Job-seekers asking about pay gaps, not salaries

The job seekers of today are asking about matters of diversity and pay gaps more than they did at the beginning of the pandemic. Showing there’s a shift in power dynamics, a new poll result and insights from Newsroom’s Jean Bell offers some extra insight into what this shift means for organisations and recruiters.

The recent poll of current job-seekers by Frog Recruitment shows that 70% are rating diversity, inclusion, and company culture as a very important consideration. “This is a massive shift from the first year of the pandemic, when things like job security, development opportunities, and salaries were important,” says Shannon Barlow, Frog Recruitment’s managing director.

“[Job-seekers] are starting to directly ask those questions, like how is [the company] going in reducing the gender pay gap, or looking at different policies that create that diversity and opportunities for women as well.”

What does that mean for employers? Barlow thinks it will place more emphasis on employers to interrogate their gaps and shortcomings.

Our member, Dellwyn Stuart, chief executive of YWCA Auckland and champion of MindTheGap NZ’s recently-launched pay gap registry, also offers some insight as to what form this might take for employers: “Companies can insist there are as many women on the shortlist as there are men, or insist that there are as many Māori on the shortlist as there are Pākehā. Those are quite simple things you can do in your recruitment process.

Read the full article by Jean Bell for more insights from recruiters on this interesting trend, over at Newsroom here.