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beerisforclosers

Account Manager

Politicker
Arsonist
Valued Contributor
+6

Is your company transparent about salaries?

I've seen a lot of posts on here encouraging the same base pay for the same role. My company doesn't do that at all. They are also ultra secretive about pay "bands". We have "grades" ie level 7, 8, 9, etc but then the pay structure in each "grade" has "bands" that vary by 50k+.


So I could be a grade 8 making 130k but another grade 8 could make 110k or 150k.


I've collected this information basically by crowd sourcing, as they keep it locked up tight. I'm starting to interview for new roles and want to negotiate my salary to the best of my ability. Any advice on how you'd tackle that with so much secrecy around the options?


Thanks in advance!

๐Ÿ’ฐ Compensation
๐Ÿ‘ฅ Hiring
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31 comment

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funcoupons
WR Officer
6
๐Ÿ‘‘
Yup, very transparent here. In my company there are two salary bands. One for more junior reps, and then one for everyone else. Junior reps get the higher band once they meet a clearly defined target for new business. Everyone knows exactly how much everyone else in sales makes, there are no secrets.

When it comes to negotiating, I'd ask them how salary/commission structure is determined at their company, first. Ask for what you feel you deserve based on industry standard and what you need for the job to make sense for you.ย 
DaveFromCollege
Notorious Answer
2
Account Executive
Stop making too much sense!!!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
๐ŸฆŠ
Excellent advice fun ๐Ÿ’ฏ
beerisforclosers
Politicker
1
Account Manager
So logical. I wish all companies were transparent! Thanks for the advice.
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Love this advice - great!
DaveFromCollege
Notorious Answer
3
Account Executive
Not at all :(
c4miller
Opinionated
4
Sales Manager
Literally found out after a title promotion that I was making less than all of the most recent round of new hires that started the week prior so I can definitely relate....
beerisforclosers
Politicker
1
Account Manager
@c4millerย WOW. That is rough. Hopefully you've got a game plan. It's wild to me they aren't more public; sales people talk. We will always find out.
c4miller
Opinionated
0
Sales Manager
VP tried to give me a small raise once people started finding out (I wasn't the only one getting hit by this one..) but it hasn't really gotten better over the years and everyone who had enough with their bs and moved on is sending referral offers my way so.. I agree though if they were more upfront with everyone this wouldn't be a problem.
beerisforclosers
Politicker
0
Account Manager
I can relate.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
๐ŸฆŠ
Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

No.
beerisforclosers
Politicker
0
Account Manager
LOL. So much same page. I was hoping other companies were doing better!
GlenRoss
Politicker
2
Account Executive
Thatโ€™s crazy how secretive it is
beerisforclosers
Politicker
0
Account Manager
I agree. I really think it would be more motivating to share the information so we know what the next step looks like!
AlecBaldwinsHairline
Valued Contributor
2
Head of Sales Development
No - and they should be, especially in sales.

It helps people understand what their career trajectory looks like.
beerisforclosers
Politicker
1
Account Manager
Absolutely - show us what our career trajectory is. So frustrating.
AlecBaldwinsHairline
Valued Contributor
1
Head of Sales Development
If you want to be an AE - here's what the pay looks like, if you want to move to CSM land here's what you can expect.ย  Etc etc
ARRisLife
Politicker
1
Account Executive
@beerisforclosersย I can relate to this so much. I've not crowdsourced info as much as you but anecdotally I'm in the same boat.ย 

They've put a lot of effort into the curtain shielding which means I highly doubt you're going to get much transparency. If you're finding yourself at the lower bands compared to less performing or newer peers than I think its time to take some calls.ย 

I'm in that position myself. Good Luck!ย 
beerisforclosers
Politicker
0
Account Manager
Keep the crowdsourcing going :) Although I've been shocked how many people don't want to share yet want me to share. Come on guys. Building out the info they don't want us to have and need your input! hahaha
smallfishbigpond
Tycoon
1
Senior Client Partner
Unfortunately, my last company wasn't transparent about salary. It's really important to ask in interviewing how they view salaries and if there is a level system (Google pioneered one in SV) so that you can understand what your level is and what that salary range is. My advice is to crowd source and make it public facing so that the company can at least see the discrepancies and then ideally make internal change or hire a third party auditor to rectify the system moving forward.ย 
BlueJays2591
Politicker
1
Federal Business Dev Director
that's exactly how we do it, but there's a lot that goes into the "bands" in each pay grade, such as experience and education. we are pretty transparent with how each person is put into each band so they know.ย 
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
I can relate.
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
1
ISR
When it comes to negotiating, I'd ask them how salary/commission structure is determined at their company, first. Ask for what you feel you deserve based on industry standard and what you need for the job to make sense for you.ย 
NoSuperhero
Politicker
0
BDR LEAD
Kinda, not really.
curd
Opinionated
0
AD
hahahhahahahah

...no.
JDialz
Politicker
0
Chief Operating Officer
Oh very much so. There is no salary.ย 
Coffeesforclosers
Notable Contributor
0
Director Sales and Market Development
nope. everyone makes different and nobody knows what and where
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Unfortunately, no. But I'd recommend they do
Helps have clear career improvment and trajectory too
BossBitch
Politicker
0
Account Executive
No, I got a raise and was actually told "do not tell anyone" hahahaย 
goose
Politicker
0
Sales Executive
If you ask people about their salary I'm pretty confident most of them will lie. ย 

That being said, our company keeps this pretty confidential.
MR.StretchISR
Politicker
0
ISR
Yup, very transparent here. In my company there are two salary bands. One for more junior reps, and then one for everyone else. Junior reps get the higher band once they meet a clearly defined target for new business. Everyone knows exactly how much everyone else in sales makes, there are no secrets.

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