Top Trends in Pay Transparency

Equal Pay Day moved BACKWARD in 2025 to March 25th, revealing a harsh truth: transparency without enforcement doesn't create equality. 60% of job postings now include salary information—up from just 18% in 2020—yet women still earn just 85 cents to a man's dollar. Even more disturbing? The gap is widening. Of 98 countries with equal pay laws, only 35 have implemented any accountability mechanisms. We're seeing the illusion of progress without the substance. True salary transparency requires action at every level: For individuals: - Share your salary information with "trusted" colleagues - Explicitly ask for pay ranges before interviews - Document salary discussions and decisions - Normalize compensation conversations in your workplace - Research industry standards using sites like Glassdoor and Payscale For managers: - Conduct regular pay equity audits in your teams - Establish clear compensation criteria based on skills and responsibilities - Remove salary history questions from your hiring process - Advocate for transparent promotion pathways For organizations: - Implement formal pay bands with clear progression criteria - Regularly publish company-wide gender and racial pay gap data - Create accountability mechanisms for addressing inequities - Train managers on recognizing and addressing unconscious bias in compensation decisions The data is clear: companies with meaningful transparency see pay gaps narrow significantly in the first year alone. But posting a salary range isn't enough if there's no accountability behind it. Let's move beyond performative transparency toward meaningful equity. Please share this post if you think salary transparency should come with real action. Joshua Miller #SalaryTransparency #PayEquity #Workplace

The Compensation Profession Is Changing. Are You Ready? Ten years ago, compensation was largely a back-office function: lots of spreadsheets, unorganized old job descriptions, static salary surveys published once a year, and a lot of pay data analysis that took time complete and even more time and employees to summarize in PowerPoint. Technology has changed everything. Modern comp teams are no longer data wranglers. They are pay data strategists. Survey data is now integrated, interactive, and real-time. AI-powered tools surface insights on labor market shifts, peer benchmarking, and internal pay equity risks instantly. Job evaluation and job leveling approaches that once took weeks are now automated and adaptive. Job architectures are dynamic, global, and tech-enabled, allowing organizations to scale with clarity. And pay communications? They’ve gone from taboo to table stakes with tools that personalize total comp statements for employees. Laws and expectations have shifted fast. In the U.S., pay equity audits are no longer optional. State laws from California to New York now mandate transparency in job postings, salary ranges, and internal processes. Globally, the EU Pay Transparency Directive will push even multinational holdouts to publish gender pay gaps and provide justifications for pay differences. This regulatory wave is forcing comp leaders to integrate equity and reporting into the program design and pay decision making processes. The workplace has changed, and it is not done. Hybrid work, remote-first organizations, and purpose-driven employers have made rigid compensation structures obsolete. Location-based pay? Being reconsidered and adapted to employee and employer needs. Standard annual pay increases? Replaced by more frequent, data-driven market/equity adjustments. Employees today want to understand how they’re paid, why they’re paid that way, and how to grow their careers. As HR and comp leaders we must deliver answers to be trusted and to have the right impact. So, what’s next? The next 10 years will demand greater pay transparency, agility, data insights, and storytelling. Compensation will move from slow-moving data reporting and compliance function to a strategic driver of talent attraction, retention, and productivity. AI will help, but it won’t replace business acumen, context, and judgment. Compensation professionals who thrive will be those who can marry technology with strategy, analytics with empathy, and decision making with storytelling. It’s no longer just about “how much we pay.” It is about how we decide, how we explain, and how we adapt quickly. Are you ready for the next decade of compensation? What are your predictions for the future? #Compensation #HR #PayTransparency #TotalRewards #JobArchitecture #PayEquity #FutureOfWork #WorldatWork #CompensationConsultant #HumanResources #SHRM #Incentives #JobEvaluation #FairPay https://shorturl.at/Iuk4G

📊 Significant Rise in Salary Transparency in Job Ads: What It Means for Employers and Job Seekers According to a recent report by Indeed, 50% of U.S.-based job listings now include employer-provided salary information, marking a significant increase from just 10% in 2019. This surge is attributed to the growing pay transparency movement and state regulations that have been enacted. 📈 Key Highlights: The trend has accelerated from around 30% in 2022, and it is expected to continue growing. States like Colorado, Washington, and California lead in pay transparency, with 81%, 75%, and 70% of job ads featuring pay information, respectively. The New York City metro area saw its share grow from 31% to 58% between August 2022 and August 2023. Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana have the lowest level of pay transparency, with only 33% 36%, and 38% of jobs including the ranges, respectively.  🔍 Implications: 1️⃣ Pay transparency laws are achieving their intended purpose of providing visibility into compensation. 2️⃣ Employers are increasingly recognizing the benefits of pay transparency, such as building trust and potentially closing gender and racial pay gaps. 3️⃣ Even in states without legal mandates, employers are voluntarily disclosing salary ranges, allowing job seekers to make informed decisions. 🤔 What's Next? With over 20 U.S. laws proposed this year at various levels, the momentum for pay transparency is unlikely to wane. The focus may soon shift to public pay gap reporting and sharing the criteria used for pay decisions.

3 seismic shifts Matt McFarlane sees happening in compensation right now: 1. Pay transparency legislation is forcing companies to share numbers. But sharing numbers isn't enough - employees want to understand the "why" behind their comp. How did you arrive at that number? What's the methodology? 2. Gen Z (25% of workforce by 2025) has zero taboo discussing compensation. They view employment differently - no more "jobs for life." This means comp needs to be part of a larger, intentional employee value proposition. 3. Technology is democratizing compensation tools. Even smaller companies can now access sophisticated comp solutions that were previously only available to enterprises. No more clunky spreadsheets. Matt says there's often a disconnect between rewards and incentives. Getting a 2% or 10% raise means nothing without context and narrative. The future isn't just about paying people fairly. It's about: - Making comp decisions meaningful - Empowering managers with data - Creating transparent processes - Building compelling narratives Stop treating comp like a transaction. Start treating it like a strategic driver of engagement and retention. What shifts are you seeing in compensation at your company? Link to the full episode in the comments. #compensation #hr #leadership #futureofwork