We’re Implementing Self-Proposal Salary In The UK

We’re always looking at how we can try something new or do something differently at Mindera. Change is good and it’s something we embrace with open arms.

Most of the time, these ideas or proposals come from our “Minders”. Every member of the Mindera team is known as a Minder.

About two years ago, our team in Porto began implementing self-proposal salaries. The goal, as explained in this blog by one of our Minders, Sofia Reis, was to:

“Continually upgrade everyone’s salary in order to follow each person’s development, for as long as they are at Mindera. We were adamant for this process to be connected to people’s skills and capabilities instead of their performance evaluation.”

Now that our UK team, based in Leicester has grown, we are trialling self-proposal salary here for the very first time.

What is self-proposal salary?

Self-proposal salary allows an individual to make a proposal for their own salary. I should also point out that this is optional for everyone, no one is required to make a salary proposal if they do not wish to do so.

Any proposal that is made, is submitted in complete confidence. Only the founders and directors of the company are able to see what the individual has proposed.

We’ve also tried to go take this one step further, so that an individual can make a proposal on behalf of a colleague.

When self-salary proposal started in Porto, around 20 people joined in with the initiative. That number has now swelled to more than three times that amount.

And, as Pedro Vicente explains in his follow-up blog to Sofia’s, which delves even deeper into self-proposal salary:

“Mindera did not implode… the world did not end.”

Where are we now with self-proposal salary?

When I first heard of the concept of self-salary proposal, I had mixed feelings on whether it would work here in the UK.

We don’t really talk openly about salaries here, it’s a very private matter and quite a closed-book subject.

How would people here feel about it? Would they be open to discussing it? Would they want to find out more information about it? Would they be interested in joining it?

That, of course, is for each individual to decide. From my perspective, one of the things I like about self-salary proposal is that it brings people together.

Credit: Unsplash

It is very much an open process, in terms of everyone in the company knowing when their salary review is taking place. In other salary models, it is most likely that only the individual who has received a rise will know that the salary review had taken place, while individuals who had not qualified for a salary increase may not be aware.

This has a downside, as not everyone who made a proposal for a salary increase would receive a salary increase during the current salary cycle.

That means an individual may be left with a feeling of rejection.

However, at Mindera, we aim to undertake salary reviews every quarter. Doing this ensures that all Minders will receive a salary increase at least once a year.

So, self-salary proposal is still very much being trialled here in the UK and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

I’d be really interested to hear how you would feel if your company wanted to introduce self-proposal salary. Let me know!

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