Before you ever give anyone numbers, you need to have a conversation about how your company thinks about compensation — salary, equity and how they’re managed.
Don’t jump to the numbers, first explain the framework. That will start things off on the right foot.
The earlier you can put a compensation plan in place , the fewer problems you’ll have in this area going forward.
ou can't predict
people's
performance and the state of the business in a year. It's a good idea to be conservative.
The name of the game is expectation setting. From the moment you really start getting serious about a candidate all the way through you managing them for years, you want to have one process and a very consistent message. One of the worst things you can do with compensation is change your message.
You should sit down with the prospective candidates to explain how the company manages salary and equity. Everyone should get the same talk. Tell them “Everything we do is formulaic” and explain how everyone in the company that has a certain amount of experience gets paid exactly the same, explain that you don’t negotiate and see how they react.
It’s not unusual for a young company to hire someone for twice what they're paying other people in a similar role because they don’t want to lose the hire. But this impulse can lead to damaging imbalances, widespread unhappiness on the team, and overblown expectations for the individual.
Before you ever give anyone numbers, you need to have a conversation about how your company thinks about compensation — salary, equity and how they’re managed. Don’t jump to the numbers, first explain the framework. That will start things off on the right foot.
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COMPENSATION