SALARY NEGOTIATIONS: TRANSPARENCY OR ILLUSION?

🟣 Salary negotiations are one of the most important stages of the selection process. They have a long-term impact on both financial career direction and professional satisfaction. The initial salary expectations expressed by a candidate often become the most important reference point for his future salary growth. If a candidate is unable to negotiate early in the selection process, this can lead to significant long-term income losses.

Successful negotiations are also important for the organization. Clear and transparent confirmation of salary ranges allows for faster identification of the real match between the candidate and the position, shortens the selection time and accelerates decision-making. It also becomes easier to manage the salary structure, ensure internal fairness among employees performing similar functions and reduce the risk of employee turnover.

In our selection practice, a candidate's financial expectations are often discussed even before the selection interviews. Candidates' expectations are not the same - they are directly related to their experience, confidence and knowledge of the labor market situation. Candidates with more experience usually express their remuneration expectations closer to the upper limit of the remuneration range. They often rely on their competencies and professional responsibilities. Meanwhile, candidates with less experience often express more moderate expectations, focusing on the middle of the remuneration range and more valuing the opportunity to establish themselves in the labor market and grow professionally.

Personnel selection processes in European Union countries are based on the principles of remuneration transparency, enshrined in Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. It stipulates that employers must provide information on the starting level of remuneration or the range of remuneration before the employment relationship is concluded, in order to ensure greater transparency. Although legal regulation encourages early and clear discussion of remuneration, in practice, the solutions applied by organizations vary: some discuss the issue of remuneration already at the first stage of selection, while others only at the final stage of providing a job offer. This shows that legal regulation sets the direction, but real change is determined by the readiness of organizations to communicate transparently and build relationships based on trust with candidates.

So today we’re looking at research on the topic of salary negotiations, most of which has been conducted in the U.S. Despite uneven regulation of pay transparency, a growing number of U.S. employers are voluntarily publishing salary ranges nationwide to remain competitive and meet candidate expectations.

‼️ We raise questions, are salary negotiations: transparency or illusion? When do negotiations start, what helps prepare for the negotiation process and how to maintain a consistent negotiating position throughout the selection process? Why do candidates still lack the determination to negotiate?

When do salary negotiations begin?

Research shows that when a candidate’s salary range is provided early, negotiations take place at earlier stages of the selection process. When the selection process lacks transparency, negotiations are often delayed until the “offer stage.” This finding is also highlighted in a 2022 journal Nature Human Behavior published investigation, conducted based on an international analysis of organizational and labor market data (mainly in the context of OECD countries). The study examined how pay transparency affects pay setting and negotiation processes, and the results show that greater pay transparency changes employee behavior - they form pay expectations earlier and are more actively involved in negotiations at an early stage of selection. Meanwhile, in organizations where information about pay is limited, negotiations tend to focus on a late stage of selection - the moment of the job offer. The study also highlights that transparency not only changes the timing of negotiations, but also affects the overall level of pay inequality in organizations.

Key factors determining the preparation for negotiations and their progress

Recently performed investigation shows that preparing for salary negotiations is increasingly becoming a data-driven process. This means that candidates who rely on market analysis and a clearly defined salary range achieve significantly better results. Candidates who participate in negotiations receive, on average, about 18-20% more salary than those who accept the first offer. Negotiations are most effective when they are perceived as a collaborative process, not a conflict.

A candidate's experience also clearly strengthens negotiation skills and improves their results, and with increasing professional experience, specialists become more skilled and more often successfully negotiate for higher salaries. In 2025, a study published in the Journal of Business Ethics investigation, conducted in the USA (with a total sample of more than 700 respondents), examined how the evaluation of an employee's work performance affects his or her expectations of compensation. The results of the study show that candidates who have achieved a higher position or higher results express higher compensation expectations, and this relationship is strongly influenced by a subjective sense of "merit", especially for those who have achieved better results. It was also found that salary transparency and comparison with other employees affects different groups differently: the best-rated employees tend to increase their bargaining expectations even more, while those in lower positions are more likely to lower them.

Why are candidates hesitant to talk? 

A large proportion of candidates are still hesitant to negotiate salary. Glassdoor analysis A survey of nearly 6,700 professionals in the United States, based on the 2011 survey, found that as many as 541,000 employees did not negotiate on their last job offer. The study data suggests that negotiations often fail not because of a lack of preparation, but because of the perceived „unacceptability“ or risk of negotiations. In other words, candidates often behave conservatively not because they are not good at negotiating, but because the organizational context suggests that negotiations may be undesirable or ineffective.

in 2023 conducted by the Pew Research Center investigation, based on a representative survey of 5,775 U.S. adults, analyzed employees' behavior in salary negotiations. The study found that most employees do not negotiate about salary at all, and women are slightly less likely than men to initiate negotiations and more likely to indicate that they do not feel comfortable doing so. It was also found that younger and less experienced employees are significantly more likely to feel distrustful and avoid negotiations, which indicates a clear relationship between experience, confidence, and negotiation readiness. These data reveal the need for women and young professionals to pay more attention to targeted preparation in order to strengthen their self-confidence by overcoming fears related to negotiations and ensuring more effective negotiation outcomes.

🟣 By understanding that the success of salary negotiations is determined not only by the candidate's preparation, but also by the organization's maturity level and compensation transparency, it is possible to significantly reduce psychological stress in each selection and turn negotiations into a process of mutual agreement. Organizations that are able to manage the negotiation process in a structured and consistent manner will more easily achieve more sustainable selection results and ensure employee engagement and retention rates.