Ask HN: What does a salary represent within a salary band?

#1

Post by illusiveman » Wed, Feb 15, 2023, 8:57 PM UTC

I had an interesting conversation today about salaries and salary bands.

In summary, there were two points of view.

One defended that a salary should represent the responsibilities of the employee for the role within the salary band. In other words, if you barely meet the requirements for the role you would be in the lower end, but if you meet most of what's expected you would be in the upper end.

Contrary to this was the second point of view. In this case, the defenders argued that your salary only represent your "negotiation skills". In other words, the salary will be based on the initial negotiation before joining rather than on performance.

I'm curious about what do you think about this. What does a salary within a salary band mean for you?

Re: Ask HN: What does a salary represent within a salary band?

#2

Post by tboyd47 » Wed, Feb 15, 2023, 9:03 PM UTC

Neither. It's just the result of a search process. A person with high performance can come out on the lower end, and vice versa. A terrible negotiator can come out on the higher end, and vice versa. It just depends on how things unfold. Obviously, if you're decent at negotiation and perform well, you should expect to end up on the higher end.

Re: Ask HN: What does a salary represent within a salary band?

#3

Post by hitpointdrew » Wed, Feb 15, 2023, 9:32 PM UTC

I think you are trying to make this way simpler than it actually is. It isn't one or the other, its both, plus a multitude of other factors. You identified two factors, but there are probably at least a dozen factors that go into a salary decision.

Re: Ask HN: What does a salary represent within a salary band?

#4

Post by lordkrandel » Wed, Feb 15, 2023, 10:32 PM UTC

A way to make employers feel better about giving less money even when the employees are the reason the employer is what it is.