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Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

open.bufferapp.com

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Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#101

Post by btbuildem »

kapilkale wrote: post #41
JonFish85 wrote: post #29

Let's say I'm a competitor, and I find that Niel (randomly picked) is someone I want to hire. All else being equal, I offer him $100k (website says he's making $88k). He comes to his boss to say "I like it here, can you match it?" What does his boss do? Especially, if he's valuable to the company... What if I have a very specialized skill that doesn't fit nicely into your matrix? Let's say market pay for my skill is…

Equity is still off the table.

Yes because that works out profitably for more than 0.001% of participants.

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#102

Post by bps4484 »

swombat wrote: post #65
bjpless wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. Hard to imagine all employees signing off on this release for the sake of a HN article. But I hope that they did. I would be very upset if my salary were published unbeknownst to me.

You would only be upset because you currently work in a company with a culture that doesn't value transparency as a core value. If you worked in a company like Buffer or GrantTree, you'd be wondering why others are so secretive about their salaries, and find yourself more and more disliking the idea of working for a company which is not transparent. Habit is a powerful thing. Change your surroundings and you'll chang…

"You would only be upset because you currently work in a company with a culture that doesn't value transparency as a core value."

This isn't the case (at least for me). The reason I wouldn't want my salary published publicly because people may treat me differently based on how much I get paid. The same problems may be true in a company, but at least internally you can control (through hiring) that people are mature enough to handle that information.

More importantly, I don't want other corporations (specifically their marketing and sales departments) to know how much I make.

I may want some people in my life (including corporations, perhaps) to know how much I make, but I want that to be my choice, not my employers.

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#104

Post by TheCoelacanth »

Euro_IT_drone wrote: post #46

Just trying to compare here with my European salary.. How much of this do you get to take home, ie. what part of it can you spend on food, clothing, housing etc. after takes? What about health insurance, is it provided for?

It depends on a lot of factors, but most people making that level will probably pay a total of about 30-40% in taxes. Health insurance will almost always be provided at this type of job.

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#105

Post by pbreit »

JonFish85 wrote: post #29

Let's say I'm a competitor, and I find that Niel (randomly picked) is someone I want to hire. All else being equal, I offer him $100k (website says he's making $88k). He comes to his boss to say "I like it here, can you match it?" What does his boss do? Especially, if he's valuable to the company... What if I have a very specialized skill that doesn't fit nicely into your matrix? Let's say market pay for my skill is…

I don't really care for it myself but I think one thing is that they are creating a culture that is disinclined to acting as you describe (ie, salary pumping).

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#108

Post by cmwelsh »

suprgeek wrote: post #55

Excellent concept - but one major Caveat. Why in the world would you publish it for all the world to see? Keep it internal to the company - you have an expectation of privacy from your employer and this post just ruined it completely. I hope they got written signed releases from every one of those folks whose private info they broadcast to the world.

It's not hard to guess what a software developer is making these days (hint: a lot).

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#109

Post by beachstartup »

kapilkale wrote: post #37

Seems unwise to have a CEO co-founder be the highest salaried employee at a startup. That person's equity position is probably at least an order of magnitude higher than the other employees. As an investor or employee, I'd find this alarming. http://techcrunch.com/2008/09/08/peter-thiel-best-predictor-... Call me old fashioned, but I think co-founders should be paid living expenses + 25%, even in a series-A funded st…

$100-150k for chief officers at a startup is a completely reasonable salary.

similar salaries at established, larger companies run into the 250-500k range.

Re: Introducing Open Salaries at Buffer

#110

Post by Raphmedia »

walshemj wrote: post #33
Raphmedia wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood the hypocrisy about hiding your salary.

Companies (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.

Yes, 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...

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