Employers should stop asking job applicants about past pay, report says

Most women surveyed said revealing past wages damaged their confidence in negotiating better salary, reports Lamiat Sabin

Many women said they felt their low pay came back to ‘haunt’ them when applying for a new job (Alamy)

Bosses should stop asking jobseekers about their previous salaries as the question could be holding applicants back when seeking higher pay, according to a report.

The Fawcett Society warned that bosses being allowed to ask about salary history has helped “replicate” the cycle of people – mainly women, those from minority ethnic backgrounds, and those with disabilities – being paid wages lower than others for similar jobs.

Three out of five women said they believed that revealing previous low wages damaged their confidence to negotiate better pay, and it made them feel as though they were being “haunted” by their past salaries.

The Fawcett Society argued that enquiring about past salaries was “pointless” because many people lie about what they have earned.

The feminist campaign group said only a quarter of 2,200 adults it surveyed said they believed pay should be based on past salary.

A huge 80 per cent of them said pay should be based on skill and responsibilities, while 77 per cent said it should be based on the value of the work they do.

The report was released on Thursday to mark Equal Pay Day, the date when campaign groups say women effectively start to work for free for the rest of the year because, on average, they are paid less than men.

It is marked by some Western countries, on different days of the year.

Shobaa Haridas, from East London Fawcett, who started a grassroots campaign to stop employers asking about previous salaries, said: “If you are an employer, asking for salary history is incompatible with a commitment to equal pay.

“Many employers have already ended this practice and we call on more employers to take our pledge.”

Jemima Olchawski, Fawcett Society chief executive, said: “At best salary history questions are annoying and our research shows asking them can damage an employer’s reputation.

“But it goes deeper than that – asking about salary history can mean past pay discrimination follows women, people of colour, and people with disabilities throughout their career. It also means new employers replicate pay gaps from other organisations.

“On Equal Pay Day we’re calling on employers to commit to closing their gender pay and to stop asking about past salaries.”

Campaigners have said that women were paid 11.9 per cent less than men on average this year, but that the full picture of the Covid pandemic’s impact has yet to emerge – due to difficulties with data collection and workers having been furloughed en masse.

Felicia Willow, interim chief executive of the Fawcett Society, has said that recent data suggests that the pay difference for women – especially those who are young, of ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled, or mothers – “may be rising” because of pressures posed by the pandemic.

She suggested the government takes action by “improving childcare provision, making flexible working available to everyone, and tackling the rising cost of living.”

The Fawcett Society has described the pace of change to close the gap so far as “glacial”.

The number of women set to work their entire careers without ever seeing equal pay has increased from 8.5 million to 10 million over the past year, according to research by the Labour Party.

The pay gap is not set to close until 2059, so an 18-year-old woman entering employment today will have to wait until she turns 56 before the gender gap closes, said the Opposition.

Anneliese Dodds, shadow women and equalities secretary, said: “The Conservatives are failing an entire generation of women.

“Labour would take urgent action to close the gender pay gap by giving women the ability to compare their salaries with men doing the same job in a different firm, and forcing employers to bring forward plans to eradicate pay gaps.”