How do we show the salary? Q&A with Nyree Ambarchian of Jack & Grace

PR and comms agency Jack & Grace are a PR Sector Champion for the We Show the Salary campaign, and this summer they've been shining a light on salary transparency with their Say the Pay film. We asked Jack & Grace co-founder Nyree Ambarchian about why they made the film and how they've embedded a culture of salary transparency across the agency.

Your Say the Pay film highlights how ‘competitive’ salaries create a culture of pay secrecy, which fuels workplace inequality. What inspired you to start campaigning for employers to be transparent about pay?

Back in 2007, Laura and I worked in the same company – same role, same responsibilities, same work output. Yet we discovered we were being paid differently – despite doing the exact same job!

It wasn’t malicious, but it was a stark reminder of how pay secrecy allows inequality to thrive. Once I raised it with my managers, the gap was fixed – but it left a bad taste, and I left the business soon after.

That experience got us thinking: what if we hadn’t been friends and never compared notes? What if someone didn’t feel confident enough to challenge their boss? For many people – particularly women, people from working-class backgrounds or other marginalised groups – those conversations don’t happen, and the inequalities just persist in silence. Meanwhile, those with privilege and confidence are more likely to speak up or negotiate.

That moment changed how we viewed fairness at work forever. So, years later, when we set up our purpose-driven comms agency, Jack & Grace, we were clear: we’d always be open about pay.

As agency founders, what approach have you taken to salary transparency?

There are a few ways to approach pay transparency: publishing salaries on job ads, sharing salary bands internally, or going all the way with full disclosure of individual pay – something more common in the US than the UK or EU.

We asked the team: is salary transparency a value we share, and how far should we go?

For us, fairness around pay was non-negotiable from day one. At first, it was simple – there were only two of us. But as the Jack & Grace team grew, we needed a policy to put that principle into practice.

We didn’t rush into the process, and, critically, we brought the team into this so that all views, apprehensions or concerns were properly considered.

Going transparent took a few steps, which looked like this:

We asked the team: is salary transparency a value we share, and how far should we go? This took place over a few internal meetings, and in line-management sessions, too. Soon after we opened the floor for this discussion, there was a clear consensus: we should share pay bands.

We reviewed our pay – we checked for any inconsistencies (although, spoiler alert, there were none!) and used the findings to set benchmarks. This was a useful step that helped us define salary bands… (the next step).

We set clear salary bands – informed by our review and research into industry standards, we defined pay ranges for every role.

We made it official – loudly and proudly. In January 2022, we published our bands internally and agreed to share these on every job ad we published, We haven’t looked back since.

Since then, we’ve kept the conversation alive in our twice-yearly reviews and our annual staff survey. If a benchmark shifts – to reflect changing industry standards or if you hire someone whose salary expectations are outside of your bands – we make adjustments and communicate this with the team. Transparency only works if you keep this conversation active – and that takes work because most people are quite bad at talking about money. We need to normalise talking about salaries and calling out stuff that feels unfair.

Has being upfront about pay brought any benefits to your recruitment process? And has there been any impact on existing employees?

So often, at the recruitment stage, applicants are expected to share their CVs, experience, references, and aspirations without knowing if the role will pay enough to cover their rent or childcare. Withholding pay isn’t just poor practice – it’s exclusionary. Our polling shows almost two-thirds of jobseekers (64%) won’t apply unless the salary is listed. So, by being transparent, we widen the pool of applicants and attract people who genuinely want the job, not just those confident enough to negotiate.

For our existing team, it’s built trust. Pay is no longer a mystery – people know what to expect at each level, and they know reviews happen regularly. It’s reduced the anxiety and second-guessing that can creep into workplaces where pay feels like a secret.

What advice would you give to employers who aren’t yet showing salary info on their job ads?

Publishing salaries is one of the most effective steps an employer can take to improve equality. It helps current staff benchmark their worth. It holds decision-makers accountable. And it sets a clear standard: we pay fairly, and have nothing to hide,

"Yes, there’s a moral argument for transparency. But the business case is just as strong"

Our survey found over half of people (57%) would be willing to share their own salary if it would help to reduce pay inequality – a figure that rises to 62% among 16–34-year-olds. Attitudes are shifting fast, especially among younger workers, who increasingly expect openness around pay as standard. If you want to attract (and retain) the best talent, you need to keep up.

Yes, there’s a moral argument for transparency. But the business case is just as strong: fair, open employers are more trusted, more attractive to applicants, and more likely to hold onto their people.