By Rachel Manuel Bruns

Are you looking for a simple and no-cost solution to increase both the quantity and quality of applications you receive for job openings at your organization? With Iowa’s unemployment rate at 3.1% and more than 50,000 job openings, employers need to leverage every tool available to improve their applicant pool.

Unfortunately, I continue to see many organizations fail to implement this simple yet effective solution — listing the wage or salary range on the job posting. I’m calling attention to an issue that has been reported on extensively in recent years, and if your organization has yet to adopt this practice, you are now in the minority.

As reported by Hiring Lab, 57.8% of all U.S. job postings in September 2024 on Indeed contained some salary information, up from 52.2% in September 2023. Additionally, compared with a year ago, the share of salary-transparent listings grew significantly in 43 of 46 sectors analyzed. The raise in salary transparency is largely credited to new state laws in places like New York and Colorado. However, there is also recognition by some employers that they must disclose salary to keep pace with job applicant expectations, with 80% of professionals saying they would not apply for a job if the business is not transparent with salary details, per Employ.

A 2023 Indeed survey reported by Wired found 75% of U.S. job seekers are more likely to apply for a job if it includes salary data, and postings that included pay rates attracted 30% more applicants. The same report summarized, “In addition to attracting more applicants, research shows that salary disclosure improves candidate quality, boosts retention in some cases, and can help narrow the gender and racial wage gaps.”

In a study reported by SHRM examining the salaries of 100,000 academics over 10 years, greater transparency led to a 20% decline in gender pay inequity. Per a study reported by Forbes, women in the United States make 14% less than their male counterparts doing the same work for the same company. Salary transparency on job postings can make a dent at improving these wage disparities, which improves the economic well-being for women and their families.  

As someone who works for a national nonprofit and serves on the board for another, my personal attention has focused on improving hiring practices in the nonprofit sector both nationally and in Iowa. New initiatives like the Home for Wingless Unicorns calls out nonprofits that fail to post the salary or range in their job postings. I have yet to submit an offending nonprofit to the site, but it is tempting after several years of sharing the research with organizations that know better yet continue not doing better.

Organizations that do not post salary ranges may be providing job candidates with helpful insights into their organizational cultures — a culture folks may want to avoid. As stated by Imagine Consulting, a national executive search firm, “If an organization hesitates or refuses to disclose a salary range, it might be a signal. Imagine this as a litmus test for their commitment to transparency throughout your hiring journey with them.”

The top reasons I hear from organizations on why they won’t disclose salary include 1) if people contact us, we will provide it to them; and 2) we don’t want to limit our pool of candidates based on a salary range. The first answer tells me they would rather work ineffectively, wasting their own time and the applicants’ time by replying to individual inquiries rather than providing basic transparency about their jobs. In the case of nonprofits, this results in wasting precious donor and grant resources.

On the second, research reported by the Chronicle of Philanthropy has shown “there is no detrimental effect from advertising salary, and there is a positive effect.” If the organization is willing to go outside the range for a candidate with exceptional experience, then they can still state that on the posting.

Nothing stops job candidates from inquiring if a salary can be higher than the range and, while rare, I have experienced this. On the one hand, it can be frustrating as the employer to get these inquiries because the range is there for a reason and based on what we have deemed possible within the budget. These types of inquiries can help you assess if the range is in alignment with the industry for the skills and experience level you’ve established.

The unspoken reason from organizational leaders for not disclosing a wage/range on job postings is organizations do not want employees to know what others are making. While not everyone is comfortable with disclosing their salary, younger generations of workers (Gen Z and millennials) are more comfortable in doing so, and it is important to remember that it is illegal to keep employees from discussing their wage/salary with each other.

To be clear, posting the wage or salary range on a job posting is not the same as broader pay transparency initiatives your organization may want to put in place to improve your overarching compensation structure. Your organization may need to do some work to make sure employees with similar roles are within the stated salary range of a job posting. Having a transparent compensation structure for bonuses and merit pay raises can still incentivize employees to do exceptional work.

The good news is many national executive search firms are starting to adopt pay transparency in job postings as a requirement and we have local organizations like the Iowa Council of Foundations, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) Des Moines, and the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance all requiring the wage or salary range on their job boards.

If you’re an employee, volunteer or board member of an organization, I encourage you to advocate for salary transparency in job postings and other improvements to your hiring practices that bring your organization into the 21st century. In addition to listing the wage/salary on the job posting, some other low-barrier changes can include assessing the need for educational preferences in job listings and to stop asking applicants to disclose their current pay.

When the next job opening at your organization comes up, talk to your organization about how you are uncomfortable sharing the job with your network without the wage or salary range included. It is unfair to expect you to invite people to spend time applying for a position without knowing whether the job is something they can actually afford to pursue. Anymore, Iowa organizations also can’t afford to post jobs without showing salary.

Rachel Manuel Bruns is chief engagement officer for America’s Service Commissions, board chair for the Catholic Volunteer Network and a maternal-child health advocate. She lives in Des Moines with her partner and two children. Rachel can be contacted at rachel.m.bruns@gmail.com.