Although New York City employers are now required to include a wage range with each job posting, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that everyone is receiving a raise.
New York City’s new pay law, which mandates businesses with at least four employees to provide a “good faith” estimate of a starting and maximum compensation in new job advertisements, went into effect today (including internal promotions and transfers). Providing workers with more salary information seems positive, and it usually is. There are several restrictions to be aware of if you intend to use those listings to determine if you are being paid properly in your current position.
It’s possible that you won’t be able to tell whether you’re getting paid adequately right now by looking at new job listings.
The employers themselves will choose how useful the new rule is. The information may be useful if they include genuine pay ranges. Otherwise, it will just be noise.
Some businesses list broad ranges, with the top wage being $50,000 or even more than $100,000 over the minimum. That is not very helpful. According to Tae-Youn Park, an associate professor of human resource studies at Cornell University, it could backfire on employers if current employees see the maximum amount and inquire as to why they aren’t at or near that level.
Also keep in mind that the pay transparency law only applies to salaries; hence, bonuses and equity compensation are not reported. Salary is only a minor component of the whole package in some industries, like computing and finance.
Additionally, there is a chance that businesses in New York City might start acting dishonestly if they don’t want to follow the new regulation. They will use social networks or other less visible methods of hiring individuals rather than posting for open positions, according to Park. That can ultimately work against individuals with smaller networks since they might pass up opportunities.
You might not be able to compare yourself to other employers’ job postings.
For the same work, different companies may pay different wages; for instance, a larger company may pay more than a smaller one. Your current company may argue that lower pay is justified by their distinctive work culture or the non-salary components of a compensation package, such as remote work flexibility and health benefits.
Of course, you should be proactive and contact your manager to explore a job that is similar to yours but paying more, especially if it’s at your current company or a close competitor.
When you wait until year-end reviews, it’s frequently too late because judgments regarding remuneration have already been made.
Be prepared to explain why you deserve to be paid more than the wage range specified in the job listing. Managers at New York City businesses are being trained on how to respond when employees approach them with compensation questions.
According to Vicki Salemi, a career adviser at Monster.com, current employees should emphasize the benefits they have over a new hire as well as any extra responsibilities they’ve taken on while a post has been open. Also look beyond the newest job postings. Reach out to your old coworkers and employers who could be more ready to discuss their compensation when you worked together, advises Salemi, if all this talk about pay transparency has you worried that you’re underpaid.
Find out when the raise will go into effect if you are successful in securing one.
Keep in mind that New York City has a higher cost of living and tends to pay higher salaries if employees outside of the city are looking to take advantage of the new compensation ranges in job advertisements.
Pay transparency may have certain overall advantages, but that does not guarantee that everyone will gain from it.
There is less disparity as a result of more information being available, according to research on Canada’s pay transparency rules. This can translate into slower salary increases for the top earners. It’s feasible that firms will feel increased pressure to keep salaries low amid greater transparency if the labor market cools off and the US experiences a recession.
According to a different study, when players’ salaries in the National Hockey League were unexpectedly revealed, it changed the way they played. Underpaid players began concentrating more on offense than defense, which had a negative impact on team performance. You can picture how it may work out for specific office jobs.
Your manager will ultimately determine how you feel about how fairly you are being paid. According to Park’s research, unless a manager does a good job of clearly articulating the procedures in place for pay decisions, pay transparency tends to have a detrimental influence on the perception of fairness in the workplace.
Therefore, if your present compensation is less than the range listed for similar jobs, speak with your boss. But be ready for an unpleasant response.
