Salary negotiations can feel messy, so how do we design pay that’s fair, transparent, and free of bias? In this episode of Beyond the B, host Ryan Honeyman sits down with Kate Dixon, Principal and Founder of Dixon Consulting, to unpack salary negotiation, equitable compensation design, and what the new B Corp Fair Work standards mean in practice.
Kate brings decades of compensation experience. She is a Certified Compensation Professional and has advised leaders at Nike, American Express, Silver Oak Cellars, and dozens of nonprofits. Her firm (a Certified B Corp) helps organizations turn complex pay issues into strategic advantages while advancing equity in total rewards. She is also the author of PAY UP!, an award-winning guide that teaches people the secrets to successful salary negotiations.
Together, Ryan and Kate explore how compensation mirrors culture across companies, why banning salary history reduces gaps, and how to publish meaningful ranges candidates can trust. They dig into team-based incentives versus individual performance pay, why the cost of labor (not just the cost of living) is an important metric, and a practical path to anti-oppressive pay using Kate’s SHIFT model. Tune in to discover how to remove bias from pay, negotiate what matters, and align compensation to help foster a just economy with Kate Dixon.
Key Points From This Episode:
Quotations:
“My mission is to help people — gain access to the systems they were not born into.” — Kate Dixon [0:03:43]
“When we ask for salary history, we are basically baking in any inequities because how somebody is paid is really a result of everything that has happened before with their pay.” — Kate Dixon [0:07:44]
“That clear-eyed understanding [of salary] on both sides can really reduce the number of problems down the road.” — Kate Dixon [0:21:02]
“I think that long-term incentives should be sprinkled about over everyone because I think long-term incentives actually work better when everybody in the organisation participates, instead of just the executives.” — Kate Dixon [0:24:02]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
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