Ontario updates job posting rules to boost transparency

Searching for a new job can be overwhelming, but new changes to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act may give job seekers more leverage.

The updated rules took effect at the start of the new year and are designed to hold employers accountable, particularly when it comes to transparency around artificial intelligence, salary ranges and more.

If you’ve spent any time on the job market these last few years, you know it can be tough.

Job postings with no salary range, artificial intelligence screening out candidates and ghost jobs – AKA, postings for positions that don’t really exist.

And if you do manage to break through it all and get an interview, oftentimes you may never get a call back.

But as of Jan. 1, Ontario has a new set of rules aimed at companies with more than 25 employees.

The first big rule change requires them to disclose whether or not they use artificial intelligence to screen candidates.

“So a lot of organizations do use some kind of technology to help them sift through the resumes. What they usually do is they will have the programs go through the applications to find key words that they like, that they’re trying to find. And then that will be how they can go through it and come up with a short list,” said Margaret Yap, human resources management professor at the University of Toronto.

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Companies must also give a mandatory callback to candidates within 45 days of their last interview, even if they don’t get hired.

“[You can ask them], what am I missing? What can I do the next time? What are the things that you are looking for that I currently do not have,” said Yap.

Postings must now include a salary range within a bracket of $50,000, and can no longer specify for Canadian-specific experience.

“The range is actually pretty huge. Like, $50,000 is the range. If you’re posting for even my job, an associate professor job, you might say the pay range is between 80,000 and 130,000, and that’s still very large. People don’t know where they might fall in that range,” said Nita Chhinzer, an HR professor from the University of Guelph.

“So I’d be very concerned because, in my opinion, I think the range is too large. It could have been a percentage of the job – for example, someone that is making 50,000, it could be between 50 and 65 so it’s a more narrow range, and I think that that would be helpful,” said Chhinzer.

But experts warn some of the changes might actually limit applicants.

“People might self-select out of the process if they see that the pay range is higher than what they think that they’re worth,” said Chhinzer.

In a statement to CHCH News, David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development said the Ontario government is building a fairer, safer job market across the province by leveling the playing field for job seekers, cracking down on scams and bringing real transparency to hiring.

“We are proud to lead the way in establishing the first comprehensive framework in Canada for pre-employment that will support workers throughout the hiring process. Anyone looking for work deserves to know three things up front: what the job pays, whether the job is real, and how your application is being judged. This is about putting time, money and power back in the hands of job seekers, instead of leaving them guessing or wasting their energy on dead-ends.”

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