Publishing the salary of a job in a job offer is still something unique today. Some companies use formulas such as “remuneration according to worth” or “salary to be agreed”; others, on the other hand, do not even mention the stipend. But that is changing little by little for two fundamental reasons: one, because specifying how much the worker is going to earn is a claim to attract more candidates, and two, because laws in different countries are forcing companies to do so.
Microsoft just announced it. Microsoft announced last week that starting in January 2023 it would publish the salary range in all of its internal and external job postings. as reported on their blog. A decision that is motivated, in part, by a regulation of the State of Washington, where the company is based, which companies will be required with more than 15 employees disclosing this information for each position.
Despite the fact that the law only requires the disclosure of compensation data for jobs located in its territory, the company will apply the measure throughout the United States. Microsoft already prohibited asking candidates about their previous salaries in job interviews a few years ago, according to the company.
At the national level. Microsoft’s decision to extend transparency on its salaries nationwide responds, above all, to trying to escape the tremendous administrative mess that would mean adapting to the legislation regarding this matter of the different US states. So, Colorado already has a similar law, and California and New York plan to pass similar regulations shortly, but each with its own particularities.
In this way, those from Redmond would have decided to establish a measure of maximums that fully complies with all regulations at the national level and allows them to have a homogeneous business policy in this regard.
The Microsoft Example. Whether out of obligation or conviction, the truth is that Microsoft was the first major technology company to decide to address a policy of these characteristics with its entire workforce, although, in principle, only in the United States.
It is a big step that, predictably, will spread the example and that other companies will begin to report on the salary ranges of their vacancies, and not only because they are required by law or because they believe it is the right thing to do, but because it is a huge draw for professionals that could give Redmondians a crucial advantage in the war for top talent.
directive Europe. The European Union also intends to develop a similar pay transparency directive for the entire common territory, with which it intends to oblige companies to inform candidates about the salary of the position before the first interview, although it is not specified whether this information will have to be included in the job offer or the company may communicate it privately to the candidates chosen for the selection process.
The European Commission approved at the beginning of April to begin negotiations with the different EU member states to implement this directive, so it is likely that there will still be a few years for it to be published and enter into force. Europe also wants the rule to include the right of company employees to request information on the company’s average salary by professional category and sex, and to claim compensation in the event of wage discrimination.
Remuneration record. In Spain we already have, since last April 14, 2021, a wage transparency tool that is mandatory for companies to publish, the remuneration record. It is a document in which companies must reflect the arithmetic mean of the remuneration received by type of position, category, professional group, etc. That is, for similar level positions and tasks. Professionals can request it from the company or from the unions represented in the organization.
However, the directive that the European Union intends to address goes further, since it intends to force the company to tell the candidates the specific figure that they handle for the job that they are offered in a proactive way.
There are already companies that do it. Although Microsoft is the first large technology multinational to apply salary transparency for all its vacancies in a country, the United States is not the first company to do so. In Spain, for example, the human resources agency specializing in the tech sector, Manfred, requires all its clients to make this information public if they want help looking for candidates, as can be seen in the offers that it currently maintains open on its website.
David Bonilla, CEO of Manfred, explains to Xataka that it is a key formula in a sector as competitive for qualified workers as technology. If the candidates do not handle all the information about what they are offered, it is likely that the offer interests them less and they do not take it into account if they are comfortable in their current job. Likewise, he considers that it is fair to not waste the professional’s time if the starting salary does not convince him.
Image | Cottonbro
