The Buffer Benchmark is informed by the Carta Market Data but gives us the flexibility to choose the Percentiles for each area and align the percentage increase between each level across all areas.

By separating Market Data from the Buffer Benchmarks clearly in The components of the Salary System, it makes it very straightforward for us to update market data, or make changes to how we work with that market data. Market Data is simply that, market data. All of the ways we work with market data to arrive at salary benchmarks and levels lives in the Buffer Benchmarks.

To jump right into the spreadsheet for this component, view the **Buffer Benchmarks Spreadsheet.**

How we use Market Data to arrive at Salaries across roles and levels

We take Level 5 market data and then extrapolate that to all other levels based on our own system of % increases for every level:

We landed on “anchoring” at Level 5 because across all data sets, the data appeared to be most consistent at mid-levels (i.e. less variance in the percentage increase than at lower levels). The Carta Market Data brought in at Level 5 reflects unique Percentiles for each area.

Addressing the challenges of sample size in market data

What happens if we take the market data directly and use it for every level? Essentially, you can see that we start to run into data issues due to low sample size at certain levels. This inconsistency of sample size leads to significant variance in salaries over time as we pull fresh market data.

The Buffer Benchmark helps address the challenges of sample size. We’ve often found in market data that sample size can be quite low for certain roles. By using the market data to inform only one level, we look at the overall trends across areas and roles to create a standard percentage jump from one level to the next.

Being guided by market data rather than beholden to it

This also gives us the opportunity to look more holistically at the data rather than blindly following market data / benchmarks. For example, maybe we value a role or area differently than the market. The Buffer Benchmark gives us the flexibility to establish our own salary trends and opinions for each role based on a reasoned and logical approach.

We have always felt that market data should be used as a guide for determining salaries. That’s why we’ve always taken the data as an input and created our own formula from there. Establishing the Buffer Benchmark allows us to double down on this philosophy and create a consistent application of Market Data across all teams.