True transparency requires fair pay, and if your pay is fair, there's no reason not to be transparent
This step-by-step guide is your comprehensive resource for conducting a salary benchmarking exercise, establishing a robust compensation philosophy, and making informed decisions on your journey towards pay transparency. It encapsulates my experience working with over 70 global organisations over the last decade and a guide that I use with all my clients.
What you take from this guide will depend on the specific challenges you face, so consider it a flexible resource tailored to your unique organisational needs, not a rigid rule book. While the sequence of steps may vary for each company, the fundamental decisions outlined on each page remain constant. It is how you make these decisions, the choices you take, and how you communicate them to the organisation that drives transparency—not merely showing them the numbers.
Lastly, this guide is open-source to maximise its impact and promote the principles of pay transparency, so please share it widely.
Alistair (Founder, Justly)
P.S. I’m often asked, “Are we too small for this?” In my opinion, you can tackle compensation systematically at any size. I have successfully implemented this in businesses with as few as 7 people. As a rule of thumb, the sooner you start, the fewer complications you’ll need to resolve later.
Starting the project on the right foot.