Bridging the Gap: How HR Leaders Can Turn Compensation Transparency Into a Strategic Talent Advantage

Compensation expectations and market reality are drifting apart, and HR professionals find themselves at the centre of the gap. A JobLeads analysis of 811,000 job postings and 245,000 candidate responses gathered between July and December 2024, covering seven markets including Ireland, finds that HR professionals expect an average salary of $133,322 (approximately €120,900) against an average offer of $90,725 (approximately €82,300), a gap of $42,596 (approximately €38,600). That figure notably exceeds the US national average gap of $33,332.

The data signals opportunity rather than alarm. More than half of candidates never negotiate, not because they lack confidence, but because they believe employers are closed to it. Three priorities emerge: closing the knowledge gap on pay negotiation, strengthening compensation benchmarking with expectation data, and accelerating pay transparency as a talent advantage.

The negotiation gap is solvable. JobLeads found that nearly three-quarters of employers expect candidates to negotiate, yet candidates remain unaware. Beata Stefanowicz of JobLeads captured it clearly: the disconnect is not with hiring managers, but with candidates who do not realise the door is open. HR leaders have a brief to redesign candidate communications so that salary norms are explicit from the outset.

Irish HR leaders face this challenge amid significant pay governance change. IrishJobs data from late 2025 shows 72% of candidates avoid roles without salary information, and 39% of recruiters report candidates dropping out when salary is raised too late. The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires Ireland to mandate salary range disclosure by June 2026. Organisations that treat this as compliance miss the strategic advantage available to those who treat it as talent strategy.

The JobLeads breakdown by HR specialism is a useful planning tool. Strategy and management roles carry the largest expectation gap at $50,635 (approximately €45,900), generalists show $48,838, and HR services roles the smallest at $44,509. These differentials identify precisely where compensation benchmarking should be refreshed and where published salary bands will reduce candidate attrition and improve offer acceptance rates.

Three actions will convert these findings into competitive advantage. First, publish structured salary bands for all roles and review them annually, beginning with the HR function itself. Second, train hiring managers and recruiters on negotiation norms to close the awareness gap that JobLeads identifies. Third, treat the June 2026 Pay Transparency Directive deadline as the foundation of a lasting compensation governance framework, not a minimum compliance threshold.

The JobLeads findings send a clear message to HR leaders in Ireland and beyond. The compensation expectation gap is not a recruitment problem: it is a transparency and communication problem that HR functions are well placed to solve. Organisations that build clarity into compensation practices now will find that trust, retention, and talent attraction follow as natural results.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)