Should employers stop asking employees about salary history?

A campaign group is urging UK employers to stop asking jobseekers about their previous salaries - The Fawcett Society says asking about previous pay when recruiting contributes to the gender pay gap, by keeping women on lower wages.

The campaign group warned that asking prospective candidates about their salary history meant companies could end up replicating gender pay gaps from other organisations.

• The survey also found that 58% of women and 54% of men felt salary history questions meant they were offered a lower wage than they might otherwise have been paid.

• Only a quarter of people feel that pay should be based on past salaries, compared to 80% of respondents, who felt that their pay should be based on their skill and responsibilities.

• The campaign group also found that 77% of people felt their salaries should reflect the value of the work they do.

The report added that the pace of change to close the gender pay gap was "glacial".

The Fawcett Society stressed that more needed to be done by the government and employers to tackle its causes, such as stamping out discrimination.

It is a proven fact that disadvantaged groups see higher pay offers when employers don’t use salary history information. Simply put, that information gives employers a bargaining advantage. Knowing that a job applicant is currently underpaid, employers can offer a bit more than their current pay level, confident that the applicant will accept. But the applicant may still be paid less than they are worth. Studies show that when access to salary histories is limited, job applicants generally benefit from a more level playing field.

There appears to be a growing trend towards including a salary range in job advertisements which suggests that many employers have voluntarily decided to stop asking about salary histories. This will likely be deemed as a welcome trend, and more employers are expected to follow suit for the sake of reducing pay disparities.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, please get in touch should you have any questions or if you would like to share your points of view.