In spring 2021, we did desk-based research and spoke to various groups/organisations. Most of whom were fairly small (up to 60 people), but they actively identified as working outside/trying to change the status quo and evolving their pay structures. We came across various other groups of a larger scale exploring some earlier shifts towards pay, such as teams within larger orgs getting better at discussing salaries more transparently, developing fluency in relational skills, and setting precedents for their wider organisations.
We noted that, in larger groups, pay innovation is more likely to be a change that follows a longer process of change (once preconditions are established). Therefore, we have focused this research more on smaller groups and their learnings from more radical experiments.
Among the people we spoke to, the changes in pay reflected the wider changes that were taking place in the group, its people and the culture. For those ‘successfully’ rethinking pay, it was part of a transformation of the collective culture already underway.
We started to see factors that intersect with pay which we have roughly mapped out in the image below. You can interact with the map on Kumu.
"I think because there's such a strong alignment of people within your organisation to do the work that we collectively want to do, that it's not so much a reward for doing that work. It's like what we're paying people to give them the capacity to do that." - Andy Reeve, Civic Square
<aside> <img src="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" alt="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Simone Cicero’s blog makes reference to adopting a ‘pilot-to-scale’ approach in larger settings, embedding two partially and temporarily co-existing structures to exist while the new approach is being tested, which is another approach to this in larger groups.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" alt="/icons/pencil_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Spill’s experiment with flat pay gives us an idea of what might come up if we look to change pay without transforming some of the linked factors to it
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A map diagram showing factors that intersect with pay.
Pay intersects across multiple layers at a personal, social and group level., how much pay can be a tool for transformation heavily depends on the factors that it links to, such as how deeply the people in the group are questioning and considering their personal desires and financial situations; how willing the group is to consider what genuine fairness might look like, and to discuss stories and agency in a caring way; and how the situated societal lock-ins play a part in preventing some of the opportunities for change.
Considering alternative pay systems might mean:
Questions that might be raised may include:
“Challenge of recognition in the system, a pathological problem in social enterprise, when you take money off the table, social recognition can very easily become the incentive, ego becomes the thing that drives the system.” - Indy Johar, Dark Matter Labs
https://airtable.com/shrXoO8QgFPwukZbs
It is important to note here that compensation usually goes beyond the basic monetary pay and these can themselves go a long way in identifying needs and discourses around compensation within the group. These might include areas such as:
Different kinds of work suit or require different ways of organising. What kind of work is being done within a setting places specific needs and demands on people and structures, so there is no singular blueprint or right approach to a pay structure, only divergent and plural ways of approaching it unique to the context.
The work of Cognitive Edge and their Cynefin framework provides some guidance on acting in complex systems, where there is not best practice but exaptive/emergent practice that is developed by probing the systems, sensing the impact and responding to that.
“You have to live the journey to gain a contextually appropriate solution.” - Dave Snowden
A map diagram showing factors that intersect with pay, highlighting probes acting on key leverage points.
Anonymous answers from the Dark Matter Labs team on what pay meant to them.