06.06.25
When it comes to job advertisements in PR and Comms, there are very few companies who choose to disclose salary information. Despite the strides made towards inclusivity in recent years, there is a lack of action in the area of salary transparency. Despite ties to pay inequality and reduced accessibility to the industry, ‘competitive’ salaries continue to dominate the majority of job ads.
But there is hope for jobseekers yet. Spearheaded by Jo Tidball, We Show the Salary is a grassroots movement calling for a radical shift towards salary transparency. In it’s first couple of months, the campaign has received incredible support from companies across all industries – noteably including some of London’s leading PR agencies. One of these agencies is Full Fat.
To help spread the word far and wide, we asked Full Fat’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO Ella McWilliam a few questions on her motivation behind signing the pledge, and her advice to fellow PR agencies interested in championing salary transparency.
Creating fairer, more equitable opportunities is hugely important to us at Full Fat.
It’s a simple initiative, yet so important. Showing salaries on job ads creates a fairer, more inclusive, and accessible recruitment process for job applicants and helps level the playing field on pay gaps.
Disclosing the salary demonstrates that you are committed to equal pay across genders and ethnicities. No smoke and mirrors. Real, honest communications from the get go.
No one’s time is wasted. By telling people up front what their salary could be, there are no surprises. It gives applicants the chance to decide before they begin the often long application process whether the opportunity is a viable one for them.
Not only is this fairer but it also opens up more opportunities from a more diverse talent pool, ensuring you don’t turn off candidates by omitting the salary. And we know that having more diverse voices in the room is a big win for all businesses.
The PR industry historically has a negotiation-based hiring culture. Agency leaders can use salaries as leverage to get their preferred candidate or save costs, whether it’s underpaying or overpaying them, and this in turn can lead to talent landing positions that they don’t actually want.
The money is very important, don’t get me wrong, but it can’t be the sole reason. Values alignment aligned with a clear path for progression is fundamental .
By being transparent with your salary I believe both the agency and the candidate will make a better more strategic decision on who they hire and which company they join.
I can’t understand why any agency leader wouldn’t! We know that having more diverse voices across our teams creates better, more impactful work, meaning happy clients and a thriving business.
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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.