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Salary History Ban: Do We Need It?

It's debatable if the ban is genuinely beneficial or just illustrative. This ban has already successfully been implemented in several countries like the USA and Germany. The candidates in these parts of the world are not strained to reveal their salary history to the employer until they choose to.

Even though the salary ban has its limitations, it does aim at bringing an end to gender pay discrepancies. This ban only seems effective till a certain range of levels at an organization. Once an individual has crossed this benchmark, the emphasis moves away from how much one earns but what work you do. 

Do you think this ban is necessary?

As debatable as it is, it does pop up to seem more like a method to avoid awkwardness in interviews.

Salary must not be the foremost topic in an interview but it sure does play an important role, it is essential to know a candidate’s last pay as that helps any company understand the recent market data. The transparency between the employee and the employer is extremely helpful for the efficient functioning of the company.

On the contrary, knowing the candidate’s last pay might overshadow his work and talent, for example, if a candidate is stuck in a cycle of low pay, they might never be able to acquire a better position. 

Simply prohibiting the subject does not prevent businesses from offering lower salaries to candidates. It also does not safeguard employees who are looking for a raise in their present or next job.  

However, the use and over-reliance on the wages of the candidates do create a simulated bias during hiring. When an employer asks an applicant about his last pay it may appear as a dismissal of the applicant’s qualification but excluding the question completely will also omit the chances of the employee receiving the hikes they deserve, in the absence of a salary history there is a possibility of a complete anomaly between what the candidate aspires and what is provided.

The Human Resource departments of many organizations do agree with the fact the salary history ban is a very debatable topic. They also do mention the perspective in light that the ban might help exclude bias and provide new opportunities to their employees but at the same time, others also say that the ban might affect negatively to the market data and create anomalies. 

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Pooja Mahabadi - A Journalism pursuant—a delirious, zealous, and passionate content writer.

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