Companies Are Not Disclosing Salary Information On Job Postings For All The Wrong Reasons

• Many organizations continue to fail to include one of the biggest motivators for candidates to apply for a job: the salary.  
• LinkedIn found that over 70% of professionals want to hear about salary in the first message from a recruiter. 
• 38% of hiring managers avoided directly disclosing salary information out of fear it would allow rival companies to overcut their offerings, forcing the company to raise their pay rates.   

It takes a fairly compelling job posting to attract talented and competent applicants. There’s a lot to convey in a job post, such as what’s expected of a candidate, why the company is ideal, whether it’s remote or not, etc.

Yet so many organizations still fail to include the one thing that can be the biggest motivator: The salary.

The Great Resignation has more people than ever on the hunt for a new gig. But with job listings usually not including salaries, it’s difficult to know whether a position is worth applying for.   

Many have argued that not including a salary in job postings wastes both employers’ and applicants’ time, and that it perpetuates wage gaps, discourages people from applying, and minimizes the important financial aspect of work.

“When people are looking at job descriptions, they are looking for the details that drive their motivations when changing jobs,” said Monica Lewis, head of product for LinkedIn Jobs.  

“We found that over 70% of professionals want to hear about salary in the first message from a recruiter. With 59% of candidates stating that salary was the leading factor that contributed to feeling fulfilled in their career, understanding pay and benefits is clearly top of mind during the job search.” 

A study from Glassdoor echoes this sentiment.  

Money is the top motivator for 67% of job seekers and employees looking elsewhere for career opportunities, according to a survey of 1,100 workers and job seekers.   

Joblist polled over 500 hiring managers to ask them about one part of a job posting in particular- disclosing the pay. Below are the findings from the study.  

How prevalent is salary disclosure? 

Although 43% of hiring managers believe disclosing salary information in job postings attracts more highly qualified candidates, 38% said they never or rarely disclose pay.  

Companies disclosing salaries represented 36% of respondents. 

Propensities for salary disclosure varied based on industry – hiring managers in education and health services disclosed always or often 48% of the time, while 31% of hiring specialists in tech and information services said the same. 

Pros and cons of sharing salary information in job postings: 

Perceived positive outcomes of sharing salary information included attracting more candidates overall (65%) and attracting more highly qualified ones specifically (43%).  

As for negative perceptions, 30% of hiring managers were concerned it would force their business to raise salaries. They were also worried that it would attract less qualified applicants (21%) and fewer candidates overall (17%). 

53% of companies that chose not to share salary information often did so in a conscious effort to find a candidate driven by passion instead of money.  

Alternatively, 49% chose to keep the information private to retain more leverage in salary negotiations.  

38% avoided directly disclosing salary information out of fear it would allow rival companies to overcut their offerings, forcing the company to raise their pay rates.  

The same percentage feared that listing salary information would cause strife with current employees who earn less than new employees would be offered. 

Does salary transparency differ based on the size of the company or the level of the position? 

Large companies were most likely to reveal salary information in entry-level job postings. In fact, hiring managers at large companies were 13% more likely to do so than those at small companies. 

As positions increased from entry-level to upper-level, large companies became less transparent.  

Hiring managers at large companies were 9% less likely to reveal salary information for upper-level positions than those at small businesses.  

Disclosing salaries is good for pay equity and reduces discrimination  

Research has shown that being transparent about salaries plays a significant role in reducing salary discrimination and improving pay equity in the workplace.  

A 2019 review by PayScale of 1.6 million survey responses showed that the gender wage gap closed completely for women who felt their employer handled pay in a transparent way.  

Knowing the pay range of a position pre-interview helps to level the playing field for women and minorities when it comes to salary negotiations. 

How frequently do applicants reject offers once salary has been discussed? 

Half of employers said that applicants rarely rejected offers or rescinded applications once salary was discussed.

Within the past six months, 31% of hiring managers reported having had an applicant turn down an offer after hearing the salary.

Should hiring managers always disclose pay? 

Unless a state has specific regulations on salary transparency, the decision to disclose salary information is at the discretion of the employer.  

Joblist found that the sweet spot for hiring managers was to share this information based on their discretion and the specific role they are filling.

There was a strong correlation with companies that have flexible disclosure policies receiving better, higher qualified applicants.