Comvation is a web agency operating in Thun with a rather young team of 17 people. Flat hierarchies and a high level of involvement ensure a collegial and dynamic working atmosphere in the company.
As part of the pilot for the Toolkit: Women & Diversity in Innovation, Comvation has set itself the goal, as an SME, to offer attractive working conditions. This includes setting salaries in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. However, due to the diversity of job roles and the uniqueness of each person, it is hardly possible to set standardized salary levels or to objectively review the overall salary structure. By conducting an open salary negotiation, Comvation has taken a decisive step to create salary transparency within the company. Conducting the negotiation meeting in the presence of the entire development team allowed both employees and supervisors to reflect on their behavior in negotiation situations and uncover blind spots in the process. This approach initiated an objective and open dialog about the company’s salary structure.
The open salary negotiations were met with a positive response and annual discussions are planned. As a result, salary differences become easier to understand and gain greater approval among the workforce. In the long term, Comvation intends to use this measure to develop binding salary criteria and establish an even fairer salary structure.