Pay me, please.

NOTE: This article is part of an ongoing newsletter series about a bold new position I piloted at Eleven, an advertising agency headquartered in San Francisco, and am now delivering in micro-doses to other creative companies. The "Creative Entrepreneur in Residence" is a role that focuses on inclusion, belonging and corporate social responsibility. You can read the job description itself and subscribe to the newsletter here.

Out of all the 3% events over the years (and there were 28 of them), one of the most retweeted quotes was something I said from the stage which seemed so self-evident that I was surprised it warranted amplification.

“You cannot claim to pay people equally and pay them unequally.”

This is not only the view of the progressive few: research on the issues that divided women supporting Trump versus Clinton in 2016 revealed that the one issue women were in complete alignment on was pay equity.

Given this, why do we still need to host equal pay days throughout the year? The date shifts depending on a woman’s race, parental status and sexual orientation, but (spoiler alert), it’s never earlier than March 15. That means every day before that, women essentially worked for free, compared to non-hispanic white men.

Four years ago, The 3% Movement published a report about pay equity and invited agencies to pledge to conduct wage assessments and make necessary reparations.

In the Top 10 Takeaways section of the report, here was #8:

Pay equity is hardest in creative departments: The belief in the exceptionalism of creatives has created a Wild West reality for how they are paid. He who negotiates best, wins. How to fairly pay and promote creatives, including structured compensation systems and salary ranges, are baffling nearly everyone. Agencies of every size are desperate for collaboration on this front. Guides that are currently available are seen by many as incomplete, inaccurate or dated, but “they’re the best we have right now.

When our team penned these words, we would have hoped that four years later, there might be some kind of improvement on this front. Yet I haven’t seen it. And now, thanks to COVID, negotiations are factoring in entirely new considerations relating to remote work and shorter workweeks. Which makes pay equity table stakes in the game of recruiting talent.

If you run a creative company, you need pay equity NOW.

This topic was resurrected for me when I was invited to be a panelist on a discussion about pay equity at Forsman + Bodenfors this month. The agency had just achieved Global Gender Pay Equity Certification from Fair Pay, extending to all seven of their international offices. To mark the occasion, they issued a letter to all of their employees which I’m reprinting here with their permission.

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Forsman&Bodenfors

August 2022

Today marks an important day for us—one where we talk about PAY.

It’s an emotionally charged topic. One fraught with rumors and jealousy. Some say money is the source of all evil in the world, and others believe it drives progress and happiness. It’s uncouth to talk about it with our neighbors and unprofessional to discuss it with our colleagues.

Damn. This is a difficult nut to crack, but one we believe is worth trying hard to pry open.

This industry drives culture. It changes things. And it’s all because of the people who continue to choose it, day after day, year after year, brief after brief. And somehow, through the worst of times – politically, financially, culturally – advertising remains full of the freest, weirdest, most supportive, and evolved individuals in the world who all want the same things out of their work life - an environment with nice people, opportunities to do meaningful work and fair recognition for doing so.

But this industry is flat on its face when it comes to the recognition piece. Advertising hasn’t done right by the community of people who make this work so enjoyable.

Employee salaries have been driven by the limitless space for negotiation, which favors some groups over others in significant and cumulative ways.

At F&B, we never want pay to be a distraction.

After analyzing pay in every F&B company and country, we are sharing that we have achieved global gender pay equity. And we’re the first global creative agency to be certified for our commitment to pay equity by Fair Pay Workplace.

We compensate people fairly. Employees in similar roles are paid similarly, regardless of identity. When the company performs well and employees perform well – everyone wins.

We believe validating our efforts with objective, third-party partners is an important step to instilling confidence and trust for our employees, clients, and the industry. Without one measurement standard, companies can boast fair pay with a simple pledge that leads to a less than fair outcome. Fair Pay Workplace standardizes the methodologies used and adds transparency to an organization’s pay equity achievements.

Here are the five things we are committed to doing at F&B to ensure fairness in our pay practices:

We will analyze global gender pay equity every year.

