Generally our approach with salaries (and much of the company) has been to iterate with continuous feedback loops. The feedback we receive in HN may further influence how we think about things. Would love any more thoughts/advice you have :)
It shouldn't come as a surprise that you have to pay more in markets like SF and NYC. The costs of living are much higher, and employees can switch jobs almost effortlessly.
Taxes and rent costs blow away these piddly adjustments. Moving into SF from elsewhere requires _massive_ income adjustments.
I'd say an apartment here would cost $2000/mo more than Nashville. Gas is say 50% more expensive; let's say that's another $4K/year. That adds up to an additional $28K/year after tax; or, roughly $40K/year before tax.
What choices have you made in the past year that make you feel you're worth $63k/yr more than Colin? I mean, is Colin just not quite as smart and good at technology as you? Have you two talked about how much better you are than him?
That rhetorical line of questioning is a low blow, but as CTO you might be able to answer: what positive open and honest discussion has the open equity/salary table actually encouraged?
Idle gossip around the virtual water cooler is one thing, but for open salaries to be appreciated, there have to be positives that outweigh the obvious negatives.
Another thing not mentioned, does Buffer give bonuses for good work or is the spreadsheet an employee's total compensation?
I don't think you should pay some one more because they want to live somewhere expensive, just like you shouldn't pay them more if they decide they want to drive a tesla.
I don't think that's the problem. The problem is, if you have someone you want in your team, and if that someone is living in SF for example, then you can't offer him the same kind of salary otherwise he will never accept.
If my employer made this level of information available to everyone, I would have a great deal more trust and confidence in the senior management and probably wouldn't be job hunting on the side.
...I would stay well away. I guess it's different for everyone but I don't want this kind of information available to my colleagues never mind the general public.
The future is radical transparency; we should be prepared to embrace it.
There has been plenty of pressure applied to state government to provide this information under freedom of information laws. When a local paper initially collected this information and made it available there was public backlash against both the paper, and the way certain people were compensated (mostly firefighters, police officers but also some school teachers and university employees). After a while most people forgot about it but the push continued and now we have things like the above linked site where you can find the total compensation of every employee of the state of Nevada.
If my employer suddenly published salaries then it may be an issue but they've been publishing these reports for years.
I'm sure everyone who works there is both aware and accepting of the publishing. If they didn't like it, they wouldn't have accepted the job in the first place.
There is the social aspect. If people you know and interact with on a daily basis know your income, they'll preload their assumptions about your money management skills into every interaction. Sometimes they'll ask for money and resent you if you decline, even though they probably have no idea what kind of liabilities you're facing (and it's reasonable to keep those private too). They'll judge all of your choices against your income; if you buy something that's a bit of a stretch, like a nicer car, you may get lectured on, but you'll definitely get judged on, how you can't really afford that, or how you're terrible at managing your income, etc.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Publicized salary information makes personal interactions more difficult all around.
It can make business more difficult. Consider a world where everyone's salary is public, and anyone selling you a product can look up your income and demand certain payment based on a percentage of your income. It'd be a lot harder to negotiate or deal with salespeople this way.
"Salary history" is one of the HR department's great tools for screwing over employees; instead of paying you a salary commensurate with the value you bring to the company, they just have to offer a marginal bump. Again, it neuters negotiation, since they know your hand ahead of time.
There can be legal ramifications. Consider a situation where you get in a car accident, exchange insurance information, and the other party looks up your salary online and discovers that you make enough to be worth bringing to court. Even if he'd lose the case, and even if it's small claims, it'd cost you time and money in transportation, time off, etc. If it's not small claims, it'd cost you legal fees too. The claimant would anticipate that your lawyer would recommend a settlement and may sue even if his prospects were poor; since your income information would be public, said lawyers would take your case on contingency, since you have enough money to be worth trying to wring out.
The old saying "good fences make good neighbors" applies and can be generalized as "a reasonable amount of privacy keeps people civil" (it needn't refer exclusively to fences). Your personal affairs can and should stay personal.
Not google, but not much more work. If you know their name you do not need to know their classification.
And it is a double-edged sword - an employee could look at that formula after a year and think, "Well, I know where I am now and where I could be in two years, no reason to stay here for that."
I also can't even imagine what it would be like trying to implement such a policy if it weren't in place from the start, hah.
Good point.
The good part about this is that the formula and system is open to change and will continue to evolve as we find ways that it could be working better for us. We're actually in the midst of some changes right now that have and will really help the formula work in the coming months & years.
I also have to think balancing such a formula is a very interesting challenge. On the one hand you don't want it so hard coded that there is no wiggle room, but on the other a higher fudge factor can really change the type of applicants that come along.
I am self employed now but honestly this could be said of any company - public salary formula or not.
Dan, Engineer w/ Buffer for 1 1/2 years
Curious if you have specific examples.
The people - you'd have to get to know them, they're awesome bunch :)
Our values - here's the easiest way to show them: http://www.slideshare.net/Bufferapp/buffer-culture-05
I hope that helps a bit!
I can't help but think that there are tons of places that don't treat people like children and are respectful to each other. I wouldn't want to get underpaid for something generic like this. Just my personal opinion, everyone is different.
I just feel like you are being underpaid by a lot.
If I was someone just after the money, I could choose to go downtown and work in fin-tech. Everyone has their own motivations, values and desires. Buffer fits very well within mine!