From now on, firms have to publish pay in job adverts. The government says this will help jobseekers and make it harder to quietly pay people less for the same work. That is the sensible version. Here is what happens next, according to some extrapolation nobody asked for.
Within a fortnight, the first open-salary interview will be live-streamed on a channel called Payday Pit, with a host shouting ‘Going once!’ while a hiring manager stares at a candidate who has just said the word ‘flexible’. Recruitment agencies are already hiring auctioneers. One firm has trademarked the slogan ‘Bid Farewell to the Pay Gap.’
For jobseekers, the upside is real. You finally know the range before spending four hours on a cover letter. The downside is that the range is now a starting bid, and somebody in accounts has read the same advert and is quietly offering a little more.
Ministers insist nobody will be auctioned, only advertised. Nobody has yet explained why the advert needs a countdown clock.
So what does this mean for you? If you are job hunting, read the range, assume the top figure is aspirational, and do not raise your paddle at anything until you have seen the benefits package.