Pay Transparency Laws Are Here. Are Your Salary Ranges Ready?

A growing number of cities, states, and provinces are coming out with pay transparency laws. 

This powerful movement is a stepping stone towards closing pay gaps and leveling the playing field for underrepresented groups. 

However, one unintended short-term consequence is that we currently have a patchwork of legislation that is very confusing for employers to navigate. 

On top of that, sharing salary ranges externally raises a lot of complex internal questions, such as: 

• Do your employees think they’re being paid fairly?
• Do they know the salary range for their own role?
• Are the salary ranges that you’re posting publicly consistent with your internal ranges? 

You can’t focus on complying with pay transparency laws without also considering the implications for your employees. 

What do Pay Transparency Laws Require? 

Pay transparency laws vary greatly by region. Please refer to the detailed breakdown by city, state, and province (later in this post) for your specific requirements, but here are some of the big recurring themes. 

For Candidates  

Employers may be required to: 

• Post the rate of pay or salary range in a public job posting 
• Describe the benefits and other types of compensation offered, in addition to base salary or hourly pay
• Share the salary range for a job with a job applicant (when requested or according to other criteria)

For Current Employees 

Employers may be required to: 

• Share the salary range for an employee’s job upon request
• Share the salary range for a job that an employee is trying to be promoted into or transferred to 

For HR

• Create salary ranges that are a good faith and reasonable estimation of the range of compensation you might pay for a job at the time of posting that job
• Keep a record of an employee’s job title, pay history, and salary ranges during the length of their employment and for a period of time after their employment ends

How to Prepare Your Company for Pay Transparency Laws

Despite all the different nuances of pay transparency law, you will notice one common underlying theme: salary ranges (also known as pay ranges or pay bands).

For job postings, promotions, and internal transfers, most of these laws require that you build out your salary ranges and get ready to share them with employees and job applicants.

This is an intimidating prospect for many businesses. Building out salary ranges is a huge undertaking for HR and People & Culture professionals. 

We’ve developed a step-by-step guide to guide you through the process of building your salary ranges for the first time. 

You can also leverage a compensation management software, like Barley, to help you: 

• Build out your salary ranges and job levels
• Adjust your salary ranges for different locations 
• Manage salary ranges for different careers paths, such as individual contributors and managers
• Update your salary ranges with ease as things change
• Securely share the right salary ranges with the right people within your organization
• Gain confidence that you are compensating fairly and equitably

‍Get in touch to learn how Barley can help you structure your salary data and get ready for the public scrutiny of pay transparency laws.