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Salary Pitfalls: Disagreements cause applications to fail

Düsseldorf, 22/02/2024

  • Different salary expectations are often a reason for the end of application processes, according to recruiters
  • More than half of companies want to systematically improve salary transparency
  • Online survey by The Stepstone Group of 5,700 employees, including 750 recruiters

Düsseldorf, 22.02.2024. The delicate salary issue is one of the biggest pitfalls in the application process. In a recent survey by The Stepstone Group, more than half of recruiters (51 percent) stated that application processes often fail due to differing ideas about salary. 23 percent say an application often falls through because the salary issue was not addressed early enough.

Applicants, on the other hand, would like companies to provide clear information on salary. 6 in 10 (59 percent) have already turned down an application for a suitable position because no information on salary was available - 14 percent more than in 2022. 86 percent would welcome it if companies in Germany were to disclose salaries as a general rule.


Every second company is working on more transparent salary measures

Meanwhile, recruiters still see room for improvement within their own organisations when it comes to salary transparency: according to the Stepstone survey, 47% of companies have not yet planned any initiatives to deal more openly with the topic of salary. 17 percent want to introduce clearer and more transparent salary guidelines, while 16 percent guarantee equal pay for equal work regardless of gender and origin, and 15 percent ensure that remuneration structures are continuously reviewed or updated. Only 15 percent say they publish salary ranges for each position.

"Companies that position themselves well when it comes to salary transparency and back up their words with actions meet applicants at eye level and help them make the best possible decision," emphasizes Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, labor market expert at The Stepstone Group. "And that's not all: it helps them to find more applicants in times of great labor shortage, to keep the application process leaner and more transparent and to retain staff in the long term. Salary is and will remain one of the key decision-making factors when looking for a job and is becoming even more important due to inflation and the new balance of power on the labor market," says Zimmermann.

More information:

An overview of the results of the study and other benefits of salary transparency can be found in the Insights article "Win-win: How salary transparency strengthens companies and employees": https://www.thestepstonegroup.com/en/insights/win-win-how-salary-transparency-strengthens-companies-and-employees/

Download the Stepstone Salary Report 2024 and further information and assessments for employers and managers: https://www.stepstone.de/e-recruiting/gehalt-deutschland/

Information and assessments for employees and applicants: https://www.stepstone.de/magazin/gehaltsvergleich

About the Stepstone survey on salaries and salary transparency 2023/2024
How satisfied are employees in Germany with their salary? Can they assess their market value? And how transparent are they about their salary? In November 2023, Stepstone surveyed around 5,700 employees in Germany, including around 1,200 managers and around 750 recruiters, on these and other topics. The survey is representative of the German working population by age, gender and education.