HOW TO SET COMPENSATION BANDS (for base, bonus, and equity)
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Compensation can feel like an opaque / arcane topic, but this approach will let you incorporate benchmarks (without suffering from gaps due to spotty data).
1️⃣ Identify reasonable benchmarks for only a single key role per job family
- Pick one where there’s lots of data, typically in the middle of the leveling guide (e.g., ~L4-L6).
- E.g., Sr. Software Engineer in Engineering, Sr. Product Manager in Product, Marketing Manager, Sr. Account Executive, Operations Manager, etc.
2️⃣ Extrapolate base salary across levels
- Multiply or divide using a progression factor (e.g., 1.16–1.20 between levels). Gut check against benchmarks and internal expectations.
-See below for a guide
3️⃣ Set target bonuses for each level
- Apply reasonable bonus multipliers
- See below for a guide
4️⃣ Use a formula to derive Target Equity Value / year for each level
annualTargetEquityValue = totalCompensation — baseSalary — targetBonus
5️⃣ Convert equity value into shares
- Choose an appropriate Target Price / Share (depending on whether you issue Restricted Stock, Options, or RSUs).
- Calculate the number of shares to issue as:
numShares = (targetAnnualEquity * vestingDuration) / targetPricePerShare