Why showing the salary is an essential part of EDI

Oct 12

1 min read

Over the weekend we saw a job advert for an EDI Lead.

It was a long job ad – over 1,000 words. And the very first thing the ad said was that the organisation is committed to championing equality, diversity and inclusion.

What wasn’t anywhere in those 1,000 words was the salary. Not a figure, not a range, and in this case, not even ‘competitive’.

Showing the salary isn’t a nice extra that sits alongside EDI. It is an essential part of EDI. Here’s why:

Pay transparency at the recruitment stage is one of the actions in UK government guidance on closing the gender pay gap, and it’s built into EU law.
When pay isn’t in the ad, candidates are often left to negotiate or reveal their salary history – meaning that inequality can get baked in.
Negotiation isn’t a level playing field. Women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds are more likely to face bias when they ask for more, so ‘let’s discuss it’ doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone.
Hidden pay puts a lot of people off applying altogether – shrinking the talent pool and making it harder to build a diverse workforce.

Leaving out the salary undermines everything else an employer says about being committed to EDI, and works against the very goals an EDI strategy exists to achieve. Candidates notice when the words in an advert don’t match what’s actually on offer.

Want to know more? Dive into the evidence here.