Issue 101: One weird trick for equal pay

Happy Friday!

April 2 is Equal Pay Day. While worldwide equity is a big topic to tackle, it’s easier to make an impact on your own team. Are your people paid fairly in relation to their role, level, and expertise? When looking at pay and the demographics breakdown within your company, can you justify your numbers? If your salaries leaked, would you be able to stand by them? Without a fair and solid system (and regularly updated salary market research), it’s tough to pass these tests.

We get it, compensation is a touchy subject, especially in these strange tech times. Luckily, building these systems doesn’t have to be a mystery, and once you’ve done it, you won’t need to google (or justify) each compensation offer or increase you negotiate. At B+E, we’ve created a unique methodology that supports early stage companies in building equitable pay strategies that align with your values. While our team of comp consultants would be happy to build this out for you (just hit reply and we’ll arrange a consult call), this is a subject we feel so strongly about that we’ve open-sourced our process. If you’ve got time and some data crunching ability, roll up your sleeves and check out the Bright + Early Guide to Paying People. When you have an equitable, defensible and easy to use pay system, your team (and your board) will thank you!

Stay bright,

Nora

Bright Reads

• Is the age of the empowered employee over?

• Some familiar startup culture “viruses” and how to fix them.

• Today (March 31) is International Transgender Day of Visibility - here’s a wonderful piece by Katrina Kibben on what it takes to be a trans-affirming workplace.

  • Here are some tips for Trans allies

  • Qmunity does an incredible gala/event every year for TDOV - check out their website post for this year that includes resources, employer actions, and some neat swag

  • You can share and listen to/watch personal queer/trans stories here

  • And here are 6 more things you can do

• April 5-13 is Passover - here’s a great piece on how to support your Jewish colleagues.

• Eventmania!

  • Our friends at Humi will be hosting our comp lead Trisha on April 19 for a free session on how to build salary bands at your company for the first time.

  • Grab a ticket for Venture For Canada’s All Things People conference- on next week! B+E’s Trisha will be joining an in-person panel on modern compensation design, and I’ll be curating and moderating a virtual panel on AI in HR. I really hate surface-level panels, so expect some interesting participants and tough questions!

  • On April 6, Charthop and People Ops Weekly are hosting a virtual event with 2 minute talks on transparency in the workplace.

Coming Up

• April is Neurodiversity Awareness Month. Look out for some resources next issue!

• April 2 is Equal Pay Day

• April 5-13 is Passover

• April 7 is Good Friday

• April 9 is Easter

• April 22 is Earth Day

• Ramadan continues, ending with Eid on April 20/21.

Referral Contest

We’re still hosting a (friendly!) referral competition for our OG subscribers. Contest closes April 1! Our top two winners will get to choose their own prize from the following*:

💍 A $150 gift card to jewelry darling Mejuri

📰 A year’s subscription to The Logic’s cutting-edge tech journalism

🏥 A $150 donation to the Black Health Alliance or the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking

🍺 $150 in tasty non-alcoholic bevvies from Partake

🌴 4 day passes to the Beach Club at Wander the Resort in Prince Edward County

*Cute fact: All the prizes are from Bright + Early clients and alumni! All prizes are in CAD.

Here’s how to participate:

• Refer friends via your unique link at the bottom of this email (1 entry each)

• Post about Early newsletter (remember to follow and tag @brightplusearly!) on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn (2 entries each)

The top 2 participants will have their choice of prize from the list above, and we’ll be reaching out to winners on April 1. May your odds be bright! 🌞

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