This CEO discloses his and all the salaries of his 850 employees

This CEO discloses his and all the salaries of his 850 employees "My name is Manuel Wiesner and I earn 245,000 francs a year." So the co-CEO of the Wiesner Family Gastronomy AG – one of the largest Swiss gastronomy companies – introduces himself at his keynote at the HR Inside Summit in the Hofburg on October 14th. He has made "No more speculation." With his 850 employees, he has lived with one hundred percent salary transparency in all 32 restaurants for five years. Even the tip is openly displayed, as in his establishments, payment is exclusively "cashless," meaning by card. What has happened since the introduction of this system? Little, but much. KURIER: You are betting on one hundred percent salary transparency. Why? Manuel Wiesner: We believe that transparency promotes corporate culture. You want to work in a company that is fair, where there are no backroom deals or others are better off. What does your system look like in concrete terms? The salary transparency is built on three pillars. The first is the salary calculator. If a job seeker goes to www.fwg.ch/lohnrechner, they see in great detail how the salary range is composed. The second pillar is that everyone has the right to ask for someone else's salary – in all 32 restaurants and also from me. A salary request form is filled out, HR calls back, and goes into a discussion with the employee. Because an employee wants information, something is usually not right for them. So HR has the opportunity to ask. And to raise the salary if necessary? Our salary system is based on further education and training because we have many people at the subsistence level whom we want to keep. So we look together at what we can do to get an employee a higher salary. If the person develops, they will stay for two or three more years. That is a win-win. What is the third pillar? These are the salary increases. Once a year, a list goes through the restaurant and the salary increases are reviewed together. With the EU Pay Transparency Directive, one relies on comparison with anonymous groups. But these reveal individual incomes – were you not worried about revealing too much? At first, it was a uneasy feeling. But what happened? Actually, nothing at all. You have the feeling that it is so extremely important, but employees are talking about salaries anyway. The employees thought I bring home easily half a million to a million francs per year. But it is 245,000 francs. This way rumors can be counteracted. How has full transparency developed since its introduction? Have the salaries increased in the short term? In the restaurant there was no problem, as we have always worked with salary ranges. But in the office, we have hired what the market pays. If someone had been with us for a long time, they were underpaid. When we introduced the salary system, we raised the ones who were underpaid. But that is not a salary increase; you didn't pay fairly before. This way there is the possibility that the person stays longer. Through our salary range, every employee knows what the minimum and what the maximum is. Therefore, we raise the salary from below, but there are no more excessive demands from above. Were there people who refused? We have 850 employees, there are always people who do not want this. But that is why my brother and I went first and disclosed our salaries, half a year before everyone else. And if the boss does that, you as an employee can hardly say anything against it. Do you see this type of transparency being introduced in all companies? Currently, I don't believe it is possible. We have a salary spread of 1 to 6 in our company – meaning the highest earner gets six times more than the lowest earner. In Switzerland as a whole, the salary spread is 1 to 143. So if you bring home five million francs, it will be difficult to introduce salary transparency. Because those with high salaries are the management personnel – and they are against transparency. Comments