Consultancy job adverts among least transparent on pay, analysis of almost 10,000 listings finds. While many postings in the sector list ‘fake’ perks – including some basic legal rights – as ‘benefits’, three-quarters hide pay rates, for roles which could be thousands of pounds different in terms of salaries.
Businesses could be forced to tell workers what their colleagues earn, under measures mooted by the government. And while those discussions were first reported on in June 2025, with the story yet to progress beyond ‘maybe’ and ‘could’ – a stasis characteristic of a government in turmoil – ministers are reportedly at least considering it as a measure to boost pay transparency, and end pay discrimination, with options including mandating companies to publish their salary brackets on job adverts.
With statutory intervention now on the cards, employee experience platform Reward Gateway | Edenred commenced research, to see which employers would be worst caught out by the possible changes. The company analysed nearly 10,000 job adverts and the salary information advertised in them, to reveal which offer the most and least pay transparency and the prevalence of genuine workplace benefits.
The study found that 18% of job adverts list basic legal rights – like statutory holiday entitlement or lunch breaks – as benefits. Meanwhile, 30% of the advertised jobs did not disclose any salary information, with the industries most likely to do this being estate agents in 154 cases, manufacturing in 143, and worst of all, strategy and consultancy at 205.
Such a high number of jobs without salary listings meant that proportionally, just 24% of job ads in the consulting sector mentioned pay rates. With 64% of job seekers saying they won’t apply for a role in this case, consulting could well be pushing vital talent away from the sector. And while amid a number of hiring freezes and layoff rounds, that may not be a concern to its leaders currently, continued investment in AI instead does not seem to be paying the dividends anticipate, as growth rates continue to flatline. If or when it becomes clear consulting needs to re-engage with the human workforce, pay transparency will become an issue, then.
That will also mean doing away with the level of obscurity the sector currently relies on in its advertising of non-pay benefits. When the researchers polled across all jobs, they found the most common ‘fake’ perks included water (in more than 1,000 cases), coffee in 553 cases, training being provided 457 times, and 28 days of annual leave in 336 ads.
When it came to the worst offenders, strategy and consulting was again high in this regard. While it did not top the list of ‘fake’ perk offerings (training at 391, energy at 300, and apprenticeships at 166 led the way), consulting ads featured these ‘offerings’ in more than 53% of cases (or 145 postings).
All this is pointedly obscuring the actual value of roles across the consulting sector, making it more likely that job seekers feel their time has been wasted – and less likely that they will look for roles there in the future. Because while the highest gaps in actual salary range were found in the estate agents and law sectors (both over £30,000), roles in the consulting sector saw potential salaries differ by upwards of £16,000.
Chris Britton, people experience director at Reward Gateway | Edenred, commented on the study, “Improving transparency is vital to helping both employers and employees. It enables candidates to make informed career decisions, while helping businesses attract and retain top talent. Businesses should prioritise delivering meaningful benefits that support financial, physical, and emotional well-being, rather than repackaging minimal offerings to make roles appear more attractive.”
Source link
#Consultancy #job #adverts #among #transparent #pay #analysis #listings #finds
