A company reached out to me today, saying they were hiring. Here’s a quote from the email:
We’re huge on transparency and documentation, from our company culture to compensation (!!), so I’ll let our docs do the rest of the talking.
I clicked on the link, and two things stood out to me from the “Our Compensation” doc:
- Public salary bands. Imma say that again. Public👏🏽salary👏🏽 bands👏🏽
- The “Steps” tab
Public salary bands
Anytime I’ve talked to someone in HR about making salary bands transparent, the concern has been that money is too personal, and employees can’t handle receiving that information via a document. The rub, of course, is that prospective employees will ask about salary bands all the time. In light of this, a friend of mine’s employer announced that current employees could ask HR about salary bands.
Here was the process my friend went through:
- Ask HR
- HR scheduled a meeting with him, his manager, the head of HR, and another HR employee
- He was shown the levels on a screen but was not allowed to write things down or take pictures
Meanwhile, Otis’ process:
- Click the link
The benefit of public salary bands is two-fold. First, the company is more likely to compensate all employees equitably. Second, all employees will feel not just fairly compensated, but more fairly valued every day that they come into work. After all, what would make you feel more respected by your employer: the first process or the second?
The Steps Tab
There is a tab in that compensation & levels doc at the very end called “Steps.” And it details how an individual should progress from level 1 to level 2, etc. Why is this exciting? Level transitions are hard. Proving that you’re ready for a role that you’re not currently assigned is hard. Having a clear path to allow an IC and their manager to agree on career progression can be crucial. This page is a huge step in the right direction, though I feel it would strongly benefit from a transition plan for ICs interested in trying out management. After all, the number one career block I’ve seen for folks is the transition from IC to Management. Tell me if this sounds familiar:
Your team lost its manager or has grown so big that it needs to be split into two. Y’all start picking up the managerial slack. Maybe it’s relatively evenly split. Maybe there’s one person on your team who seems to enjoy more managerial work and takes more of it on. They’re coding less, but they’re filling the executive shoes. Finally, someone is tasked with finding a manager for your team. Who gets selected? The person who’s been filling the managerial role? Or the super-driven IC who loves writing code all day? The latter. Who would be a better manager? The former. Who’s gonna leave the team (or worse, the company) in the next year? The former. And, honestly? Possibly the latter too.
I’ve seen this story happen over and over again. Part of my theory is this: companies haven’t thought clearly about what makes a good pre-manager. They’ll swear up and down that “the skills needed for management are vastly different from the skills needed as an IC,” but when the chips are down, they lack guidelines to follow and they’ll grasp for the person excelling most in their current role, not the person showing the skills they need. Having a clear plan to counter that can help.
The Inclusion Win
There’s a not-so-secret benefit to these additions. Those of you who’ve worked in diversity, inclusion, and equity initiatives might see it right away. Who suffers most from hidden salary bands? Under-represented minorities. Who hits the IC-to-Manager glass wall most? Under-represented minorities.
When you solve these issues, you create not just a happier workplace, but a more equitable one.
Related Posts
-
user experience matters >> Today's thought-provoking read was this 2017 blog...
-
IPOs vs SPACs >> Came across two competing ideas this week. First, ...
-
sideprojects v products >> The best way to build your side project is the sam...