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 Jack & Grace.
To help spread the word far and wide, we asked Jack & Grace’s Co-founder Nyree Ambarchian a few questions on her motivation behind signing the pledge, and her advice to fellow PR agencies interested in championing salary transparency.
We’re supporting We Show the Salary because salary secrecy fuels and embeds inequality in the workplace. Being transparent about salaries on job descriptions ensures people inside the organisation are paid fairly, and means candidates can apply for roles knowing what the bottom-line is.
Agencies are always pushing potential clients to be open about the budget… this makes good sense and we need to do the same when it comes to filling roles.
Laura Chambers and I co-founded Jack & Grace having worked together in our first role out of uni. It was in this role we found out we were being paid different amounts for the same job. So, we know firsthand how unfair it is.
Being upfront about salaries shows you care about your people. It’s all very well saying you do – this is about taking the actions that show you do. And when you do that, you retain your talent. Hidden salaries put many people off applying for jobs in the first place, narrowing your pool of potential candidates. And not being upfront about pay means you end up getting quite far down the line with a candidate before you realise there is an expectation mismatch – that’s wasted time for all.
It’s become so normalised that many of us don’t even notice how absurd it is. It’s entrenched, and unpicking it feels hard. (Although, however hard it seems, doing nothing isn’t really an option).
Salary secrecy is salary inequality’s best friend, they prop each other up. People are talking to colleagues about their pay more and more – not addressing the issue head-on doesn’t mean the issue is gone, just that you’re pushing it down the road a bit.
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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.