A company where everyone knows how much everyone else makes
CEO Dane Atkinson has no qualms telling you his salary -- $145,000 a year. The lowest paid employee at his company makes $40,000. Welcome to SumAll -- an office where every employee knows their colleague's salary....
CEO Dane Atkinson has no qualms telling you his salary -- $145,000 a year. The lowest paid employee at his company makes $40,000. Welcome to SumAll -- an office where every employee knows their colleague's salary.
"Pay is really tightly associated with one's self-worth, so I don't know if there is resentment," Mr. Atkinson tells guest host Laura Lynch. "Transparency kind of blocks that. But there are lots of conversations."
In fact, he calls those extended conversations about salary a "conversation tax." But he says the tax is worth it because it creates a sense of meritocracy and loyalty among staff.
SumAll CEO Dane Atkinson
"They might say, 'Hey, why is Jim making $20,000 more than me? And, in many cases, it's just misinformation," Mr. Atkinson says.
He might explain that Jim is doing work that the other employee didn't know about. Or, he might actually bump up their salary to match Jim's.
He argues that an open salary system also keeps employers from treating staff unfairly. He knows because, at other companies, he's done it himself.
"I have been absolutely evil and then commended for it by my board of directors," Mr. Atkinson says.
"I've hired men and women and all sorts of people at different rates for the same job," he says. "But, in the end, you really aren't doing justice to your people and you aren't doing justice to the population at large. You're paying women 77 cents on the dollar. You're paying minorities 55 cents on the dollar. And that's not really right. So it does prevent, or at least diminishes, the ability to be evil."
Laura asks why, if this system works so well, aren't more companies transparent. Atkinson's answer: "Leadership, where they are heavily over-compensated, really fear a mutiny from their organization by revealing how much that difference is."
So, when everyone knows what everyone else makes, who picks up the bar tab at after-work drinks?
"Oddly, it's not based on salary," he says. "I should be grateful for that."