Commentary: I’m an executive recruiter. Pay transparency will draw women workers back to Md.

By Debbie Tang

The writer is a Maryland resident and a partner at Bridge Partners, a minority-owned executive search firm focused on diversity, inclusion, and equity, which frequently represents Maryland-based businesses.

Since the pandemic, an estimated 181,000 Marylanders have dropped out of the workforce and have not come back. Most of those Marylanders are prime-age workers, especially women. But a pay transparency bill being considered by the state legislature (Senate Bill 525/House Bill 649 requiring employers to list pay ranges on job postings) could be one of the keys to enticing these women back.

Polling in late December from the National Women’s Law Center/Morning Consult showed that 53% of Marylanders have refrained from applying to a job opening because it did not list a pay range. On the flip side, over two in five (42%) Marylanders reported they have applied for a job opening that wouldn’t have otherwise interested them as a result of the pay range listed alongside it.

As a recruiter focused on placing more women and leaders of color in the C-suite and on boards, I have seen this dynamic play out firsthand. Candidates are often unwilling to consider positions without first knowing the pay range — and for good reason. Historically, a lack of pay transparency can lead to employers underestimating their offers for qualified women candidates, especially women of color.

A few years ago, I was recruiting for a Fortune 500 company that wanted to pay one of their top candidates, a female lawyer, around $150,000, which was less than two thirds of what they were offering a male lawyer ($300,000) for the same position, even though their experience was equally relevant. Not surprisingly, the female lawyer rejected the company’s offer, and they lost out on her talent.

Including pay ranges in job announcements helps eliminate bias that might otherwise seep in—sometimes inadvertently — when pay is set in a black box and helps employers and applicants negotiate more fairly with each other. Aware of these benefits, six states and Washington, D.C., have already enacted their own laws requiring pay ranges in job postings. This means that Maryland has a chance to join its neighbor and show the rest of the region how to show up for both businesses and workers.

This bill is not only good for employees and helps fight gender and racial wage gaps, but it’s good for employers, too. A truth I’ve seen as a recruiter time and time again.

Adding pay ranges to job listings helps businesses attract and retain talent, which is especially vital given the fact there are three open jobs for every available worker in Maryland (as of November 2023). Adding pay ranges also saves everyone time and money in hiring. Otherwise, companies go through multiple rounds of interviews with candidates, across months, only to discover at the end of the process that the employee would never even consider the salary being offered.

Another undersold point: While pay transparency is beneficial to large companies, it is a true lifesaver for small businesses. My family runs a Chinese restaurant in Rockville that has proudly served the community for over 25 years. In a small business like my family’s restaurant, it is extremely hard to find staff, especially post-COVID. If ranges are shared, we do not waste as much time trying to interview people who want much higher salaries than we are able to offer.

Pay transparency can benefit both employees and employers — large and small. It could help bring more highly qualified women back to our state. Most importantly, it could help close gender and racial wage gaps; and I believe that when women are paid fairly, our whole community benefits.

The wage gap often starts with a woman’s first job out of college. As a mother of children growing up in Maryland, I want my son and daughter to be equally valued in their future workplace.

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