For many years, employers and candidates alike have treated salary negotiations as something of a guessing game. What is your limit? What is their limit? Can you agree upon a figure that works for everyone?
The situation has changed somewhat in our current age of pay transparency. Due to legislation, many employers now include salary ranges in their job ads; more candidates arrive at interviews with a clear idea of the compensation package.
However, that doesn’t mean that salary negotiations are a thing of the past. Often, a job offer will result in some back-and-forth about the final compensation amount. These negotiations can extend the overall time-to-hire—and increase the risk that you’ll lose an ideal candidate.
In this blog, we’ll look at the best strategy to improve hiring outcomes. But first, let’s take a closer look at what’s changed.
What is pay transparency and how has it affected salary negotiations?
Pay transparency is when an organization publicly discloses information about compensation aimed to promote fairness, equity and accountability. We mostly talk about pay transparency in terms of regulation, but that’s just one factor driving pay transparency:
- Pay transparency legislation: Illinois, Minnesota, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Jersey enacted new pay transparency laws in 2025, joining several other states that ask employers to reveal compensation information.
- Pay information websites: Social platforms such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn make it easier for employees to share and compare their salary information.
- Changing candidate expectations: A recent survey found that 72% of candidates expect to see salary information in job listings. This means that companies are under increasing pressure to advertise salary ranges or risk missing out on talent.
Greater transparency can cause some issues for employers, especially if you have problems with pay equity or pay compression you haven’t addressed. Pay transparency can also be an advantage for the following reasons:
- Controlled salary structure: Hiring teams are more likely to stay within pre-agreed salary ranges in an environment of pay transparency.
- Employee morale: If your team is paid fairly and according to their contribution, pay transparency will assure your team they are being rewarded fairly and instill confidence in your pay practices.
- Shorter hiring cycle: A well-defined salary range means fewer negotiations, which allows your hiring team to fill their roles faster.
Even if you do advertise the salary range in advance, you may still find yourself negotiating with a candidate. They might feel that they deserve the higher end of the range or—in some circumstances—might ask for a salary above your agreed range. How do you manage negotiations such as these?
5 tips for effectively negotiating salaries
Speed is essential throughout the hiring process. The best candidates will have alternative offers, so your hiring team needs to be fast and decisive, especially when it comes to negotiating. Here’s how to get the best results from that process.
1. Know your salary structure
Ideally, you should begin negotiations with a well-defined internal salary structure, with salary ranges tied to experience, skills and responsibilities. It’s also important to have a Total Rewards philosophy that supports your organizational culture and long-term goals. If you haven’t reviewed these things recently, it’s a good idea for senior stakeholders to discuss compensation strategy.
Action items:
- Benchmark your current salary ranges against recent industry data and determine a method to refresh the data periodically
- Identify pay equity issues that might impact current salaries
- Look at your Total Rewards offering and assess the full value of all rewards, including benefits and development opportunities
2. Understand your candidate requirements in detail
Job descriptions are rarely as clear-cut as we’d like to think. Some candidate requirements are negotiable, while others are essential. Hiring managers need to have a precise understanding of what’s needed for the role. This allows them to identify the hire-at-all-costs candidates that might justify additional salary negotiations.
Action items:
- Have a clear list of must-have and nice-to-have requirements for each role
- Be aware of additional skills that might justify a higher salary, i.e. project management experience or technical knowledge
- Involve senior stakeholders in the negotiation process and make sure they’re ready to sign off on compensation decisions when required
3. Aim to stay close to the original salary range
Salary offers have an impact beyond the individual candidate. A larger-than-expected offer might create pay compression issues further down the line, or exacerbate ongoing pay equity issues. On top of that, higher salary offers will have an ongoing effect on labor budgets, which can impact your long-term business resilience.
Action items:
- Decide early if you’re going to accept candidate negotiations, or if each offer will be final
- Explain your salary structure and help candidates understand their growth potential
- Highlight other benefits that might help fulfill candidate expectations
4. Start salary negotiations early
Around one in three candidates turned down a job offer last year, with salary being one of the major factors. This can be a major inconvenience for employers, especially if it happens at the end of a long interview process. It’s a good idea to bring up salary expectations early in the hiring process, so that you can identify and manage expectations before things reach an advanced stage. Some state legislation requires you to do this early in the hiring process.
Action items:
- Make sure that the advertised salary range is accurate
- Keep candidates informed of salary plans throughout the process
- If salary expectations are likely to be a problem, try to deal with it sooner rather than later
5. Work with your hiring team to close the deal
If you are struggling to close negotiations with a candidate, it’s a good idea to bring in the rest of your hiring team. They can help suggest strategies that can help you finalize an agreement, or help develop arguments to justify a higher starting salary. If you don’t have in-house hiring experts, work with a trusted consultant.
Action items:
- Look at one-off bonuses that could be extended to the candidate (an example: offering a full annual bonus to a candidate that joins mid-year)
- Discuss the candidate’s skills and experience with other leaders to see if an increased salary is justified
- Ensure that any decisions you make align with your organization’s broader compensation strategy and budget constraints.
Need help building your dream team?
The rise of pay transparency laws is changing the way employers approach salary negotiations. Candidates now have more information and higher expectations, which means employers must be strategic, transparent, and proactive in their approach.
By embracing transparency and being thoughtful in your approach, you can be more prepared for salary negotiations, build stronger relationships with candidates, attract top talent, and maintain morale among your existing employees.
If you’re looking for more guidance on navigating pay transparency laws or optimizing your hiring strategy, book a call with Helios HR’s team of expert consultants. We can support you with any aspect of your human capital strategy, from attracting bright talent to retaining your best people.
