Clarity is The New Transparency
What organizations are getting wrong about a workplace transparency and what you can do right
I read a fantastic article this week about the importance of thinking broadly when considering moving towards pay transparency. The writer argues that open compensation programs can come in many forms. She argues that organizations often feel they have two choices when it comes to pay transparency, share everyone’s full salary or share nothing at all. The author’s argument is that this type of black and white thinking is extremely limiting and wholly inaccurate, there are so many options available in the gray space between.
The article had me thinking about organizational transparency in general. So often I am left shaking my head when I talk to leaders about their hopes and fears about sharing information with employees.
“If we are not completely transparent our employees will not trust us.”
“If we tell employees more, they will misuse the information to our determent.”
Companies see two options when it comes to creating a transparent organization, open up the floodgates of information, or build a black box where are your corporate secrets are safe. This binary thinking limits organizations and hinders employee performance.
Focus on Clarity and Not Transparency
If your anything like me, whenever I have an ailment, I immediately type my symptoms into Google. I get a ton of information, but despite my weekly WebMD visits, I hold no medical degree. It is impossible for me to diagnose the cause of my headache; is it too much screen time or a tumor? Before I start selling all my belongings to pay for my lavish funeral, a quick trip to the doctor confirms that maybe I should limit my Candy Crush time. Though she gives me very little information about all the millions of things it “could be,” she does provide me with information about what it is, and what I can do about it. The data from my doctor is tailored, relevant and helpful.
The same is true for workplaces.
Employees want information about how the business is run, how their pay is determined, what “good performance” looks like, and they deserve that information. Anyone contributing to the success of your organization should have the information necessary to understand what they are working towards. But they also should be able to make sense of that information. If you are providing all the minutiae of how compensation is figured out in your organization, but little to no information about how I can impact my pay, you’re doing it wrong.
If you’re providing detailed information about all the steps to submit FMLA paperwork, but not telling me who I can see when I have questions about leave laws, you’re doing it wrong.
Focus on providing clear, relevant, helpful information in human language. Stop providing EVERY possible relevant piece of information without giving the ability to make sense of it. Too much information can be a scary distraction (again I was pretty sure that the headache was a tumor). But information I can use and understand is powerful and critical. If I know I can count on you to give me timely information that is relevant to my needs, then even when the news is scary, I know I can trust you to talk me through it.
Organizations need to be clear about why they are sharing information and what they want employees to do with it. If I know that I want employees to have a growth mindset and see career paths within the organization, hiding all pay information could be very limiting. However, educating staff about how pay bands are created, providing ranges and information as to how I can move up in my organization, could be liberating.
I can hear those of you in the back saying “but piecing out information is patronizing and condescending, we should let employees know everything and let them make sense of the information themselves”
Nah, sis, you’re wrong.
Being clear and human is not patronizing, it is respectful of the time and emotions of your employees. Sharing all the details and flooding their inbox and meeting calendars with irrelevant information is not being thoughtful.
Whether it is a handbook or a sales report, provide what matters. When and if employees want more detail and the organization feels its helpful to offer it, do! But don’t bury your lead with jargon and unnecessary detail in service to the misguided notion that it’s essential.
Trust your employees with information, and let them trust you to explain it clearly.
