People shared current their organisations’ current approaches and practices, which included:
- Annual cost of living increase for all, regardless of progression in role;
- Consultations with staff and unions;
- Having a flat salary for all (on the basis of pay differences usually being based on years of service or qualifications, which are not equally accessible to all) with either additional agreed ‘responsibility payments’ for specific tasks (although different people circumstances may mean that they can’t engage with these as their colleagues might) or staff pooling their own time to support each other in-kind with arising needs for tasks that people would otherwise pay for (such as moving vans, etc);
- One example shared of salary benchmarking processes that included referencing all sectors; values of the organisation; non-salary benefits; recognition of historical basis for current pay; and ways in which any future salary scale might be transitioned to.
Motivations for wanting to better approach pay shared by the people in breakout room:
- Increasing challenges in recruitment / retention of staff
- Recognising need to better offer staff progression pathways as part of motivations
Takeaway thoughts:
- A policy can never be fully inclusive of everyone’s personal needs and circumstances (both now and in the future) – so should perhaps be approached through ‘policy bundles’?
- A pay policy will always hold tensions of needing to balance legal compliance with the organisation’s values, overarching commitment to equitable practices, and the financial needs/risk of the organisation.
- There may be benefit at times of sharing pat policies with external partners as part of seeking to influence wider norms, and building relationships and understanding – however, this needs to be carefully approached so as not to inadvertently create expectations amongst others as to the influence they may believe this offers them over how the organisation approaches and manages pay.