The Pay 100 is a worker-led UK architecture organisation supporting and inspiring open wage cooperation, established in 2022.
Comparative to other UK professions, salaries in architecture have stagnated in recent years. This has partially been enabled by annual publication of pay-scale bands listing role-specific averages across the profession for the previous year. In turn, a number of practices have referred to, and match said levels based on statistics of the past, therefore inhibiting growth.
Another key wage growth inhibitor is fee-undercutting. By incentivising higher wages using pay transparency, we can help reduce fee-undercutting between practices and benefit the profession as a collective. This is a systemic issue in which no one practice is solely responsible.
If we begin to celebrate named practices individually for their wage averages via a competitive leader boards published by the Pay 100: prospective employees will be able to refer to this for job application guidance and expectation management, therefore encouraging future wage cooperation between practices listed on the Pay 100.
“First results from The Pay 100 study reveal salaries at leading UK architecture studios“ – 2022
“Pay 100 releases first results from salary transparency survey” – 2022
“The Pay 100 aims to encourage ‘full wage transparency’ at UK architecture studios” – 2022
“UK worker-led group launched to improve salary transparency in architecture firms” – 2022
How will this work?
We need your help as an employee. For the purpose of maximum transparency and reliable results, our data should come from the employee.
Proposed stages for change:
1. As an employee, you contribute to our survey:
2. We anonymously enter your salary into our database, then calculate salary averages for your practice.
3. We publish the top 100 for each role inclusive of salary averages assigned to named practices.
