Why We REquest A Salary Range For JOB Ads

We request a salary range, depending on experience, for jobs posted in our bulletin. The range can be quite broad, but we feel it’s an important way to be great role models, reflective of the change we wish to see in maximizing the potential for equal pay for equal work and minimizing the potential for implicit bias in the hiring process. 

As those who care deeply about bias in hiring processes, not including a salary range is one of the ways that implicit bias can impact the ultimate outcome. You might know that California now requires that an employer provide applicants with this information upon request, but that still places the onus on the applicant to ask for it -- something that we know could still possibly disadvantage them in the hiring process.

Not giving a salary range can particularly prejudice women and people of color, who for cultural and historical reasons - reflecting the existing biases in society - might not ordinarily negotiate as aggressively around salary. Also, as many employers base a salary offer on past salary history, this potentially embeds an existing inequity into the process.

Asking for this information for new postings from has been transformative for them. Many organizations get to review their rationale for not including it, and when they see what their peers are doing, have come around. The next step in some of these organizations is to remedy internal salary inequities, which is major progress for equal pay for equal work.

Here is a helpful article and checklist about this issue published recently in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and here is another helpful piece.

Thank you for considering our request. If you are unable to provide a salary range you can request a waiver setting out the reasons why a salary range isn’t possible.