<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_blue.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Dark Matter Labs (DML) organise their work around transition needs, and the things they want to see in the world. To keep that transparent, they undertake open work in collaborative partnerships to provoke alternative visions of the future, designing how they might look in practice, and experimenting in context to reveal how they could work and enable the necessary change.
Dark Matter Labs’ pay structure began as an attempt to build a universal basic income. It is increasingly including additional factors to this base, such as fairness and security.
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A diagram showing the pay journey of Dark Matter Labs.
Pay at DML is grounded in the assertion that individual pay negotiations spark competitive dynamics which are not conducive to the organisation’s missions. DML’s work requires hybridity and therefore ranking people (according to market rate) also threatens to undermine the required levels of collaboration and purpose.
The base formula (LIVED EXPERIENCE plus X [FIXED AMOUNT]) is intended as a proxy for life needs, reflecting the way responsibilities typically accumulate throughout life. It disconnects pay from the roles that someone plays, allowing people to regularly pick up and pass on roles according to circumstance.
There has been ongoing exploration around the approach since and a few rounds of iteration.
*“Our original pay iteration used life experience as a proxy for life needs and it was clear that it only incorporated certain factors, ignoring many others that are critical for people, particularly in outlier cases where life experience doesn’t correlate well to life need. We began a process of exploring what else might need to be factored into the pay formula to incorporate life need in a more rounded way.
We tried modelling in cost of living and rent index. Realising this was still a partial picture, we modelled for a dependency adjustment, for factoring in chronic illness, a healthcare index and an education stipend. The more we considered how many factors, unique to each person, are really at play when it comes to their needs, it became clear that no formula would be able to fully represent needs and that this would need to be complemented by other means.
Instead of upgrading the base formula itself, we are currently moving to keep the original proxy but with additional components which help to mitigate the imperfectness of it. Firstly, by adding a benefits multiplier for everyone that is executed via geographically distinct benefits systems; and a fairness component, which allows a redistribution (anonymously, aggregated) of pay from those who don’t need all of what the pay formula allows to those who need more of it.
We are still exploring this and working out its execution, and I’m sure we will continue to learn and develop this further as we go.“
Indy Johar led the first pay change towards the current formula. Annette Dhami later joined the team in Autumn 2020 and led the interim change, increasing the X [FIXED AMOUNT] top up. She began calculations, looking into what was financially viable for an increase.
“My aim was: it’s okay if it’s not perfect at this point, I’m just going to drive it forward so it’s a step better and happens soon.” - Annette Dhami
Annette spoke to DMLs central risk holders about the financial and legal viability of calculations.
There were some people whose circumstances meant their pay didn’t fit within the existing structure, Annette spoke with them individually.