Using Self-Set Pay, Business Transparency And Self-Management To Create A Workplace That Attracts The Best Talent

Ever since my husband and I created GrantTree we knew we wanted for it to be the kind of workplace we would want to enter if we were looking for a job today, as opposed to the likeness of workplaces we have left behind. From the start, an important value of ours turned out to be transparency, although only time was going to show us to what extent it transformed the way our organization was to look like and function.

The culture of upholding and championing transparency came fairly naturally to us. It helped that as co-founders, Daniel and I were also an item in life and radical honesty was our chosen way of relating. When the first few people joined GrantTree, we granted all of them access to the company’s financial accounts and chose to keep all the data typically reserved for the eyes of the management, readily available. Because of this, information was no longer a tool in power games that create politics.

Transparency also meant that we were wide open for feedback and honest when it comes to subjects normally shrouded in secrecy such as mental health. I still remember when one of our early employees commented on our tick-box promotion and pay raise system as “kindergarten like” and we took her opinion, as someone intrinsically motivated who didn’t need much external validation, to heart.

We also chose to lead the way when it comes to personal vulnerability. I have been open with my team about my mental health struggles which paved the way for them to feel empowered to be open about their difficulties too. I still remember how, a few years back, one of our senior team members chose to share in an all-company email that she’d just split up with her long-term partner and needed time off to deal with the practical and emotional repercussions. Similarly, another colleague chose to be open about his grief and need for support around the passing of his parent.

The love for transparency led us down the path to introducing self-set pay at GrantTree. It has been a gradual process. As mentioned above, since financials were transparent, team members always knew what their colleagues were getting paid. But going from there to self-set pay was yet another, amazingly rich and interesting, challenge.

When the company was financially ready to start paying employees market rates we got together as a team and asked the biz dev department to determine what is fair for the delivery team to be paid and vice versa. Suddenly everyone wasn’t thinking about what they want to earn but what is fair for their colleague to get paid. This encouraged a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of the fair pay problem. 

The next step that followed a few months later was for us to create a pay committee comprised of members of different teams, junior and senior, which was to establish a pay matrix and place every single team member on it with the help of peer to peer feedback. The criteria they chose, based upon which different levels of pay were activated, were the complexity and uncertainty present within a given role.

A few years later we were finally ready to bring the self-set pay to GrantTree. Individuals were made solely responsible for researching and making decisions on their salaries. In this, we were inspired by an infamous Brazilian entrepreneur and author called Ricardo Semler (his book “Maverick!” is still one of my favourites). Having done at least six month-on-month self-assessments, anybody at GrantTree is able and encouraged to make a decision about their own pay, according to a set process that incorporates feedback from chosen advisors.

I’m excited about self-set pay mostly because of the culture of empowerment it contributes to. It flips the usual circumstances surrounding a pay raise on its head, placing the individual in a position of strength. It’s a tremendous responsibility: a team member changing their pay is solely responsible for the decision and its consequences. If any conflicts arise as a result of the pay change, it’s up to them to navigate and resolve them. Since everyone at GrantTree is their own manager, they can’t rely on someone more senior stepping in.

I’m often asked about the pros and cons of self-set pay and transparent financials. One of the key benefits of both is that they erase the gender and socioeconomic pay gap out of existence. When all the company financials, including payroll, are open, any pay gaps self-correct quickly. Another benefit is the empowerment of people. When team members are treated like adults and trusted with their own pay, they are so much more likely to bring their full potential to their jobs. Lastly, their sense of ownership of their roles and engagement in the future of the company increases.

There aren’t many cons of self-set pay and transparent financials we have uncovered. One could be that any conflicts or tensions rise to the surface quicker in a transparent environment however, this could also be seen as a benefit. Instead of ‘water cooler conversations’ which happen often in secretive workplaces, people face their tensions - and are encouraged to discuss them - head-on. Another possible con is that people spend more time on self-management which takes away from client work. This is a sacrifice we are prepared to make though in view of longer-term benefits, both in terms of our culture and the bottom line.

Similarly, self-management as a practice has both challenges as well as definite benefits. To start with, individuals responsible for doing it have to be responsible and mature enough to successfully go through with it. There is the additional time they have to take to manage themselves which takes away from client work. Finally, there’s a lot of trust that’s required from founders/directors to implement self-management. 

However, given they are ready for this level of trust, it is hugely empowering towards team members. They get to learn about themselves and develop the skill of wearing two (or several) hats in their professional lives. Work becomes then the place of growth and personal development.

The question I get asked a lot is how to recruit for self-managing teams. At GrantTree we use a form of interview known as Subject-Object Interview, inspired by a Harvard scientist Robert Kegan. We adapted it and introduced what we call an open culture interview where we get to gauge how equipped a candidate is to deal with complexity and performing different roles - and the conflicts this presents - in the context of work. The interview gives us a unique insight into somebody’s world, how they create meaning and what choices they make. It’s quite a fascinating way to get to know them in a short space of time. Since we started using open culture interviews the quality of candidates that come through to next stages of our recruitment process (focused on professional capabilities) have been amazing.

On an ending note, self-management has allowed us to create a unique working environment where people get to set their own professional goals and thrive. Business transparency and self-set pay have made this environment even more conducive to growth and personal development at work. I would recommend these practices to other companies as a means to attract the best talent, increase retention and create a culture where people bring their full potential to work.

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