Most companies pay their top executives significantly more than their subordinates. For example, it was reported in 2019 that the chief executive of Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek Holdings earned US$1.6m per year (Bloomberg, 2019), or approximately US$130,000 per month. In contrast, the country’s Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the cleaning sector mandates that general cleaners should earn a minimum monthly basic salary of S$1,236 as of June 2021 (Ministry of Manpower, 2021).

Wage inequality contributes towards widening wealth disparities, which we believe is especially inequitable when there are about 150 million people around the world living in poverty (World Bank, 2021), including in the countries that WISE ActSEA is active in. In Indonesia, the wealth gap has grown faster than in any other country in Southeast Asia. The four richest men in Indonesia have more wealth than the combined total of the poorest 100 million people (Oxfam, 2020).

Paying unfairly unequal wages would make WISE ActSEA complicit in the structures that contribute to wealth inequality and poverty.

All roles are equally valuable

There are many arguments that institutions make to justify disparities in income. One argument is that salaries reflect the value that a person brings to the company, based on the position’s responsibilities and the person’s experience and qualifications. The implication is that, generally, occupations that are seen to be more ‘skilled’ are valued more highly by society than occupations that involve manual labour.

However, economists such as Jason Hickel have pushed back against this idea:

We believe that every individual’s contribution is equally valuable, regardless of the nature of their role and the amount of experience and skills they bring to the organisation. Therefore, our position is that the role and the person’s experience and qualifications should not factor into a person’s salary at WISEActSEA.

Greater affluence has increased resource use and pollutant emissions far more rapidly technology has helped to reduce them. Affluent people are responsible for most environmental impacts (Wiedmann et al, 2020). We subscribe to the doughnut model of social and planetary boundaries (Raworth, 2017) which illustrates our challenge to meet life’s essentials while not overshooting our pressure on Earth’s life-supporting systems. We also believe in degrowth, which advocates for societies to prioritise social and ecological well-being instead of corporate profits, over-production and excess consumption (Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie).

WISE’s ActSEA’s salaries should reflect our commitment to sustainability by ensuring that the amount we pay does not enable excessive consumption. For example, as transportation accounts for around one-fifth of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (Climate Watch, 2021), our salaries should not enable our staff to travel constantly.

However, we also recognise that some consumption is necessary to achieve physical and mental well-being. In addition, individuals contribute far less towards climate change than corporations. A study in 2017 found that just 100 companies were responsible for 71% of global emissions (CDP, 2017). Therefore, WISE ActSEA should not deny team members the opportunity to consume goods and services if it is beneficial to their well-being.

Every person has the right to a life with dignity. Among the rights recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations), this includes a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.

WISE’s ActSEA’s salaries must ensure that staff are able to live a life of dignity, including and especially if the state institutions do not ensure these rights. For example, Singapore does not have a minimum wage, but this will not mean that WISE ActSEA can pay staff in Singapore as low as possible.

One of WISE’s ActSEA’s values is caring for and supporting one another. This means that we not only care for our team members, but also their loved ones and wider community. We recognise that making a difference is not restricted to the people we work with through our external programmes, but should also extend to our team members.

Therefore, to the best of our ability, WISE’s ActSEA’s salaries should allow staff to support their loved ones health and well-being, including education. especially if other forms of support are not available. It should also allow staff to contribute towards causes that they believe in.

We recognise that not disclosing salaries and how they are determined contributes to the gender and racial pay gap (Bolden-Barrett & Clarey, 2018; Afoko, 2017). WISE ActSEA is committed to being fully transparent about what our salaries are and how they are calculated. However, breakdown of calculations of each individual’s salaries will not be provided in order to respect the staff’s privacy.