New Policy Requiring Salary Disclosure Incites Flood of Positive Response

High fives for salary disclosure. This gif, courtesy of tenor.com, was posted on our Facebook page. 

Since announcing the news on October 19 of our new Jobs Board policy, which requires that salary levels be divulged on all employment postings, the BC Alliance has been inundated with positive feedback. 

Starting Dec. 1, the policy will affect what is generally regarded as the largest arts employment classifieds in the province. The BC Alliance believes that the ongoing trend of not disclosing salary for jobs in arts, culture and heritage is unhelpful to both employers and potential employees and, at worst, may be discriminatory. Our announcement of the policy refers to this article by Vu Le of Nonprofit AF, which states that posting jobs that do not list a salary range perpetuates the gender wage gap, discriminates against people with colour, drives away potential good candidates, who refuse to apply for these positions, and wastes everyones time: “Why not just list the range, and let people self-select if they will apply or not? It cuts down on the number of applicants, and the ones who do apply will be much better matches because they will know exactly what they are getting into.”

Our policy announcement invites feedback — and it has been copious, both via email and on social media platforms.

Here are just a few comments.

“Wow, I just wanted to pass on my thanks for taking the lead on the issue of undisclosed remuneration. I have found it incredibly troublesome to see this trend on the BC Alliance job board, particularly coming from non-profits that place such a value on ethics.” 

“Thank you for this move! It's so frustrating not to have salary mentioned as part of a job posting. Thank you, thank you!” 

"This resolves a very real challenge for job seekers in the arts."

“I lived and worked in the arts in the UK and usually, money is one of the first parts of conversation about a job."

“I find it completely unfair for employers to put the onus on potential candidates to gauge their worth as often time in an interview the potential employer will ask how much you want to earn and if you ballpark too low then you've screwed yourself for a lower wage or if you ballpark too high they don't consider you for the position.”

Yes to salary disclosure on job postings. Another gif, courtesy of Tenor.com, was posted on our Facebook page. 

"Wow, what a clever and benevolent use of your influence over this!"

We're grateful for the positive response we've received — but we're always glad for more feedback. Please feel free reach out to our executive director, Brenda Leadlay (604 681 3535 ext. 209; brenda@allianceforarts.com), or leave us a comment on Facebook.

UPDATE 10/25/17: Vancouver artist Ian "Stan" Wardle, who influenced our new salary transparency policy, provides the following selection of articles about why it's best practice. 

The Real Reason Job Ads Don't Include A Salary Rrange
Put The Salary Range In Your Job Ad, Already!
Do You Post the Salary in Your Job Listings?
10 Reasons Why You Should Include Salary Ranges in Your Job Ads
Does Transparency Lead to Pay Compression? 
Why Salary Transparency Can Make Your Business Better
More Tech Companies Have Stopped Keeping Employee Salaries Secret — and They're Seeing Results