Hundreds Of Microsoft Employees Are Leaking Their Salary Details On Purpose

[Swordsmyth]

Almost 400 Microsoft employees have decided to go "open source" with their salaries, in an attempt to turn the tables on management and determine whether or not they are being fairly compensated, according to OneZero.
The movement to share salaries with each other started from a private Facebook group called "Young Microsoft FTE", where full time employees (FTEs) spend time discussing the company. They have been collecting each others salaries in a Google spreadsheet. The 400 employees participating are a small sub-sect of Microsoft's more than 140,000 workers.
“Share your anonymous info so we can all get paid more together,” the objective at the top of the document states.

The sheet looks at the details of how compensation is broken down for Microsoft employees and tracks years of experience, years at the company, percentage of merit-based raises, base pay and stock compensation. It also includes cash bonuses. Some employees have made note of special stock awards, which generally mark signing bonuses or milestone achievements.
Interestingly, the spreadsheet did not note gender. We don't know if they just felt it was an irrelevant metric or if they didn't want to offend any West Coast liberals by forcing them to identify as a gender.
Regardless, Microsoft employees are situated on a scale that starts at level 59 and goes to level 80. Employees are hired at a certain level, and then can be promoted to new levels as they remain at the company. The typical employee who submitted data to the spreadsheet was a Level 62 software engineer based in Washington state. They've been at that level for a year and have been at Microsoft for three years, reporting five years of total experience and a base pay of $150,000. They reported a $20,000 cash bonus and another $15,000 in stock based bonuses.

The data shows that an employee's "level" is the greatest indicator of compensation at Microsoft, as opposed to overall experience or time spent at the company. It is rare that lower level employees are paid more than higher level employees.
As employees progress, more of their compensation winds up coming in the form of stock. At level 66, for instance, employees reported that nearly 40% of compensation came from cash and stock bonuses. Stock bonuses stay relatively stable as a percentage of salary over the course of a Microsoft employee's career, but can rise to 20% of annual income at higher levels.
Employees have also said that a common tactic is to leave Microsoft, go work at another Seattle company like Amazon, only to come back and jump to a higher level after being re-hired at Microsoft.



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-f...etails-purpose

[Brian4Liberty]

Employees have also said that a common tactic is to leave Microsoft, go work at another Seattle company like Amazon, only to come back and jump to a higher level after being re-hired at Microsoft.

Well, duh.

All of this is something that is learned over time. Companies intentionally let employees fall behind in pay. Why should an employer pay more if they don’t have to? If an employee leaves and comes back, then they have proven that they must be paid more.

Ability to negotiate and play hardball with one’s career and pay is a major reason for differences between two people doing the same job at the same level, but being paid differently. One just played the game better.

[timosman]

Well, duh.

All of this is something that is learned over time. Companies intentionally let employees fall behind in pay. Why should an employer pay more if they don’t have to? If an employee leaves and comes back, then they have proven that they must be paid more.

Ability to negotiate and play hardball with one’s career and pay is a major reason for differences between two people doing the same job at the same level, but being paid differently. One just played the game better.

Let's not forget about the additional experience gained while working in a different environment vs. just being a seat warmer.

[TheTexan]

Interestingly, the spreadsheet did not note gender. We don't know if they just felt it was an irrelevant metric or if they didn't want to offend any West Coast liberals by forcing them to identify as a gender.

If the women at Microsoft want to compare their salaries, they can make their own Facebook group called Microsoft Secretaries and they can compare each other's secretary salaries.