How do we show the salary? A Q&A with Cat How of How&How

There’s no secrecy around pay at branding and digital design agency How&How – salary bands are listed on every job ad, and every team member’s pay is openly shared within the agency. We spoke with co-founder Cat How about the agency’s approach to salary transparency and how being open about pay has influenced agency culture and recruitment.

Salary transparency has been part of How&How since day one. Can you tell us about the approach you've taken and why being fully transparent about pay was important to you?

From the moment Rog and I started How&How in 2020, we knew we wanted to do things differently. For us, it came from a place of wanting to build trust from the ground up. We'd both worked in agencies (and heard many anecdotal stories) where pay felt like something nebulous and to be fought, or negotiated for – not fairly earned.

When everything's out in the open, there's no room for unconscious bias or those awkward situations where someone finds out they're being paid less than a colleague doing exactly the same work.

The person with the biggest ego and best haggling would always come out on top. But what about the other guys? That always struck me unfair, and just a shite way to run a business. If you're asking people to give their best work, to be part of building something together, then hiding what people earn just creates unnecessary tension and speculation. We wanted to remove that entirely and focus on the work and growing the business as a team.

It's also about fairness, isn't it? When everything's out in the open, there's no room for unconscious bias or those awkward situations where someone finds out they're being paid less than a colleague doing exactly the same work. It keeps us honest and ensures our pay decisions can always be justified.

In terms of the practicals, we’ve got a spreadsheet and it's all on there, so everyone can see what everyone else earns – right down to the digit. It's not hidden away or password protected; it's just there, accessible to the whole team.

It's created a culture of openness that extends way beyond just pay.

How has salary transparency influenced the agency culture at How&How?

It's created a culture of openness that extends way beyond just pay. When you start with that level of transparency, it sets the tone for how you approach everything else – project challenges, business decisions, even when things aren't going perfectly.

People feel more invested because they understand the bigger picture. They can see how their role fits into the business, how we're growing, and what that means for everyone. It removes a lot of the politics you often get in agencies because there's nothing to speculate about or feel resentful over. We don’t always get it right, but at least people can see how we’re trying :)

What I've noticed is that it actually makes people more collaborative. When you know your colleague's salary isn't some secret competitive advantage, you're more likely to share knowledge, help each other out, and work as a proper team. It's removed this weird dynamic where people might guard information or try to make themselves indispensable.

What kind of reactions do you get from candidates and new hires when they learn that salaries are openly shared within the agency?

The reactions are fascinating, actually. Some people are genuinely shocked – you can see them trying to process what that would mean for them. Others light up immediately because they've clearly had bad experiences with pay secrecy elsewhere.

But most often people already know so it isn’t a surprise at all. New hires often tell us it was one of the things that really attracted them to How&How. They've said it (alongside our B-Corp status) made them feel like we were a company they could trust, that we weren't trying to hide anything or play games. And honestly, if someone is put off by salary transparency, they're probably not the right cultural fit for us anyway.

The candidates who are drawn to transparency tend to be more collaborative, progressive and generally more aligned with our values. We've found we get higher quality applications because people self-select based on whether our approach appeals to them.

Has being upfront about salaries brought any benefits to your recruitment process?

Absolutely. First off, it saves everyone time. We put salary bands on every job ad, so people know from the start whether the role works for them financially. No one's wasting time going through multiple interviews only to discover the salary doesn't meet their needs.

It also attracts the right kind of people. The candidates who are drawn to transparency tend to be more collaborative, progressive and generally more aligned with our values. We've found we get higher quality applications because people self-select based on whether our approach appeals to them.

From a practical standpoint, salary negotiations are much more straightforward. Everything's already out in the open, so discussions focus on where someone sits within our framework based on their experience and skills, rather than trying to figure out some mysterious pay scale.

We've learned that with transparency comes responsibility to communicate clearly about how and why we make pay decisions

Have you made any changes to your approach to salary transparency along the way?

We've refined how we communicate it, particularly during the recruitment process. Initially, we might have been too casual about mentioning it – now we make sure candidates properly understand what it means before they join.

We've also gotten better at explaining our pay framework and how we make decisions about salary increases and promotions. It's not enough to just show the numbers; people need to understand the logic behind them and how they can progress. We’ve also introduced tiering, to make sure that there is progression within each bracket - so a Lower Senior, Mid-Senior and Senior salary so that we can benchmark people based on experience.

The core principle hasn't changed though – everyone still has access to everyone else's salary information. That's non-negotiable for us. But we've learned that with transparency comes responsibility to communicate clearly about how and why we make pay decisions.

What advice would you give to other creative agency leaders who aren't yet showing the salary on their job ads?

Start small if you need to, but start somewhere. Even just putting salary bands on job ads is a huge step forward and will immediately improve your recruitment process.

My honest advice though? Just rip the plaster off and go full transparency. Yes, it might feel uncomfortable at first, and you might discover some pay inconsistencies you need to address. But those problems exist whether you acknowledge them or not – transparency just forces you to fix them.

If you're worried about the cultural shift, involve your team in designing the approach. Make it something you're doing together, not something you're imposing.

If your current pay structure can't withstand transparency, that's probably a sign it needs changing

The benefits far outweigh the initial discomfort. Your team will respect you more for it, your recruitment will improve, and you'll sleep better knowing you're being fair and honest with people. Plus, in a few years' time when transparency becomes the norm – which I bloody hope it will – you'll already be ahead of the curve.

If you're worried about the cultural shift, involve your team in designing the approach. Make it something you're doing together, not something you're imposing. And remember, if your current pay structure can't withstand transparency, that's probably a sign it needs changing anyway.