Pay differentials at CCI
When Co-Creating Inclusion first started, as is often typical for small businesses in the early days, I started my salary out low and built a team of independent contractors.
After the first year, we had the ability to bring on our first employee (other than myself) and the year after that, we did our first pay equity audit, benchmarked our salaries to the market, and were even able to provide some back pay to cover some of the difference between what we had been paying ourselves and market rates.
Creating an equitable and transparent pay structure has been a priority for us ever since. After all, it’s not really DEI work if we participate in the extraction of our own labor in a way that exacerbates systemic inequities and does not support our needs.
It’s hard to avoid participating in and being complicit with the practices of racial capitalism - it’s inescapable - but we do believe we owe it not only to ourselves but to our clients who pay us to mitigate these impacts where we can.
For example, benchmarking to the market is only a start, and doesn’t account for inequities that are built into the market. As Principal and Founder, my salary as benchmarked against the low end of the market, whereas all other employees are currently benchmarked against the midpoint of the market. This is so we don’t perpetuate the large salary gaps between CEO and staff that are typically the norm in dominant culture.
More recently, as I previously mentioned, we have added some pay differentials for employees. These were finalized and rolled out at the beginning of the month and it was incredibly rewarding and, dare I see it, even healing to provide unsolicited pay increases.
At the risk of sounding petty, it felt like payback for all the times that I was negotiated down in salary when starting a new job, or given a disappointing or non-existent raise even though I got positive performance feedback.
Paying employees more than they asked rather than the very minimum we could possibly get away with feels like an AMAZING way of saying NO WE ARE NOT GOING TO EXTRACT AS MUCH LABOR FROM OUR TEAM FOR AS LITTLE MONEY AS POSSIBLE AS IS THE TYPICAL PRACTICE.
Here are the details:
In addition to doing cost of living increases across the board, and merit increases where warranted, employees were told the following:
In addition to your base salary, all employees now, as of July 1st, 2023, have the opportunity to be considered for the following pay differentials:
Renter’s Pay Differential - if you are a renter and/or tenant at your primary residence
Student Loan Pay Differential - if you currently have a personal Student Loan debt
Non-Dominant Culture Representative Pay Differential - if your position benefits from your representation of a non-dominant culture or identity
Multilingual Pay Differential - if you demonstrate a professional working level of proficiency in a language other than English and perform duties in your role that require or benefit from the your proficiency in this language
Each pay differential adds 5% to your base salary.
Some employees qualified for as much as a 15% pay increase on this basis.
Now, I fully recognize that 5% for each of these pay differentials, especially after taxes are withheld, doesn’t necessarily cover some of the additional financial burdens of those who qualify, especially those for whom generational wealth is flowing upwards, which we haven’t yet figured out how to specifically account for.
However, it’s a start that feels really good.
The next step I’m thinking about is providing financial planning and coaching for full time employees, especially those who are sole or primary breadwinners or supporting extended families so we can identify what it would take to actually support financial stability and wealth building for those most impacted by systems of oppression. An equitable approach recognizes that the same salary doesn’t meet all needs equally.
What is the leading edge for pay equity at your firm or organization?
Banner photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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