COMPLETE WAGE TRANSPARENCY WORKS FOR TEAL PARTNERS

An ‘open corporate culture’. It is sometimes mentioned in vacancies, but what could it really mean? NWA discovered it at software company Teal Partners in Antwerp and had a great conversation with Koen Denies, one of the founders, to find out how far they go. This is a look at how two young entrepreneurs, passionate and driven about what they do, grow a company with a no-nonsense style and a critical view of themselves. Transparency and trust in their employees are the guiding principles.

Tell us briefly about your journey so far.

Koen Denies: “My co-founder Jelle Huygen and I started Teal Partners in 2016 and have grown steadily since, both in terms of revenues and number of employees. Today, we work with 55 people, most of whom are ‘developers’. The majority of them are employees on our payroll, but we also work with approximately 20 self-employed freelancers. We help our clients in digitising certain business processes.”

You have a remarkably open wage policy. Could you tell us a bit more about it?

Koen Denies: “First and foremost, I want to emphasise that this wage policy can’t just be copied in another company. Nor is it a trick. It is one of the aspects we have considered an essential part of our corporate DNA from the start: complete transparency about the company’s operations and results for all our employees. This way, we create maximum engagement. This means that all our employees have access to the same information as us, the owners of the company. They have insight into the cost structure, the financial situation, the non-confidential information of customers and in the wages paid to everyone on a monthly basis. Moreover, we work with self-managing teams in a decentralised manner, without titles and hierarchical layers. We give the people working for us complete confidence: confidence in their skills and confidence in the fact that they can achieve the best results in this culture of openness and collaboration. The best results for our customers, but also for the mutual relationships between colleagues. And it works. Of all employees who have worked for us so far, only two have left on their own initiative. That makes us proud.”

“We deliberately pay the best wages in the market”

Interesting. What does your open wage policy look like in concrete times?

Koen Denies: “From the beginning, we have been completely open about wages and the reasons behind them. Our starting point is internal and external equity. On an annual basis, we look at what the market offers for certain profiles and base our wages on that information. We deliberately pay one of the best wages in the market, so we can attract the best employees. Depending on relevant experience and impact in a certain position, an employee will be assigned a wage formula that is known to everyone. Every year, that person is given a wage increase based on experience gained, similar to a traditional wage system. We also reserve a certain budget every year for individual wage increases for employees who have had a significant positive impact on our company.”

And how do you decide who gets how much?

Koen Denies: “Every year, Jelle and I have conversations with all employees about their experiences in the past year and who or what stood out in a positive way. In these conversations, a few people always come up who everyone agrees deserve an additional wage increase. We then make the proposal to all employees. I have to admit that I’m always a bit nervous when explaining the proposal to the entire group, but it has never been questioned so far.”

Could this work for a larger company?

Koen Denies: “Who says it couldn’t? Our process might have to be adapted. Jelle and I can’t possibly hold informal conversations with a hundred or more people every year, but the essence, the openness and the confidence, can and, in my opinion, should be maintained in the future with further growth. I also want to emphasise that every employee participates in the profits, without actually being a shareholder. Specifically, when shares are sold to a third party, 15% of the sum paid for the shares at that time is distributed among our employees, based on their seniority. This creates a unique involvement without putting all employees at financial risk. We are proud of this and we think it’s really important. We believe it is sustainable and fair if employees who have contributed to the real growth of the company can also benefit from that growth.”