This month we’re going to be researching all things salary, from transparency to expectations and why it is a current trending topic within the recruitment industry.

Salary transparency has become a trending topic across all sectors. From a number of polls that have been published on Linkedin, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the majority of people believe that salaries should be transparent and openly talked about. However, still today, especially in large corporations, salaries are not openly spoken about.

It appears that startups are leading the way with transparency, companies like Buffer have transparency at the heart of their business, “one key reason transparency is such a powerful value for a company’s culture is trust: transparency breeds trust, and trust is the foundation of great teamwork” (Joel Gascoigne, CEO Buffer). At Buffer they have the concept of “Open Salaries” which is a simple formula to calculate salaries, they then share this with the entire team. You can see their formula here: https://bit.ly/3vJtLJK

Perhaps this amount of openness is a step too far for your company but there are still ways to bring a level of transparency without giving everything away. UK Startup Jobs posted an article about the six levels of transparency, perhaps one of the levels would work for your company if you are looking to increase your level of transparency around salaries.

Rafiq Upadhe a talent acquisition specialist recently published a poll on his linkedin asking his followers if salary should be mentioned in the job description, 5,877 people voted and 91% of voters said yes. A very interesting comment came from voter Vaughan Thackwray, Director at Agri Inzuzo Operations which we think summaries this topic perfectly:

“Human assets are just that, assets. Assets have a real value that can be determined. The positions required either generate income, assist in making the organisation profitable or are required for compliance. Each carries a value that can be measured and as such, allows HR and Finance to assign a monetary value and budget for that position. This value needs to be communicated, even if it is just in a salary range.” (Vaughan Thackwray, Director at Agri Inzuzo Operations)

If you’d like any more information about this topic all you need to do is sign up to our newsletter as we’ll be posting more relevant links and articles in this month’s email.