Massachusetts’ new salary range transparency law can be a tool for companies looking to attract biopharma professionals while also helping candidates and current employees improve their job searches and salaries, according to two experts.
Massachusetts’ new salary range transparency law should benefit not only biopharma job candidates and employees but also employers, according to Megan Driscoll, the founder and former CEO of PharmaLogics Recruiting who helped write the legislation.
“It should be a tool for attraction to Massachusetts-based, Boston-based, Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical companies as a place that says, ‘Hey, we care about you workers. We care about equality. We want you to be paid fairly, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is,’” Driscoll told BioSpace.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed the salary range transparency act into law July 31. Starting July 31, 2025, public and private employers with 25 or more employees must:
- Disclose pay ranges in job postings
- Provide a position’s pay range to employees who are offered promotions or transfers
- Upon request, provide pay ranges to employees who already hold a position or are applying for it
In addition, starting Feb. 1, public and private employers with 100 or more employees must submit wage data reports to the state. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development will share that information through published aggregate wage reports.
Driscoll expects Massachusetts biopharmas to embrace the new law.
“There is no better employer than a biopharmaceutical employer in Massachusetts, and there’s a reason for that,” she said. “They have a real opportunity not only to maintain that status but to eclipse it with this because they are so well suited to be able to handle these really amazing opportunities for connection with their personnel and to be really seen as an employer of choice in the state.”
Helping Job Candidates, Employees Improve Job Searches, Salaries
The law will benefit biopharma professionals in several ways, according to Driscoll, who’s now founder and CEO of Megan Driscoll Consulting, and Andrew Silvia, a partner at Holland & Knight, a global law firm. Silvia co-authored an article about the law shortly after it passed.
Both pointed toward the law helping people be more selective with job searches given they can avoid applying to or interviewing with companies that would pay less than they want to earn. Silvia also told BioSpace that job candidates can see what other employers are paying for similar positions.
In addition, Driscoll and Silvia said the law can help current employees negotiate better pay because they’ll know the pay ranges for their jobs.
Driscoll noted, “It’s a tool in your toolbox, an actual piece of factual information that you can now use to advocate for yourself when you’re looking for a pay increase to say ‘What are the skills that I’m missing? What are the responsibilities that I need to take on? Why am I not earning the top range of that?’”
The new law marks a substantial change in how women and people of color will be paid in Massachusetts, according to Driscoll. For example, she shared, if they apply to a job that they know pays up to $140,000 and they’re qualified or overqualified for it, they won’t ask for the $120,000 on the low end of the salary range. They’ll ask for $140,000.
Helping Employers Make Offers That Match Candidates’ Expectations
When it comes to how the law benefits employers, Driscoll recalled how Massachusetts’ Equal Pay Law, which went into effect in July 2018, affected employers. Companies could no longer ask job candidates how much they’d been paid in the past until after making an offer that included compensation.
The problem with that approach, Driscoll explained, is employers instead asked for salary expectations. When candidates didn’t share them, companies made offers that were lower than what people had been earning and saw those offers rejected. Driscoll shared that her recruiting firm saw its offer-to-placement ratio drop from 1:1 to 3:1 within two months of the law going into effect.
Under the new law, companies with at least 25 employees will have to share pay ranges on job postings, so there will be less chance that candidates get lower-than-expected offers.
Silvia noted two other employer benefits.
“They can look and see what their competitors are offering to pay for similar roles, and they’ll also be able to see whether they’re attracting the same number of candidates they previously did or they expect to at the pay range that they list,” he said.
Making Salary Adjustments Before the Law Takes Effect
As biopharma companies prepare for the law to take effect, they should evaluate the salaries they offer now, according to Driscoll and Silvia. Silvia recommended considering whether pay ranges are appropriate or need adjustments to head off potential employee concerns once those ranges are accessible.
Driscoll agreed, noting, “The last thing a company wants to do is have an employee knock on their door and ask for the salary range and have that candidate be outside that range. That’s going to be bad for them. It’s going to be bad for the employees. That’s not going to work.”
She predicted women and people of color will get pay increases before the law goes into effect, as these employees tend to be at the bottom of pay ranges.
Silvia said that while companies will proactively adjust salaries, the changes likely won’t involve dramatic salary ranges across the board. Instead, he expects limited pay corrections and adjustments.
Talking to Employees About Pay Range Status
Preparation for the law going into effect will also involve companies figuring out how to respond to employees who learn they’re at the bottom of pay ranges, according to Driscoll and Silvia. Silvia noted it’s important that employers work with supervisors and HR professionals on what to say.
“Even if there are legitimate reasons an employee’s towards the low end of a pay range, that can be a difficult conversation to have with that employee, to explain to them what they lack and others may have,” he said. “It will potentially impact that employee’s level of job satisfaction or employee morale.”
Driscoll noted that when employees question where they are in a salary range, businesses have an opportunity to meet that concern where it’s at and make people feel wanted, appreciated, accepted, encouraged and inspired. How companies respond is important for engagement and retention, she explained.
“When employees feel valued and paid fairly and there’s opportunity for growth, there’s nothing better than that,” Driscoll said.
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