On this page, we explain how we review our Compensation Calculator and carry out the Compensation Review Cycle.
GitLab goes through 2 compensation reviews:
The most up to date timeline of the Annual Compensation Review process can be found in the Total Rewards Schedule.
During the fourth quarter of each year, the Total Rewards team will conduct a compensation review to ensure all team members are paid based on market rates in the compensation calculator. This is not a Cost of Living Adjustment, but instead a review of market changes. Location Factor will continue to be a part of the compensation calculator equation.
Increases for Compensation Review Cycles are based on 1) assessing market changes in the compensation calculator inputs and 2) performance in the role.
The increase percentage may vary for each person. If a team member was recently adjusted, the annual adjustment might yield no additional salary during the annual compensation review. This review acts as a sweep for each team member’s compensation to be evaluated at least once per year. If there is an increase in Location Factor and/or Benchmark, team members affected will have the new location factors applied to their compensation, but would not receive an automatic percent increase. For example, if the location factor in a region increases by 10% the team member will not receive an automatic 10% adjustment. The team member would receive an increase aligned to their benchmark, location factor, and performance taking any budget constraints into account.
To ensure a smooth process, the Total Rewards team will freeze any compensation changes relating to promotions as part of the Annual Compensation Review process leading into the Manager Review portion of the program. Any compensation or promotion change requests need to be submitted in BambooHR by 2020-12-04 with last available effective date of 2020-12-01 or 2020-12-16. If an exception needs to be made and a compensation change needs to be processed during this time, such as relocations or other reasons, please send an email to Total Rewards.
For internal transfers, Total Rewards will need a list of active applicants from Recruiting on roles as of 2020-12-16. If a team member takes an internal transfer, they will be removed from the Annual Compensation Review process as their compensation will be reviewed per the hiring process.
Any compensation changes that result from Annual Compensation Review will have an effective date of 2021-02-01. If a manager anticipates that a promotion is more suitable to process for a team member, the manager has the option to remove the team member out of the Annual Compensation Review process. If this is the case, please send an email to Total Rewards no later than 2020-12-16.
Promotions and compensation change requests will reopen in BambooHR on 2021-02-01. The effective date for these requests will be processed in the next available payroll date from the time of approval.
Performance Factors are assessed twice per year as part of the Performance/Potential Matrix. The average performance output (developing - performing - exceeding) will be used for annual compensation review.
For FY22 compensation (effective February 1, 2021) we will only have the ability to have one assessment (scheduled for November 2020). If a team has already submitted a Performance/Potential Assessment in Q3 FY21, they will not be required to submit another assessment in Q4, but may update their assessment if desired.
The People Group is developing guidelines and the assessment tool for how the Performance Factor will be determined/processed. Related Issue.
Recommendations from Total Rewards for discretionary increases based on performance factor:
However, do not expect that the final discretionary increases will fall into these ranges, as performance is only one factor out of many that goes into compensation adjustments.
Managers will want to take into account any increases the team member received in the last fiscal year (for example, due to promotion, transfer, catch-up compensation review, etc) or if the team member was recently hired and already aligned to market/performance rates. Once a manager determines the performance increase percent, the manager should be able to clearly communicate to the team member how it was derived.
Increases are not capped at 10%. If a manager would like to suggest an increase higher than the guidelines, they will want to add a justification for each indirect manager to review and approve.
If a manager has a team member on their team who is red circled (paid over the top end of the compensation range), in order for the person to receive an increase, they will need to submit a compensation exception request with their People Business Partner to Total Rewards which will then be reviewed and approved by the Compensation Group. The Total Rewards team will notify the People Business Partners of the team members red-circled once the new ranges are set for proactive review.
As part of the new Annual Compensation Review, managers will review, approve, and where necessary update the proposed salary increases to ensure that we are paying each team member to market and increasing based on performance. Please verify the compensation review inputs (performance, level, title) are accurate in Compaas.
It is very important that GitLab team-members understand their performance and how it impacts their salary.
While some GitLab team-members may not receive an increase due to already being at the right competitive rate for their Level, Role, and Location there are other circumstances where an increase should be avoided. If there are any reasons as to why the team member should not receive the proposed increase to be aligned with market rates in our calculator, please email total-rewards@ domain with the reasoning and cc your People Business Partner. This could be due to a current performance issue, pending termination, etc. If you would like to delay the increase, please outline a proposed plan of action and deadline. Team members who are currently struggling to perform at their current level should have that communicated clearly and the manager should consider delaying the increase until performance reaches a commendable level.
Compaas is GitLab's compensation platform where managers can login, review, change, and submit their proposed increases during Annual Compensation Review.
Process for slate owners:
Process for approvers:
We have now completed two compensation reviewed utilizing Compaas. Based on some awesome feedback from our GitLab team during Annual Compensation Review and Catch-up Compensation Review, we are working to have the following iterations to our process in Compaas before the next cycle. There are certain items that we may not be able to have implemented since any change to Compaas updates their tool for all clients. Where that is the case we will outline that it is a limitation for future reference.
All increases for Annual Compensation Review will be finalized by Feb 1st. FY 2022 compensation will be uploaded into BambooHR no later than Feb 4th for payroll to make changes in all subsequent systems. The Total Rewards team will turn off the ability to see compensation in BambooHR using Employee or Contractor Self Service from Jan 25th until Feb 12th for Employees and until Feb 5th for Contractors. Managers will have the ability to communicate any increases to their team before end of day on the 5th for Contractors and end of day on the 12th for Employees.
Communication Guidelines can be found in the Leadership Toolkit.
Please note, the % increases in Compaas are rounded up to the nearest whole number. Please either communicate the amount increase or calculate the % increase to at least the hundredths place for communication: ((FY22 Salary-FY21 Salary)/FY21 Salary).
If your direct report has any questions on the calculation of their increase please feel free to have them reach out to the Total Rewards team.
In FY21, the budget was 6% of all team members as of October 31, 2019. For the next compensation review which will take place from November 2020 to January 2021 to be effective for Fiscal Year 2022, we will separate the promotion and annual compensation review budget for the following conditions:
Calculating Budget Actuals
Administering the Promotion Budget Quarterly
For team members hired between November 1st and January 31st, participating only in the annual compensation review may mean their compensation is not reassessed for up to 15 months. GitLab has incorporated a catch up review conducted in August for anyone hired in November, December, or January of the previous year. For example, any new hires in Nov 2019 - Jan 2020 would be reviewed in August 2020.
During the annual compensation review, the budget for these team members is separated out to be used in August. If anyone would fall out of the compensation range, the team member would be adjusted immediately, but this would be deducted from the budget used in August.
This review will only take into account a performance alignment (if any). Team members should not expect an increase, but instead understand that their compensation is being reviewed to ensure alignment to market and performance.
To be updated for FY22.
