Salary, salary, salary... for some time now, recruiters and managers have been under pressure to display salaries on job offers.
In 2022, 87% of candidates say that salary is still the most important criterion on a job offer, yet 1 in 3 recruiters never mention it (Hellowork 2022 Study). So :
- How effective is salary display?
- What are companies exposed to if they don't?
- Should you give preference to candidates at the risk of creating internal tensions?
- Is this an angry candidate lobby strategy?
Digirocks has investigated this increasingly common practice for you: should salaries be displayed on job adverts or not?
Arguments in favor of a no vote
1. Save money
"If keeping the salary secret allows us to earn a minimum of 15k/year, we're not going to deprive ourselves!"
It's the #1 argument. And for good reason: not revealing the salary allows :
- Not overpaying a candidate for a previous position
- Save money when faced with a candidate who is uncomfortable with negotiation
2. Avoid internal tensions (false friend)
"What will Gérard say if he finds out that the new guy earns 15k more than him for the same job? It's better not to tell him, as it could cause trouble!
However, whether you advertise it or not, information circulates quickly internally, and there's a good chance that salaries are already known.
If one of your employees realizes that he/she is underpaid in the same position as his/her colleague, this will have serious consequences for his/her motivation and commitment, and increase the risk of resignation.
3. Give the competition an advantage (false friend)
"What's more, the competition will just have to offer a better salary to poach our talent and snatch up the best profiles on the market!"
This argument would be true if :
- Associations and recruitment agencies did not publicly post studies on average salaries in each industry.
- Glassdoor and other rating sites didn't exist to check your company's salaries to the nearest thousand euros.
4. Don't miss out on "nugget" candidates
"Posting a salary range risks cutting us off from certain profiles, whereas we are prepared to exceptionally increase the budget for a candidate who perfectly meets our requirements.
This is the argument used by some companies who don't want to restrict their target and see their best talent go to the competition.
Arguments in favor of the yes
1. It's still a competitive advantage, so make the most of it!
A few years ago, this question didn't even arise. Companies that posted salaries on their job offers were UFOs.
Today, the trend is reversing, and with good reason.
"In 2021, an advert displaying a salary will get an average of 80 % more clicks and 20 % more applications than the same advert without salary information," says Indeed recruitment specialist Éric Gras.
It's enough to make the difference between you and the competition! Except that the opportunity could soon disappear, because the more ads with a salary, the less magic there is.
In 2021, only 30% of ads listed salary on the platform, a figure that is only increasing as companies realize the opportunity.
Other companies, such as Shine, take the concept even further.
Because they have understood the positive impact of a policy of salary transparency on their employer brand, they are making it a major argument in attracting candidates.
Their secret: publicly (and proudly) display on their website the remuneration scale dedicated to each position, according to job, experience, level of responsibility, seniority in the company, and so on.
This way, everyone in the company knows how much their neighbor earns.
For inspiration: https://bit.ly/3PwQpO0
2. You can sort through the applications and save time in negotiations.
Make an initial selection of applications, make an initial phone call with the candidate, organize the various agendas, set aside 1 hour of HR and manager time to check that :
- The salary is too high
- The candidate is not open to negotiations
- You can't align yourself
As a result, everyone wasted their time, and the hours dedicated to recruitment could have been invested in other areas, resulting in a waste of money.
Indicating a salary range not only creates an initial filter by attracting candidates who agree with the remuneration, but also serves as a basis for negotiation.
3. You avoid internal tensions and discrimination when hiring.
How do you lose the trust of your employees in a split second? It's so simple!
If you don't offer the same salary to all your colleagues for the same position, wait for the news to spread, and you'll create a great deal of tension internally, as well as a loss of motivation and confidence in the company.
Displaying the salary on the offer avoids these situations, as well as possible discrimination based on gender, disability or origin.
4. You boost confidence in your company
Displaying salary information on your job adverts reflects the image of a company that is concerned with issues of professional equality, that takes the subject head-on and dares to break down taboos. A real sign of confidence for candidates.
If you decide to go a step further by introducing a salary scale, the effect will be tenfold! Both for candidates and for your in-house staff, who will no longer have to fight to justify a raise.
5. Shortage of candidates
In other words, unless your name is Apple or Amazon, you don't have much choice.
Any way you can to attract candidates, especially at low cost. So why deprive yourself?
At the end of the day, is it really necessary to display salaries on job offers?
It all depends on your situation and how urgently you need to recruit.
At DigiRocks, for example, our table offers speak for themselves. Salaries are indicated and detailed in each offer as transparently as possible.
If you're still struggling to decide, here's a quiz to help you make your decision. The more points you score, the more interest you'll have in displaying the salaries on your job offers. Let's get started!
- Are you urgently looking for candidates? + 5 points
- Would you like to make your employer brand more attractive? + 4 points
- Do you really want to avoid pay inequalities between your employees? + 3 points
- Are you ready to revalue underpaid employees? + 3 points
- Would you like to communicate your transparency? + 2 points
- You don't want salary to be a taboo subject in your company any more? + 1 point
- You don't want your employees to realize that there are salary differences for the same position? -5 points
- Would you like to save money on each candidate? -4 points
- Not ready to raise your employees' salaries? - 3 points
- No particular need to recruit? -2 points
- Don't want the competition to know your salaries? - 1 point
Results :
- Above 5 points : Displaying salary information on your job adverts will not only help you attract more candidates, but also build a more attractive and transparent employer brand, as well as boosting internal loyalty.
- Between 0 and 5 points : It's in your best interests to display salaries on your job offers, but there are still a few points to be settled internally before displaying them publicly.
- Below 0 points : Posting salaries is clearly not your priority. Keep in mind that compensation transparency will become the norm, and that it's always easier to make changes by choice than under duress.
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