By Christina Greenber

Several states across the country recently adopted new salary transparency laws, mandating that hiring companies post the salary ranges for their open positions. But transparency is just a starting point. It’s time to put a stake through an underlying practice that’s undermining fairness: negotiating salaries. .

In 2022, New York City lawmakers voted to require most job postings to post a minimum and maximum salary range for the position. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada and Washington already have salary-range disclosure laws in place, and Rhode Island’s equal pay law took effect on January 1, 2023. This long overdue measure intends to help rectify historically unfair wage gaps. 

The Impact of Negotiating Salaries and the Gender Pay Gap

A 2020 study from the Pew Research Center found that women earn 16 percent less than men working in the same position. Women with the same education, qualifications, experience and title make 84 percent of what their male counterparts do.  This means they would have to work almost six more weeks in a year to balance out that inequity. This gap is even wider for women of color.

These gaps are well-known. Less obvious is an insidious practice that perpetuates them: negotiating salaries. . But it’s something Edgility sees frequently in leadership searches. Take one recent job search to find a team leader for a large education nonprofit. Everything seemed to be going right: The organization was interested in an excellent applicant with strong qualifications and experience. But when it came time to prepare an offer letter for this Latina candidate, things went sideways. They offered her less than the salary range internally discussed, assuming salary negotiations would take place, and thus leaving themselves “some wiggle room.”  

This talent search is an example of why salary negotiations must be relegated to the past. I don’t believe this organization lowballed the applicant because they are intentionally racist or sexist — but my instincts tell me they wouldn’t have undermined their own salary offer with a similarly qualified white man.

Negotiating Salaries Perpetuates Gender Stereotypes 

There’s an old canard that women get lower salaries because they don’t ask for more; they are encouraged to “push back” and “lean in.” It’s not just insulting and victim-blaming, but factually wrong. Women aren’t helped, but rather set back by such negotiations. A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research reported, “Although substantial resources are used to improve negotiation skills, there is limited evidence of the impact such training has on salary negotiations.” In essence, no amount of salary negotiating skills will make up for the gender bias women continue to face. 

Women suffer in negotiations not due to incapability, but because their perspective is rooted in a current salary that is already too low — a self-reinforcing form of disadvantage. Worse, women are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. When women engage in negotiating salaries, research shows they are more likely to suffer reputational damage than receive additional dollars. Meaning either way they are earning a lower salary or receiving a lower offer.

The unavoidable conclusion: it’s time we stop trying to “fix the women,” and fix the deeply flawed system that created a Catch-22 for both women and people of color. In our view, asking women to continue to negotiate salaries is asking them to keep playing cards with a stacked deck; it unfairly puts the onus for change on the victims of an inequitable system.

What To Do Instead of Negotiating Salaries 

Hiring through negotiating salaries is inviting a game of darts in the dark. Enough with the games:It’s time we turn on the lights and approach hiring with eyes wide open. Here’s how organizations serious about equity can fix the salary negotiation problem:  

1. Adopt a non-negotiations policy for employee recruitment. Employers have prejudices that affect salary offers, and “salary ambiguity” opens the door for discrimination. If you don’t engage in negotiating salaries, you take the pressure off candidates. No one wants to leave money on the table, however, so make sure to let them know that’s not the case early on in the hiring process. This builds trust from the get-go. It also benefits new employees who will feel they are supported, rather than constantly needing to advocate for themselves.
2. Do the market research and make sure pay offers are fair and competitive. These “salary assignments” should be determined based on the job description, level of responsibility, and experience. It’s long past time to stop offering new candidates pay based on what they currently make. We know there is a gender pay gap, so why would we base salary on what people currently earn? Pick a range that’s fair and stick to it — don’t change the rules of the game halfway through.
3. Commit to transparency. Publish your pay ranges along with the position description. And when you make an offer, explain that not negotiating salaries is rooted in a commitment to equity. 
4. Talk about salary early and often. If it’s just coming up for the first time in the offer letter, it’s too late. 
5. Communicate when there will be opportunities for salary adjustments. Throughout the course of the year, there may be times to reassess. 

It’s time to bring sunlight and fairness to the hiring process, and push for systemic change. Pay transparency mandates in states across the country are a good first step, but we must take it further. It’s time to end the game of negotiating salaries, which only leads to suspicion, distrust and inequity, and adopt employment practices that are worthy of the organizations – and employees – they are meant to serve.