Out of Scope Issue 89: Salary Transparency
Plus: Rumblings at Twitter and scandal at the Nets.
Thanks to a new law, salary transparency hit New York City like a wave this week, as dollar ranges appeared on job listings and Twitter in equal measure. This week, Hirsch Leatherwood examines the stakes of the new legislation, as well as the ongoing situation at Twitter, scandal at the Brooklyn Nets, and the latest in stunt marketing.
💡ON OUR MINDS: Salary Transparency
Salary transparency laws went into effect in New York City on November 1, requiring a majority of NYC employers to post a minimum and maximum salary on their job listings. This is a developing story in reputation and public image.
Many experts predict the biggest challenge to employers will come from those already employed. If your employees see a job listing for an identical or similar role with a higher salary than their own, they may, understandably, be upset.
There may be other unintended consequences. The entire state of Colorado passed a salary transparency law last year As a result, several nation-wide employers simply stopped hiring there. However, it’s unlikely that any company of that scale could do the same thing in a national business hub like New York City.
The salary transparency conundrum reminds us of an important communications truth: job postings are a form of external comms. Whenever you hire, you’re presenting yourself to the world, and your reputation is at stake. This week, HR Brew examined the ways job listings can turn away older applicants, presenting a possible reputational hazard.
📡 ON OUR RADAR
It’s been difficult to miss the buzz around Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, and the story continues to develop by the minute. It all began last week, when he ousted Twitter’s CEO, chief financial officer, and the company’s top lawyer. He made his decision clear with the statement,” the bird is freed,” via his personal Twitter account, generating an endless amount of chatter and memes across the Internet. Since then, he’s started trying to charge for verified status, revive the social media app “Vine,” and launched a series of brutal layoffs. Amid the shakeup, some brands - including General Mills and Volkswagen Group - are suspending their advertising spending on the platform leading to a decline in revenue.
It’s been a week of not-so-slam-dunk crisis communications for the NBA and one of their most popular franchises, the Brooklyn Nets. After star player Kyrie Irving promoted an anti-Semitic documentary on his social channels, non-apologies and league inaction began to alienate fans (and potentially sponsors). The Nets and the NBA commissioner have since condemned his remarks, but the damage may be done to the league’s credibility in the arena of social justice.
This week, brands have turned to stunt marketing to grab our attention. Between Tropicana’s mimosa maker, a descent of Candy Crush sponsored drones on New York City, and an unexpected Kraft Heinz and Juicy Couture tracksuit collaboration, everyone is talking about out of the box advertising ideas. It will be interesting to see if the media attention leads to sales.
🥊QUICK HITS:
In case you missed these stories this week.
Google unveiled several artificial intelligence projects, from mitigating climate change to helping novelists craft prose.
Major Food Group, the restaurant group behind New York’s buzziest Italian spot Carbone, is going global.
We’ll see you here next week! 👋
HL
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This week’s newsletter is brought to you by the queen of the holiday season, Mariah Carey.
