1 April 2021
"It’s fascinating how a conversation about pay brings to a surface so many issues that have lurked beneath and created problems for the organisation - e.g. does it feel ok that some people are taking on responsibility in a way that is impacting on their health? How are issues of accountability, performance and capability being handled? What have people given up to join the organisation?" - event attendee
"It’s like pulling one thread and creating a thousand!" - event attendee
On Monday we came together for 'Reimagining the Wage' - a community exploration on organisational pay. Wow, 70/80 or so people getting together to share examples, questions, insights and to coordinate around Reimagining Pay in 1hour 15 mins! It was so many things: insightful, collaborative, inspiring, deep and headline, not enough and also so much!
A thank you to Civic Square, Outlandish, Collaborative Futures, Transition Network, Chayn, Dark Matter Labs and others sharing their experiences of restructuring pay in their organisations in the conversation and the written chat/Miro; and to the many people embarking upon these questions or considering them for the future, thank you for your poignant questions and reflections.
"The mechanics of how an organisation sets pay is far less important than the culture you build. The value of creating a safe space that everyone can share what their needs are, and the onus for everyone to be open to understanding."
<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Resources from the Reimagining the Wage event The event Miro Board. There is loads on here, including notes from the event & the zoom chat in bottom left
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/movie-clapboard-play_blue.svg" alt="/icons/movie-clapboard-play_blue.svg" width="40px" /> Resources from the Reimagining the Wage event Main room recording.
</aside>
Shout out to Camilla Siggaard Andersen for this interesting early case study from 1920 of The Scott Bader Commonwealth established by Ernest Bader for Scott Bader Co Ltd. "Remuneration for work within the organisation shall not vary, as between the lowest paid and the highest paid irrespective of age, sex, function or experience, beyond a range of 1:7, before tax." and "More than forty percent of the net profits of Scott Bader Ltd shall be appropriated by the Commonwealth."
Also to Daniel Blyden for chat comment of the day:
"I was gonna go on holiday [with the Civic Square care budget] but when the lockdown happened I just bought a new mattress"
This event was part of one strand of enquiry around organisational pay as part of the wider Beyond the Rules project looking at how we can reorientate the way that we govern and organise for 'public good' for an abundant commons (more about that here), held by Lankelly Chase, the Democratic Society, Dark Matter Labs, York MCN Network and Black Thrive. If you came to the event but are not on the Beyond the Rules mailing list for updates and would like to be - you can sign up here.
Over the next few weeks we'll be digesting the resources, the insights and the comments and adding these to the open portal as part of Beyond the Rules. It will include a deep provocation on the topic, bringing our interpretation on the learnings shared.