Dive Brief:

• Sixty-seven percent of more than 2,000 participants in a Monster survey said they were unable to negotiate for their current salary. Data emailed to HR Dive by Monster, which was compiled in July, revealed how candidates negotiate salary in addition to vacation time. 
• For pay negotiations, 41.5% of 1,982 respondents said that their company told them what they would make. Only 4.4% of those polled reported they were offered a pay rate higher than what they'd asked for, and 14.6% of candidates provided a salary range and the employer offered them a salary within that range, Monster said. For 15.3%, the final salary offer was less than what they requested.
• When negotiating for vacation time, 22% of 1,667 respondents were able to negotiate their vacation time and agreed with the statement: "The vacation policy is why I work here." Some respondents (32%) tried to negotiate for more time, but were unsuccessful, while 21.3% said they were "just happy to get hired," Monster said. 

Dive Insight:

Although some reports have suggested salary negotiations are the new norm for most job seekers, those who don't partake cost themselves money in the short-term as well as into the future. The subject of salary is coming up earlier in the hiring process, as workers may be becoming more aware of their value in a tight talent market. Many believe that for some job seekers not negotiating could contribute to wage gaps.

On the whole, pay equity across genders and other demographic groups is top of mind for many employers, as they struggle to adjust policies and audit past practices in an effort to achieve parity. A move toward salary transparency can be helpful, but there are limits to what businesses should make public, experts have said. 

"You can be transparent about the company's overall compensation philosophy, how it sets compensation, and how it evaluates performance, salary increases, and bonuses without actually handing out a spreadsheet indicating how much each person earns," Felicia Davis, a partner at Paul Hastings, previously told HR Dive. 

Many suggest competitive salaries now include more benefits, too. Unlimited paid time off is one perk employers have used to sweeten the pot, but one survey showed that around a third of employees don't even utilize the time they earn with traditional PTO policies.