BofA Plans to Restrict Pay Conversations During Job Interviews

Bank of America Corp. will impose new restrictions on inquiring about a job candidate’s salary history, aiming to help close a gap between how much women and minorities are paid compared with other employees.

The policy, which takes effect in March, “restricts how we solicit compensation information from candidates during the hiring process,” Sheri Bronstein, the bank’s global head of human resources, said in a memo to employees this week. “We will implement it across the company to help ensure we consider new hires for individual qualifications, roles and performance, rather than how they may have been compensated in the past.”

Bank of America was already required to meet similar rules in states including Massachusetts and California. The bank’s most recent review found that female employees in the U.S. and U.K. are paid on average 99% of what male employees earn, after adjusting for factors including role in the organization, experience, work location and performance, according to the memo. Minority employees are also paid on average 99% of what their non-minority colleagues make, the review found.

Bank of America’s figures exactly match results released last week by Citigroup Inc., which said it also pays women and minorities 99% of the rate for men and non-minorities, taking into account job level, function and geography. The New York-based bank said it’s taking steps to close the gaps.

U.S. Discrepancy