Fear is the dominant feeling.
And the solution to dissolving fear is to address these concerns and questions with facts.
Answer their questions with reality.
1. “Yes, our competitors will find out what we are paying. We will also find out what they are paying.”
2. “Yes, managers will have to answer a lot of questions. I have developed a manager training and a frequently asked questions document to help support their conversations with employees.”
3. “Yes, we have employees paid below the range minimum. Here is a list of those employees and what it will cost to bring their base pay into the range.”
4. “Yes, our lower-than-market pay practices will hurt our ability to attract candidates. That has been happening for years. Here is an alternative that targets the 50th percentile of the market and the impact to our costs.”
5. “The pay transparency laws that have been implemented over the last few years have caused base pay ranges to no longer be confidential. This is an opportunity to be open and upfront with candidates about how much we pay early in the interview process.”
6. “Yes, everyone wants to be paid at the top end of the range. We can talk to candidates about the factors we consider when determining new hire pay rates. And if what they have in terms of relevant experience, education, training, and performance aren’t aligned to above market pay, then we will communicate that. Yes, some will be disappointed, but we will be starting our employer employee relationship with open and honest dialogue. That builds trust and understanding over time.”
7. “Yes, I am sure that employees or our competitors for talent will track what we are posting. And there is software like Squirrel that scrapes pay ranges from job postings and then aggregates that data for employers to use.”
We have pay transparency laws because we have a pay gap between genders and other protected groups.
The goal of pay transparency is to shine a light on pay disparities that are discriminatory and have employers fix it.
#paytransparency #payequity #compensation #rewards #hr #humanresources #fear #pay #totalrewards #paygap #genderpaygap #fairpay