Stop Sweating Pay Disclosure Laws & Use This Opportunity to Differentiate Your Employer Brand
New pay disclosure laws have employers clutching their pearls over what could be a PR crisis for their business. What they should be doing is using this opportunity to electrify their employer brand reputation.
What’s this about pay disclosure?
Beginning May 15, employers in New York City with at least four employees will have to list salary ranges on job postings. This includes both full-time positions and independent contractor positions, but does not apply to temp jobs through temp agencies. According to the New York Post, it’s not clear whether the law will require employers to disclose pay ranges for remote jobs.
NYC’s law in particular is making headlines because there are so many major employers in the city, but this isn’t the first law of its flavor.
As of June 2021, employers in Nevada must proactively disclose wage or salary ranges to applicants who have interviewed for a position. Colorado requires employers with even one employee in the state to disclose pay information for jobs that could be performed in person in the state or remotely anywhere. (Some employers are trying to circumvent the requirement by posing job openings and excluding applicants based in Colorado. A move that smacks of shadiness.) Nevada and Colorado are just two of many. States like Maryland and California have similar laws.
This practice has precedent in the public sector too. Most federal employees are paid according to a system called the General Schedule, which means that job seekers can look up page ranges for many government jobs, even if it’s not included in the job posting.
With everyone pitching a fit, employers that support pay disclosure will stand out for the right reasons
If you’ve been looking for a way to stand out as an employer, looking to make a few headlines—in a good way—this is it. Laws like these are a significant victory for pay equity, and employers have the opportunity to be on the right side of history.
Partnership for New York City—a collective of major employers including JPMorgan Chase, Amazon, Blackrock, and Bloomberg, who can protest conveniently from behind the name—has publicly opposed pay disclosure laws. It’s not a good look because the labor force knows exactly why: If the employer doesn’t disclose the pay range, they’re more likely to get away with under compensating employees.
Employers also fear that-dream-when-you’re-naked-in-front-of-the-class feeling that comes when current employees learn what new hires make.
Employers that vocally support pay disclosure in spirit and in practice will gain a lot of purchase with the labor force at a time when companies and their leaders are making headlines for bad behavior and when it’s become difficult to differentiate from competing companies.
Companies that support the laws will align themselves firmly with pay equity. Those that oppose will place themselves decidedly outside the equity camp.
This is more important than ever now that workers are in charge of the job market. Even if your business can’t compete with the Chases and Blackrocks of the world when it comes to compensation, a principled stand on furthering pay equity will go a long way. Consider the message this sends: We believe in workplace equity, we believe in supporting workers, we believe in transparency.
If these laws haven’t affected you yet, it’s very likely that they will, so don’t wait until they come your way. The less coerced your stand on the subject, the more powerful it will be.
Start planning now how you will determine and disclose salary ranges. Evaluate your current pay practices, and if you find that you’re not doing so well, that’s OK—this is why you’re starting early. Work up a statement about your new policies and your commitment to fair pay. Go public with it in a release, in a blog post, on social. Make it a part of your employer brand.
Employers that embrace pay equity won’t just evolve with the culture, they’ll lead it.
Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza writes about workplace culture, DEI, and hiring. Her work has appeared in Fast Company, From Day One, and InHerSight, among others.
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