Jennifer Jackson at Third Sector Jobs explains why salary transparency is the right thing to do as well as an advantage for recruitment and retention.
Recruitment practices have long been under fire for breeding inequity and hindering diversity, and a lack of salary transparency on job adverts is being called out as one of the main culprits.
At Third Sector Jobs, we have a longstanding culture of advocating fairness and transparency - whether it be through the language used in job copy and job descriptions, or our anonymised candidate database.
We recently announced that salary transparency is now mandatory when advertising on Third Sector Jobs, and listings that do not show a salary band will not be posted on the site (except for voluntary, trustee and non-UK roles). We’re doing our bit to help drive a more diverse and fair sector and we hope many more will join us.
But why?
Put yourself in the jobseeker’s shoes
Among jobseekers’ biggest bugbears is looking at job adverts that don’t tell them how much the role is paying. Look at it from their point of view. Take a talented and experienced charity professional earning £40k as a senior marketing manager for a well known charity. They might be reasonably content in their role but would quite like a promotion and pay rise which they’ve not managed to obtain internally. One day, they encounter a marketing director vacancy at another well known charity. The role sounds like it would be a challenge and they would be involved in leading some exciting initiatives. But they can’t find any mention of the salary.
Do they spend hours researching the charity’s culture and filling out the job application form, then go along to the interview, only to find out the salary is exactly the same as what they’re on? Would you? The whole process turns out to be a waste of time for all involved.
Help create a more diverse and fair sector
It’s time that employers face the fact that salary is still an important part of a job move. Not to mention a key element of showing you are being transparent about pay. The important work of campaign group Show the Salary shows there is enormous appetite for salary transparency in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector – people believe in its importance for creating better workplaces and many organisations are now leading by example in their own recruitment practices.
So while salary transparency is simply ‘the right thing to do’, it also helps strengthen your employer brand by positioning you as a fair employer and gives you an advantage when it comes to attracting and retaining talent.
To find out more about Third Sector Jobs’ salary transparency initiative, contact Joe Edmonds.
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