We will share the results of the pay equity analysis with you.

We will never ask applicants about previous compensation.

We will share salary ranges in job postings starting next month.

We will ensure ongoing pay equity through fair pay policies.

Our appetite to change things outweighs our discomfort with the taboo topic or the fear of the unknown, so we are choosing transparency.

Guaranteeing starting salaries are fair and equitable for every new hire is one of the most impactful ways to ensure pay equity and contribute to closing the global gender pay gap.

We are choosing to express salary ranges in our job postings worldwide in hopes of changing things. By discussing pay range and why an applicant would be positioned at a specific part of that range is a good opportunity for us to speak candidly and transparently about our collaborative structure and our pay policies and to avoid hiring a variety of “exceptions” that perpetuate pay disparities and are frequently anchored in some form of bias.

We choose transparency, honesty, and openness for every company and country within the F&B Collective.

How we got here.

Our 2021 annual inclusion survey showed us that you were unclear about our philosophy on pay. You asked us questions that you deserve the answers to. Is my salary relative to similar roles here? Are my colleagues at similar levels earning similar pay to me? Are men paid more than women?

Simply paying fairly and competitively is not enough – of course, it’s not. We know we are at a motivation inflection point where it’s common to choose where you work based on company values. We need to share our values on the topic and let you know how pay is determined at F&B.

The results.

We analyzed gender pay equity, defined as similar pay for similar work, regardless of gender identity, and we partnered with Fair Pay Workplace (FPW) and Syndio, who led the evaluation of our data and practices. After they applied math and methods like cohort analyses, multivariate regressions, and a transparent set of rules and standards, we identified one department in one city with a pay discrepancy.

We worked collectively, and through the most recent global salary review cycle in July, we remediated this discrepancy and achieved gender pay equity. We now have a solid foundation to build from.

What this means... there is no statistical difference in how women and men are paid at F&B.

What this doesn’t mean...we are all paid the exact same.

Factors that affect fair and reasonable pay are company, country, city, department, level, tenure, and management responsibility.

For example, to get an accurate read on pay parity, we compared salaries between similar roles within each company, not across each company, and salaries within each city and not across countries.

What this means.

We’re on it. We are committed to ensuring equal pay for equal work throughout F&B.

We will regularly analyze pay equity and will drive the achievement of our pay equity action plan with the support of Fair Pay Workplace advisors.

Our goal will always be that F&B is a trusted organization where anyone can do the best work of their career.

Sincerely,

The Executive Leadership Team

Toby Southgate, Global CEO

Michele Prota, Global Chief Talent Officer

Betsy Friedman, Global CFO

Anna Qvennerstedt, Copywriter and Global Chairman

Eric Zuncic, Global Managing Director

Leif Sorte, Group CEO, Sweden

Grace Hart, Executive Project Manager

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I share this letter because it is a fabulous example about what good leadership looks. Direct, committed, detailed, and ongoing.

During the panel discussion, I talked about how creativity is an act of vulnerability. And a team sport. If your people are not sure they’re being paid equally, or worse yet suspicious that they aren’t, this 100% will impact your agency’s creative output. It’s a loop of distrust that breeds resentment and divisiveness. Do you really want that kind of malware running in the background of your people’s brains?

F&B CEO Toby Southgate shared an interesting story at the conclusion of our panel. Once the announcement was made and shared beyond the agency’s walls, he received calls from several other agency CEOs. Yet they weren’t calling in solidarity or praise, but rather to ask why he chose to address pay equity at all. It was clearly a can of worms they preferred to leave closed. Leaders who are still asking why in the face of something that is so fundamental to employee morale and a culture of integrity are missing a key insight. Just because you’re not thinking about something personally doesn’t mean your people aren’t. And that myopia will cost you dearly.

Before I close, let me put a quick plug in here about another pay issue where the creative industry lags: paying freelancers on time. Stop dicking around and treating your freelancers like pesky vendors once your project wraps. Would you like to wait 60 days to be paid for work you did today? Of course not. So do better, please.

Until next time, remember that culture is the new creativity.