JOB HUNTERS HAVE A NEW NEGOTIATING TOOL

More employers will be required to disclose salary ranges in job postings.

- SANDRA BLOCK

Mariann Madden is the North America Fair Pay co-lead at WTW, a global human resources consulting firm.

Under a new New York City law, companies that post a job that may be performed in New York City are required to include a salary range, even for jobs that are hybrid or remote. California also has a new salary-transparency law, and 15 other states have some kind of transparency requirement. What’s behind these initiatives?

It’s twofold. One is to help reduce the pay gap among women and minorities. Studies have shown men tend to achieve higher pay in negotiating job offers than women, and that may happen because they don’t have access to information about pay. Given how small salary budgets are, if a new hire starts a job with a salary on the low end of their peers, it’s difficult to catch up, even when they’re promoted to higher-paid jobs.

Second, at a time when the cost of living is rising, these laws can help workers understand whether the job will cover their basic needs, such as rent and gas to drive to the workplace.