23.05.25
The world of PR has been plagued with ‘competitive’ salaries for as long as we can remember. Despite the importance of clear salary bands to jobseekers (and not to mention the ripple effect on pay inequality), salary transparency remains a rarity for the majority of job ads.
To exemplify, at the time of writing, there is 115 ‘public relations’ jobs on LinkedIn that have been posted in the past month. Add a salary requirement to the filters, and that number drops to 21 (12 of which are recruitment agencies). For an industry so quick to claim people-first, inclusive and progressive values, salary transparency is a clear sticking point.
But thanks to one grassroots movement, perhaps the tide is finally turning. We Show the Salary, launched by Jo Tidball, is on a mission to reduce the inequalities caused by missing salary information and make salary transparency the status quo. With some incredible companies and PR agencies already signed up, we asked Jo to answer a few questions on her mission and motivation behind the campaign.
We Show the Salary is a business-led campaign that aims to get more employers to show salary info on their job ads – to support fair and inclusive recruitment, and to help level the playing field on pay gaps. You can get accredited as a We Show the Salary employer by taking a pledge to show salary info on 100% of your job ads. The campaign launched in April 2025 with support from founding partners including the Co-op, AEG Europe, Good Energy, Ketchum and Full Fat. In the PR and comms sector, early adopters of the pledge include Jack & Grace, Little Red Rooster, Milk & Honey, Curzon, PrettyGreen, Hope & Glory, Zeno, Rooster, LMC and Bottle.
It’s been easy for employers to follow the trend to put ‘competitive’ instead of actual numbers, without necessarily thinking about the impact this has on job applicants. In a lot of cases, there might be internal barriers or concerns about making a move towards salary transparency. We want to work with employers to reset the status quo, so that job ads that show the salary or salary range become the norm.
Being clear about salary upfront sends a strong message about the kind of employer you are – one that genuinely cares about fair and equitable pay, and one that respects people’s time and effort. No salary info on a job ad is a dealbreaker for loads of people – so showing the salary means you’ll get more applications, and from a wider talent pool. It also saves time and resources in your talent acquisition process, by removing bottlenecks and making sure everyone’s aligned on pay from the outset.
Employers don’t go into a hiring process without having an idea of what the role will pay – so choosing to put ‘competitive’ in the job ad just means you’re keeping it secret. This secrecy entrenches pay inequalities and creates barriers that stop people from applying to jobs that they could be great for. Our research has found that in reality ‘competitive’ tends to signal the opposite – it makes people suspect a low salary or a negotiation process that’ll be weighted in favour of the employer. It can also raise concerns about company culture and pay equity within the business.
It’s not enough to say that you care about your people, or that you’re a socially responsible business, or that you support diversity and inclusion – your actions need to reflect this too. Take a look at the resources on our website and start thinking about what steps you’d need to take in order to start showing salary info on your job ads. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to how to show salary info on job ads, and we’re keen to support all employers who are working towards doing this – if you’d like to chat, please get in touch – team@weshowthesalary.org
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Interested in finding out more about the We Show the Salary movement? Head to www.weshowthesalary.org.uk to discover who’s signed up, and how you can get involved.
**Latte is committed to championing salary transparency whenever possible across our job ads. Occasionally, clients do not wish to disclose salary information, in which case we encourage jobseekers to get in touch so we can provide clear information on the salary on offer. We are working towards a policy of 100% salary transparency on all Latte job ads.**