Pay progression isn’t just about moving people up a salary scale. When done right, it recognises the diverse ways people work, communicate, and contribute to your organisation.
Not Everyone’s a Leader
In episode 27 of our podcast titled “Neurodiversity in the Workplace,” we explored how traditional pay structures and progression paths can disadvantage certain groups—particularly neurodivergent employees—and what organisations can do to create more inclusive practices.
Organisations tend to recruit people for their particular skills and capabilities. If they perform well they might be rewarded, given development opportunities and eventually promoted. These decisions are often made because people are good at their jobs—not necessarily because they have good people management skills.
However, people management is often a critical part of development conversations as the new role progresses. This traditional approach can unintentionally disadvantage neurodivergent individuals who might excel technically but navigate workplace social dynamics differently.
Different Learning Styles Need Different Communication
How you share information about pay really matters. We don’t all process information the same way, as Mel Francis of Neuroinclusive HR points out in the podcast episode:
“We’re not all going to be able to take written information in. We’re going to need to have different formats for people to be able to process that information.”
Some team members prefer visual representations of pay ranges, while others benefit from one-to-one conversations or detailed written explanations. The key is recognising these differences and communicating through multiple channels rather than assuming everyone will find and understand information posted on an intranet page.
We’ve often provided clients with pay progression guides, FAQ documents, infographics and even explainer videos for them to share with employees. Using the same information across all of these media provides equal opportunities for the whole team.
Removing Barriers to Fair Pay
Research consistently shows that certain groups—including women, people from ethnic minorities, and neurodivergent individuals—may be less comfortable negotiating pay or face unconscious bias when they do.
Traditional pay progression and performance management methods often create several barriers that disproportionately affect these employees:
Reliance on Self-Advocacy: Many organisations expect employees to advocate for themselves during pay reviews or promotion discussions. This system favours those comfortable with self-promotion and negotiation—skills that some individuals may find challenging due to differences in communication styles or social interaction preferences.
Unwritten Rules: Employees often feel they have to navigate unwritten rules and social cues. As Mel Francis explains:
“Much like women will start to take themselves out of the process unless they meet the criteria, so will those who want to look at matching exactly, and that may be higher prevalence amongst those who are neurodivergent.”
Without clear guidelines, those who interpret requirements literally may self-select out of opportunities.
Networking Dependencies: In many organisations, pay increases and promotions depend partially on visibility and relationships with decision-makers. This creates an inherent disadvantage for employees who may find networking and team events overwhelming or who communicate differently from the majority.
Performance Metrics That Value Conformity: Traditional performance reviews often reward those who conform to neurotypical workplace behaviours. For example, an autistic employee might be rated lower on “teamwork” despite making valuable contributions, simply because they socialize differently or require more focused, independent work time.
Inconsistent Application of Criteria: Without transparent, objective criteria, managers might apply different standards to different team members. They could even have a different view of what kinds of behaviours and contributions meet these standards.
Writing Inclusive Job Descriptions
Organisations often create unintentional barriers in how they describe roles. Mel advises starting with a blank sheet and focusing only on what’s truly needed:
“Go back to a blank sheet to write your job description and just be clear about this is the job, and these are some of the typical tasks that you’re going to undertake, these are the skills that you’re going to need, these are the qualifications that you’re really going to need…’
Overly demanding job descriptions with unnecessary requirements can affect some individuals who might take requirements literally and decide not to apply for new roles or promotions if they don’t meet 100% of the criteria.
Creating More Inclusive Pay Practices
To develop pay practices that work for everyone, consider these approaches:
- Focus on Outcomes
Evaluate what people achieve as well as how they work. Different approaches can lead to the same excellent results, so taking this into account is important.
- Provide Clear Progression Paths
Transparent criteria focused on measurable contributions create a more level playing field than subjective assessments.
- Recognise Different Types of Progression
Dual career paths that value both management and specialist tracks ensure everyone can progress in a way that suits their strengths.
- Train Managers for Better Pay Conversations
Help managers recognise their biases and have effective conversations about pay with diverse team members.
As we often say, pay can be an emotive topic, we need to ensure we are offering plenty of education and training for line managers on how to have these conversations with employees.
Creating inclusive pay progression means removing unnecessary barriers. The goal isn’t lowering standards, but ensuring your approach reflects genuine contribution rather than conformity to a particular working style.