When the letter “E” in DEI turns out to be just a catchy slogan

Pay equity is a topic that comes up every time we talk about building an organizational culture based on DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion). DEI is a slogan commonly used in corporate communications. Unfortunately, it often happens that the letter “E” (Equity) turns out to be just a catchy slogan. Public salary ranges are a good step towards the above-mentioned equality.

“We care about equal pay in our organization” – this sentence is often mentioned in conversations I have with HR directors. There is no reason not to believe this, but it is merely a declaration. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to be credible. How to do it? There are two possibilities.

The first is to obtain a pay equality certificate, which is awarded on the basis of the results of a thorough audit. This is a great way to build credibility in the area of pay equity with both employees and candidates. Unfortunately, only a small number of companies on the Polish market have such a certificate.

The second method is salary transparency, which is combined with the transparency of salary ranges in job offers. Let’s take a look at where we are with this topic and where are we heading?

Public salary ranges – current status

Live Career in the report “Transparency of remuneration in Poland through the eyes of employees” states that 64% of respondents declare the lack of transparency of remuneration in the workplace. This coincides with data from the No Fluff Jobs study conducted in the IT industry, where only 30% of those working in this sector have access to the pay scale. The same analysis also shows that this is a need expressed by over 58% of industry specialists.

What is it like in other countries

In the US, in California, the Salary Transparency Act entered into force on January 1, 2023. It requires employers covered by it to provide salary ranges in every job offer and to make salary ranges available to employees for the positions they hold.

In New York, the law will go into effect in September 2023 and requires employers to disclose salaries or salary ranges for all positions, as well as salary increases in the event of promotion or transfer to another department.

Meanwhile in Europe

The European Union introduced a directive on pay transparency a few months ago. From this moment, member states have 3 years to adapt their national law to EU regulations.

Therefore, we have little time to prepare the organization for salary transparency. What does this mean in practice at the recruitment level?

Candidates in recruitment processes will know the salary ranges before the recruitment process begins. They will probably be able to find this out in two ways:

• By reading the salary range in the job advertisement.
• During an individual interview before starting the recruitment process.

Read the whole article by clicking – HERE / NoFluffJobs