I think many here will disagree, but this is spot on. Having a fixed salary range also implies there’s a fixed/well-defined set of tasks for that role, which is only applicable to typical lower-level jobs that do repetitive tasks. Once you get into higher skilled positions, the roles become much more flexible and negotiable.
The HN crowd is exactly the opposite type of people who would benefit from this. Job definitions become fixed. You want to try your next project in Rust? Implement a new database? Start learning the customer-facing side of things? Too bad, the job description didn’t include that, and your salary range is locked in to the job description.
While it seems logical that a fixed salary implies a fixed set of tasks, I don’t think it holds in practice. I’ve worked my share of fixed salary positions where the day-to-day looks nothing like the job posting. It seems all you have to do is add a clause like “and other duties as assigned”.
There is a chance your duties get so out of whack that you request HR to reinterpret your pay, but not only is that a laborious and somewhat arbitrary process, but it seems both HR and management are incentivized to not rule in the employees favor.
While this applies to public advertisements, once you are employed then I don't see why you or the company can't renegotiate based on changed responsibilities.
The important part is that employers post the maximum salary so that job seekers know what the budget is.
Employers should make a separate job ad for each pay grade, and they should provide a detailed explanation of how they determine salary. If the range is $150k to $250k, what are the criteria to make $250k? What's the difference between someone who makes $150k and $175k? That information belongs in the job posting.
I would argue for most people who are not exceptional, the important data is the minimum pay, which helps them identify employers to avoid or aspire to move on from.
Also, an increase in the minimum of the pay range can help people who were hired at lower pay rates know when new hires are getting paid more. Businesses love having this arbitrage opportunity, which is why the common advice is to change employers to maintain market rate pay.
The HN crowd is exactly the opposite type of people who would benefit from this. Job definitions become fixed. You want to try your next project in Rust? Implement a new database? Start learning the customer-facing side of things? Too bad, the job description didn’t include that, and your salary range is locked in to the job description.