Salary = Buffer Benchmark × Cost of Living (+ Salary Choice)
We calculate individual team salaries using the Buffer Benchmarks as the starting point and then we combine other components of the formula. These are the Cost of Living and Salary Choice.
Cost of Living adjusts salaries based on either a High (100%) or Global (90%) band for every location. The Cost of Living is a multiplication factor on the Buffer Benchmark, either keeping it where it is, or reducing it down to 90% of the number.
Salary Choice is a legacy option which is no longer offered to new team members. In the earlier years of Buffer, new team members were offered the option to take additional equity, or take the “salary choice”, which would give them an additional $10K of salary. This is the final element added to a salary, if it applies. The Salary Choice does not make sense for us at the current stage of the company, and will eventually be phased our as part of Future Iterations of the salary system.
It’s worth noting that there are a number of calculations built into the Buffer Benchmarks itself, such as our use of unique Percentiles across areas, and our chosen percentage increases between levels. The Buffer Benchmark also takes care of steps within levels
For each level, we have a further step that can be awarded as a small promotion to recognize that you are at an experienced level and hitting strong performance for the expectations of that level.
This second step will take you 40% of the way to the next level of salary. This brings simplicity and consistency across all areas. You can read more about how steps are structured in our Buffer Career Framework (Levels & Steps).