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It’s one thing to have a transparent salary policy, it’s a whole another world to publicly blog about people’s salary with a link to their Twitter account. I h
by iampims 13y ago
It’s one thing to have a transparent salary policy, it’s a whole another world to publicly blog about people’s salary with a link to their Twitter account.
I hope all employees agreed to have their salary published on the buffer blog.
Kudos to them for trying something different.
- mberning 13y agoYeah, I think it would have been more than enough to simply explain the formula and provide some anonymized examples. On another note, I am quite surprised at how underpaid some of their positions seem. Senior iOS engineer barely cracking 100k in a very expensive market...
- wmeredith 13y agoYeah, that's pretty ballsy. Seems like they're exposing themselves to unnecessary poaching risk. And what do they do in that situation? What if someone has a competing offer and they want to keep them around? Offer a bonus?
- fleitz 13y agoNope, you talk about transparency, fairness, etc. If you're sticking to that salary structure you're not going to win on price in this market. Warm fuzzies are important to a lot of people, look at how non-profits retain people. Also, there are a lot of people who don't know how to negotiate that would probably benefit from something like this. I know a few devs who stick around at places because they like the people, etc, despite having had multiple offers for more money. Not my style, but it takes all sorts.
- 7Figures2Commas 13y ago> I know a lot of devs who stick around at places because they like the people, etc, despite having had multiple offers for more money. Sure, but that's not the only consideration here. Employees don't always have the option of sticking around at a company. Not all startups make it, and people are terminated or laid off from jobs they love all the time. If and when the time comes to find another job, a public record of your previous salary may not benefit you in your negotiations with prospective employers.
- fleitz 13y agoIf you're not employed you have a very poor BATNA.
- jonlucc 13y agoIt seems like they're ok with the poaching risk. I would assume most of their employees are happy enough, or they'd leave. I'm not sure having the salary posted is a big change from that perspective.
- kansface 13y agoPeople don't work that way. There is quite a bit of discontent or discomfort people will put up with until they are sufficiently motivated to take action. The number of people who are underpaid by 30% and unwilling to look for another job is far greater than the number who would accept that offer once its in front of them.
- pekk 13y agoIf they are paying well then they are actually discouraging poaching
- smm2000 13y agoThe thing is that Buffer does not pay well... I will say that they pay on the lower side of acceptable.
- TheCoelacanth 13y agoIt seems like the bonuses for Senior and Lead are too small. The highest paid engineer is only making 20k more than the lowest paid, and 16k of that difference is because of location.
- Raphmedia 13y agoI never understood the hypocrisy about hiding your salary.
- collyw 13y agoSeems to be more of an American thing than a European thing. Not everyone will hide their salary here. Some will some won't.
- ckarmann 13y agoI never saw someone disclose his/her salary in France. There seems to be an expectation that doing so would produce jealousy and bitterness. So it's not only an American thing.
- delluminatus 13y agoIn general, it's seen as bragging if your salary is high, and mortifying if your salary is low, so it's usually just better to keep your mouth shut about it. I've told a number of people my salary and regretted it every time. They seem to take a vicarious pleasure in telling other people how much money I make. "Oh, you should listen to delluminatus, he makes $xx thousand a year." Ugh.
- quinnchr 13y agoIf discussing salary in the workplace weren't taboo there'd be people unionizing left and right.
- walshemj 13y agoCompanies (especially large ones) don't like it as it limits their negotiation position it can also disclose indirect discrimination e.g. "oops all the females seem to be under paid by 10/20%" which can get expensive. And it also limits employees when they want to move as the new employer knows how much they make now.
- Raphmedia 13y agoYes, I understand why companies do it. They don't want people to know when they are under/overpaid. What I don't understand is why people don't talk about it. If you tell and you learn you are overpaid then you feel good. If you learn you are underpaid, well, time to go negotiate/look elsewhere. Do people think they ARE their salary? It's simply money that some people arbitrary decided to pay you...