As Criterion works at the intersection of social change and finance, it draws team members from across the globe. Its employees and contractors are drawn from civil society organizations, women’s rights organizations, government and donor agency backgrounds and from finance, commercial and legal sectors.

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On 1 January 2023, the Criterion Institute released a new compensation structure for employees and contractors, aiming to create transparency in compensation throughout the entire organization. The new structure was aimed at supporting the diverse workforce drawn from a variety of backgrounds across the globe and to support continued pay equity across this workforce. Based on a lockstep model of equal pay for equal experience and roles, the compensation model removes all secrecy from pay structures.

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The new compensation structure creates pay transparency within the organization, encouraging clarity of understanding amongst employees about who earns what, for what roles and responsibilities and with which benefit structure. It is an innovative compensation structure with much thought going into the detail behind the varying levels of compensation. The structure also provides pay clarity for team members looking for promotions and added responsibility.

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The new compensation structure supports had a number of aims:

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1. Support a global team

The Criterion team is a truly global one with team members working from around the world including the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, Ghana, South America, Italy, the Philippines and New Zealand. The compensation structure achieves pay equity across all geographies and markets, ensuring that all contractors and employees, regardless of background of education, country of experience, gender or first language, are paid equitably for their experience and work.

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2. Flexible Work

The new compensation structure supports flexible working arrangements. With all team members working their agreed weekly hours within their own time zones and preferred work arrangements, the new compensation structure ensures equity of pay regardless of how, when or where those hours are worked. For example, some team members choose to work a certain number of hours each day, whilst others choose to work certain days per week or evening hours every day. In addition, as team members move around the globe for holidays or for other reasons, they are able to continue working with no impact to their compensation structure.

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3. Fostering Criterion Friends and Allies

The compensation structure acknowledges the rich value that a team member brings to Criterion when they understand the Criterion ecosystem and set of broader partnerships. Experience at Criterion (measured in years worked) is rewarded in the compensation structure as is working as a friend or ally of Criterion, or working in partnership with Criterion. Annual remuneration is increased according to the years a team member has spent in the Criterion orbit.

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4. Administrative Efficiency

Standardizing remuneration across the organization has also made HR processes more efficient, including onboarding and payroll. Bringing new people into the organization is simplified with an agreed compensation structure.

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Benefits of Pay Transparency

In recent years, pay transparency has gained traction in an increasing number of workplaces, particularly as the focus on the gender equity pay gap also gains attention. Organisations that focus on pay transparency are doing so in order to build trust with employees, and reduce negative sentiment amongst employees that arises in workplaces where pay secrecy dominates.

Women’s rights organizations have urged companies to adopt full transparency in compensation packages as secrecy surrounding pay structures within workplaces adversely effects women, people of intersectionality and others without bargaining power the most. The data further shows that job applications associated with public pay scales encourage job applications, and productivity and collaboration within organizations.

By creating a robust and transparent compensation structure, Criterion has created a workplace where open discussions on compensation are now permissible (and actively encouraged) and where employees are able to discuss changes of roles and responsibilities knowing exactly how their compensation will be affected with any increase or decrease of responsibility.

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Key Components of the new structure

The Criterion compensation package has 3 key areas of focus:

1. Core Compensation

2. Responsibilities

3. Benefits The total compensation across these three areas is pro-rated depending on days worked per week. Remuneration is paid in US dollars and renewed every 1 January that a team member remains at Criterion.

4. Core Compensation Reflecting Years of Experience Core compensation was benchmarked to salaries at US non-profits of a similar size and in a similar field of work in the United States.

Base salary is increased according to the years of experience an employee or team member brings to Criterion. Any cost-of-living adjustments are added to base salary from time to time for cost of living. This is then adjusted up for years of experience working (since college or school) and again adjusted up for years of experience in finance, social change or education programs and years at Criterion.

Increases in the years spent at Criterion over the course of one's career encourage employees and contractors to return to Criterion, even after periods of absence.

2. Responsibility of the role Team members receive additional compensation based on the level of responsibility they take on within the organisation. Additional compensation is provided according to whether team members run a function or team, have program lead responsibilities externally or have financial responsibilities (either financial reporting or managing revenue or expenses).

As team members step in and out of roles and varying degrees of responsibility, the compensation would increase or decrease accordingly.

In addition, team members receive additional compensation if they have direct reports, and the compensation increases for each additional report a team member has responsibility for.

3. Benefits Employees receive a combination of full health coverage, short term disability and life insurance, dental and optical cover and annual and sick leave. The portion of insurance plans covered by Criterion are prorated according to days worked per week.

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