Should every HR job advert include a salary?

‘’We regret to inform you that we are unable to proceed with your application due to misalignment in your compensation expectations’’ – ever had an email like this? 

With pay transparency for job seekers set to become a legal obligation across the EU from 2026, should we also be moving towards salary disclosure here in the UK?

It’s a topic we’ve been thinking about and we recently ran two polls on LinkedIn to see how HR professionals feel about applying for and advertising roles without salaries attached. The results were telling, and a little more mixed than you might expect.

What candidates told us 

When asked “Would you apply for an HR role without a salary listed?” here’s how you responded:

• Yes – If I wasn’t working: 9%
• Yes – If the role looked good: 36%
• Yes – but I’d be nervous: 15%
• No – waste of time: 40%

So, while just over half would still consider applying, 40% would rule it out completely as being a waste of time! Not quite as stark as Personnel Today’s finding that two in three UK workers (64%) are unlikely to apply if no salary is shared. But is this a reflection of the HR job marketplace right now?

What employers told us 

We then flipped the question to clients: “When hiring, do you advertise your HR jobs with a salary?” Here’s what they said:

• Yes – we’re transparent: 58%
• No – let’s see who applies: 10
• No – it’s against company policy: 11%
• No – but I wish I could: 21%

It’s an interesting result and clearly shows the divide. Whilst the majority are transparent, nearly half of the businesses either don’t share salaries or would like to but are restricted. It’s a real double-edged sword. From a candidate’s perspective, not knowing the package can feel like wasted effort. They’ve put in time to apply and sometimes attended interviews only to find the salary is out of scope or worse they get an automated rejection with no feedback. However, there was another point of view. Sometimes applying “blind” can open doors you wouldn’t expect. One of the poll respondents recalls applying for a role where neither the level, scope nor package was clearly stated but it ended up being a perfect fit that led to a brilliant experience.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive

This discussion isn’t happening in a vacuum. In 2026, the EU Pay Transparency Directive will come into effect, requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job adverts, along with other measures aimed at tackling the gender pay gap.

Key points include:

• Pay ranges must be included in job postings.
• Workers will have the right to request pay information, broken down by gender, for people doing the same or similar work
• Greater accountability for employers with over 100 staff, who will need to report on pay gaps.

While the UK isn’t bound to implement the directive post-Brexit, it’s likely to influence conversations here. Multinational organisations will need to comply with their EU operations, and employees in the UK may start to expect the same level of transparency. Why wouldn’t they? Will this put pressure on UK employers to adapt, even without a formal legislative push. 

Will salary transparency move from being optional to expected, and will businesses that resist find themselves on the back foot?

The case for transparency

At HRLife and whenever possible, we always advertise roles with salaries. In our experience, it generates a stronger and more relevant response, saves time for everyone involved, and builds trust right from the start.

For the candidate it offers:

• Efficiency – No time is wasted applying for roles outside their expectations.
• Fairness – Itdemonstrates commitment to equity and transparency.
• Confidence – Applicants feel reassured the role is being advertised at the right salary level. Let’s face it with HRBP roles being advertised between 40-120k – there needs to be some indication to the seniority. 

And for us and our clients it translates to:

• Quality applications – Better match between candidate expectations and role budget.
• Greater candidate commitment – We’re less likely to see candidates withdrawing mid process.  

The challenges

That said, we know it’s not always that simple for a business to advertise directly with a salary. Sometimes clients face genuine challenges — salary bands are under review, there’s internal sensitivity, or there’s concern about competitors knowing the pay structure.

For us personally this year, we’ve only had two roles where we weren’t able to share the salary because of internal client considerations. And yes, those roles were a little harder to market and took longer to shortlist as we had a higher volume of candidates applying who were outside of the salary range and in reality weren’t able to drop to the range on offer. 

Where next?

With EU legislation paving the way, conversations around transparency will only get louder in the UK. While we’re not yet on the same regulatory track, candidate expectations are shifting fast. More job seekers see pay visibility as non-negotiable, and in a market where top HR talent is in demand, ignoring that could mean missing out.

Our view

We think salary disclosure is becoming less of a “nice to have” and more of an expectation. While there will always be circumstances where it isn’t possible, advertising roles with salaries wherever you can is a win for both sides.

As recruiters, we’ll keep encouraging transparency because we’ve seen firsthand that it improves candidate engagement. The question is, will the UK follow the EU and make it mandatory? Time will tell but the direction of travel seems clear.