Dive Brief:

• In a push to advance equity in the technology industry, Tandem, a software consultancy, published its salary bands for the public, according to a March 10 announcement.
• The salary bands appear on Tandem’s website alongside information about career paths for software engineers and product designers. The company also noted it evaluates the bands against market rates and cost-of-living adjustments "on a regular basis."
• "We know that job candidates from underrepresented groups are often less empowered to negotiate for their salaries, and transparency in salary bands helps to even the playing field and ensure equity," JC Grubbs, founder and CEO of Tandem, said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

The coronavirus pandemic has sharpened employee’s attention to pay fairness, previous surveys have shown. One-third of employees surveyed by Indeed in December said their earning potential was "severely impacted" by the pandemic, and the majority of respondents said they have researched fair pay. Notably, 60% said they were more likely to apply to a job if an employer is transparent about compensation.

Pay transparency, generally, has garnered academic attention as one way to solve pernicious pay gaps. A working paper published in December by the National Bureau of Economic Research noted that while many employers and programs focus on negotiation training or other "fix the woman" initiatives, "differences are less pronounced when it is clear that something is negotiable and what the bargaining range is."

Pay bands and ranges are gaining ground as a compensation strategy, using objective criteria, such as skills and responsibilities, to determine how roles are compensated.

"Having a salary band gives a pay structure that is useful in allowing individuals to know where they stand,” Kathleen Caminiti, a partner at Fisher Phillips, previously told HR Dive.