We show prospective hires everyone’s salary. Here’s why

Transparency has become something of a buzzword in the workplace in recent years. Many companies have adopted a policy of transparency, noting the proven benefits of sharing information about business operations. 

Yet, so much of this conversation ignores the most powerful element of a truly transparent workplace: pay transparency.

It’s understandable. Discussing one’s pay has traditionally been taboo, and an employer sharing salary information can feel compromising on a number of levels. In many industries, such as architecture, policies that prohibit sharing professional services pricing externally are often reflected in internal operations as well. The long-standing assumption has been that a culture of secrecy is good for business. 

Our company, Work Program Architects, has been challenging that assumption since the very beginning. For nearly 14 years now, we have had an open-books policy toward our entire operation, including compensation. In that time we have seen an overall retention rate of 79%, meaning that more than three-quarters of the people we have hired in the past decade and a half are still with the firm today. 

However, we have found that the benefits go far beyond attracting and keeping talent. Pay transparency has been a transformative policy that has diversified our staff, promoted financial literacy, and created a culture of belonging and ownership. 

It has given us a competitive edge, and we believe it can do the same for many others who are willing to take a leap of faith with their employees. 

Starting Before the Beginning

The decision to go fully transparent when we started WPA wasn’t easy, but it felt necessary. We had seen the negative impacts of secrecy—how disparities creeped in when no one was looking, and how after-hours chatter about inequities in pay could fracture a team and negatively impact a project and the business. 

In order to eliminate secrecy, we knew we needed to address it at the very beginning of an employee’s time at the firm. To do that, we actually needed to address it before the beginning. 

We open the books after we are close to choosing a candidate to hire, but before they accept the position. Following a lengthy and rigorous interview process, we show our desired hire the full company finances, including everyone’s salary at the firm. We discuss the role’s duties and responsibilities. We ask them to make us an offer based on how they see themselves fitting into the framework of the company. Then, if all goes well, we come to an agreement on an appropriate compensation and benefits package and make the hire.

It should be noted that salary transparency doesn’t necessarily guarantee that employees are being paid the most they can possibly make in the market. It does, however, assure that everyone at the firm is paid fairly, and for some, that is an added benefit.

Fostering Financial Literacy

The hiring process is just the beginning of discussions about compensation and the firm’s finances. 

Every quarter, we convene a Raises and Bonuses Committee made up of six rotating members who represent the different branches of our office. The committee speaks openly about who is making progress, who should receive a raise or bonus, and then what that amount should be, based on the overall financial performance of the firm. All of this is reported back to the entire company at the following all-hands studio meeting. 

A company-wide understanding of WPA’s financial health is essential for our business. Yet, financial literacy is not generally a strength for many workers, especially architects. While we tend to put our clients’ happiness first and make personal sacrifices to create the most beautiful designs possible, understanding the connection between design, time, and money is the only way to create a sustainable practice. 

To promote financial health, we send a summary of our invoicing to everyone in the company every month. Each member of the team can see if we’ve met our goal or fallen short, gaining the understanding of the ups and downs of running a business. Everyone can then understand that meeting these goals is essential to the success of the business. There is clear understanding of how firm profitability is connected to the effort they put into the work and the money they take home. 

Turning Employees Into Owners

Some of the results of our transparency work were expected. The culture of openness built trust. Managers were more likely to trust the staff to be responsible with their time and the firm’s finances, while staff could trust that managers were being honest with them, even if they didn’t agree with every decision. 

Pay transparency also helped us keep potential pay disparities in check, which helped foster a culture of belonging. We have found that people specifically seek out WPA as an employer because of our transparency, and that pay transparency, in particular, has contributed to our ability to be more equitable, diverse, and inclusive.  

Something else happened that we didn’t expect. By openly sharing information, we were treating everyone like an owner. As a result, we had employees who behaved like owners. We knew, though, that this approach was sustainable only if we actually rewarded our team members with ownership. 

In 2020, we transitioned from two owners to eight, all of whom were entrusted to make decisions that bolster the firm’s reputation, culture, and finances. It wasn’t easy for the founders to distribute shares of a company they had built from the ground up, but it was the natural next thing to do, it was the right thing to do, and it was the smart thing to do. 

WPA now has 13 employee-owners and we are on a path to becoming a fully employee-owned firm. When we hire now, we aren’t just looking for great architects, designers, and project managers. We’re looking for future owners, and our transparency policy assures us that those future owners will have the knowledge and confidence to put the firm in the best position possible to succeed.