Posted in Architecture, Uncategorized, WPA
For a recent episode of the People Managing People podcast, host David Rice sat down 
Mel Price, CEO and co-founder of Work Program Architects, to discuss how radical transparency around pay and firm finances has been a cornerstone of WPA’s culture since day one. Over the past 15 years, Mel has helped build a unique business model where every employee has access to the data, decision-making power, and financial tools they need to think and act like an owner. In this episode, Mel shares the practices that make this possible, including rotating compensation committees, all-staff project votes, and open hiring and contracting processes. Here are some key insights from the conversation.*
On radical transparency as a teaching tool
“In our industry, in the design industry, there’s not a lot of education around business and finance. So if talented people aren’t taught business and finance in school and don’t have conversations about it, how in the heck are they going to figure out how to connect the dots that must be connected on design, time and money.”
On building a distributed leadership model
“There’s so many places where we can practice making big decisions that ladder up to a holistic understanding of finances. And it starts day one with every project. Especially in 2025, employees want control. They want to have a say in the decision making process. And so when a project walks in the door here, someone makes a pitch for us to take on the project, and we have an all-firm vote. A majority vote wins and we take on the project.”
On clarity, accountability, and culture
“Having all of that information removes this whole layer of anxiety, discussions that in the old offices used to happen around the water cooler. Instead, we move from ‘Why is so-and-so making this?’ to cheering that person on when they hit the next goal. It really results in staff knowing each other’s goals and cheering them on when they hit them or, counter to that, speaking up when someone’s not meeting their goals and giving us a chance to address it head-on.”
On the future of workplace trust
“The next thing that we’re going to test is compensation score cards, dialing in some more performance incentives and publishing each person’s scorecard each year. That’s going to add an additional layer. I hope that by doing this we can earn some more trust and we can teach some more business skills. We’re going to give people hope that there’s a way to move up, to have some more upward economic mobility, and earn the trust for people to stay invested and eventually become owners.”
Listen to the entire conversation on the People Managing People website. The episode is also available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.
* Quotes have been edited for length and clarity