SEATTLE — With a new year comes new rules for hiring employers. Starting Sunday, Washington businesses with more than 15 employees will be required to disclose pay or salary ranges in job listings.
“I absolutely believe this is going to help save time,” said Keith Wagner, a job seeker in Seattle. “It’s going to cut down on the amount of labor hours spent by HR departments having conversations with prospective employees.”
Currently, in the state of Washington, only 48% of the job listings on Indeed.com include pay or salary ranges, according to the job search engine.
But soon, that will need to change.
“Hopefully it’s a step in the right direction for people like me that are just trying to afford to live in an area like Seattle,” said Christi Kessler, who spent much of the last year on the hunt for a new job in Seattle.
Seattle job seekers like Wagner and Kessler said the hunt can be a tedious process.
"Looking through Indeed, through word of mouth, through LinkedIn," said Wagner.
Kessler added, “Countless application processes and interviews.”
But a regional labor economist said the policy change will shift the power balance between hiring managers and job seekers.
She added that the policy change is designed to address wage gaps based on race or gender.
"Promoting equity in the hiring process," said Anneliese Vance-Sherman, regional labor economist for Employment Security Department. "It levels the playing field.”
Additionally, the job seeker is a hot commodity right now, she said.
“Employers are functionally competing against each other for a scarce labor market,” said Vance-Sherman.
Employers already face a competitive environment in the current market.
“This is also really going to not only signal to job seekers what they can be making but also signaling to other employers what they’re offering,” she added.
That is why the added transparency could make things even more competitive for employers, said Vance-Sherman.
“It absolutely could, with employers being able to see what they’re offering each other,” Vance-Sherman said.
But what is stopping an employer from finding a loophole, by listing an unreasonably wide pay range?
“That has been my experience in positions, where the range is like insane,” said Kessler.
According to the policy, an employer should “provide the applicant with the employer’s most reasonable and genuinely expected range of compensation for the job.”
If employers do not have an expected range, the policy simply suggests creating one, reading, “a scale or range should be created prior to publishing the posting."
Who’s enforcing this? Turns out, forms are available on the state’s Labor and Industries website, where people may file complaints against violators.
But according to Vance-Sherman, “We’re still at the beginning of an experiment.”