India Inc prioritizing pay transparency to attract best talent in 2023

Bengaluru, 15 May 2023: Data from Indeed, the world’s no1 jobs portal, shows that 46% of all India job postings on Indeed now include employer-provided salary information, an increase of 64% in the last one year and 11% in the last three years.

The trend, however, has not been consistent every year, with a 3% degrowth in March 2020 compared to the previous year, and a significant 24% decrease in March 2021 compared to 2020. In India, there is no legislation that mandates pay transparency. However, the workplace has experienced a shift since the pandemic with GenZ coming into work, who are embracing pay transparency. Many organizations around the world are adopting pay transparency policies and practices in order to create a good workplace atmosphere and reduce the gender pay gap.

Sashi Kumar, Head of Sales, Indeed India said “As India’s population continues to grow, there is a concurrent increase in the number of employed Indians. Employers in India are adapting to changing demographics by adopting new strategies to attract the latest generation of talent. High attrition rates and intense competition for skilled workers necessitate a shift toward pay transparency. Both job seekers and employers can benefit from this approach, as it can enhance the efficiency of the hiring process for both parties. Going forward we see the market being more conducive for pay transparency.”

The geographic and industry-wise disparity in transparency

In India, despite the overall increase in salary visibility in postings, the numbers vary significantly based on geography and industries. A clear disparity was observed between tier 1 cities and tier 2,3 cities. Cities like Delhi (208%), Mumbai (71%), and Bangalore (63%) saw the highest increase in jobs that offered salary data to potential job seekers. On the flip side, tier 2 and 3 cities like Nashik (-8%) and Surat (-2%) saw a decline in job postings with payment details. Other cities like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Mohali only saw only a marginal increase of 2%, 15%, and 18% respectively. Remote job postings also saw a 76% increase in payment information, showcasing how important remote jobs still are in the Indian landscape, with more employers choosing transparency to attract the right talent.

Over the last year, pay transparency has grown the fastest in high-wage occupations like finance, engineering, and mathematics. The finance industry saw the most significant increase in salary transparency, with a 122% increase from 2022 to 2023, followed by engineering with a 107% increase and mathematics with a 100% increase. Meanwhile, sectors like education (16%), media (17%), and marketing (20%) saw the least increase in salary transparency in the last year.

Pay transparency a priority across the globe

More than 40% of US job postings on Indeed now include employer-provided salary information, an increase of 137% in the last three years, due in large part to the introduction of transparency legislation and the tight US labor market—and the trend continues to rise. Over the last year, the most significant rise in transparency has occurred in high-wage jobs, which have historically provided less pay information upfront.

Closer home, in Singapore as well there has been an 82% increase in salary details in job postings since March 2019.

Methodology: We calculate pay transparency share in IN job postings by dividing the number of unique job postings with a salary into a total count of unique advertisements in a given month. Pay information is extracted from postings published on Indeed.com. Salaries advertised as being paid daily or weekly are omitted from the analysis.