Recruiters still ask for current salary where no ban applies. Do we stop everywhere?

We are a contract research organisation with about 4,500 employees in 19 countries. In the US states where it is prohibited, and now across our EU countries, recruiters no longer ask candidates what they earn. In the UK, India, Singapore and a few others they still do, and offers there are often built as current pay plus a percentage.

I want one global rule: no salary history, offers set from the range and the candidate's assessed level. Talent acquisition says that without current pay they will overpay in some markets and lose candidates in others.

Has anyone gone global on this, and did the predicted problems actually appear?

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Yusuf DuboisCBS3w ago
People Analytics Lead, Ravenna Chemicals
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Wren ZhangJob Architecture Lead, Silverline Media

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On the same subject, wherever it was asked.

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Oscar Delaney3w ago

Director of Benefits, Lumen Biosciences

The overpaying worry is really a worry that your ranges are wrong for those markets. If a recruiter needs to know someone earns 30% below your minimum in order to offer below your minimum, that is the practice the bans exist to end. Fix the ranges and the objection goes.

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Oscar Delaney2w ago

Director of Benefits, Lumen Biosciences

A practical caveat from India: candidates there routinely volunteer payslips and expect the percentage-uplift conversation, and some read a refusal to discuss current pay as evasive. We kept the global rule but trained recruiters on how to respond when the information is offered unprompted: thank them, do not record it, and explain how the offer will be set. Do not skip that training.

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New hires keep recreating the gap we closed. How do you control starting salaries?1 reply

Recruiters still ask for current salary where no ban applies. Do we stop everywhere?

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