Salary Appraisals

Pending updates, see https://axelerant.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=AH&title=August%202023%20DRAFTS.

Salary appraisals occur during the team member’s anniversary month AKA join month. For example, Bob joined Axelerant on February 3, 2020; a salary appraisal happens every February.

As relevant, out-of-cycle salary adjustments may occur for promotion, preemptive, radical salary range updates, etc. When an out-of-cycle adjustment happens, the following salary appraisal will be prorated or manually adjusted with peer fairness.

Who is Responsible for Salary Appraisals?

  • For team members of the Global Delivery Teams group, a person from Workforce Management or the team member's domain, like Drupal, will be the career manager. They are responsible for performance review and salary appraisal with the support of the reporting manager and peer feedback.

  • For all other operational roles at Axelerant, reporting managers are responsible for team members’ salary appraisals with the support of the career manager and peer feedback.

Salary Formula

Axelerant provides fair and impartial salary appraisals using a multiple-component formula of role, Role Tiers | Role Tiersarchived, Performance Expectationsarchived outcomes, and an annual cost of living adjustment.

Role

Each role typically has market-adjusted Compensation | Salary Ranges, updated every January, that might be regionally specific. Further, each position relates to a Career Patharchived level with an assigned base appraisal percentage reflecting external peer-level increases.

Base Appraisal Percentage

Role Level

Base Appraisal %

Role Level

Base Appraisal %

L1

8%

L2

7%

L3

6%

L4

5%

L5

4%

L6

3%

L7

2%

M1

4%

M2+

2%

Appraisal raise percentages are determined based on Axelerant’s financial health and priorities during the last quarter of each fiscal year.

Role Tiers

Role tiers are meant to recognize the demonstrated capability level of a role. They modify the average salary value for a suggested salary—more at Role Tiersarchived.

Performance Expectations

The following aspects form Axelerant’s holistic feedback framework of Performance Expectationsarchived.

  • Good Axelerant role model–Performance Promoter Score (PPS)

  • Impact–goals planned and carried through

  • Role competence–Key Performance Indicatorsarchived; by role, group, or individual

Cost of Living Adjustment

The annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) provides cost-of-living purchasing parity for a salary due to inflation or other socio-economic factors. Axelerant provides every team member with a flat 4% annual COLA separate from a role’s base appraisal percentage.

Appraisal Percentage Modifiers

Axelerant recognizes that not every team member contributes the same, so the salary appraisal formula modifies the appraisal percentage based on an aggregated performance expectations score. The performance expectations score is built upon the individual expectations calculated separately and then summed into a single weighted number. Examples are below.

Under Exceptional Situations | Types of "Just Cause" Termination slacking off or missing performance expectations targets are considered poor performance.

Appraisal Percentage Modifier

Performance Expectations Aggregate

Appraisal Percentage Modifier

Performance Expectations Aggregate

Appraisal Percentage Modifier

<50%

0%

≥50%

15%

≥70%

35%

≥80%

80%

≥90%

100%

≥95%

105%

≥100%

110%

≥125%

125%

≥150%

150%

Greater than 100% aggregates are possible when dealing with non-bounded KPIs like growth or retention.

No Measurement Data Exists

When measurement data doesn't exist, that metric will be treated as 70% for the relevant period. It's the responsibility of all relevant stakeholders to ensure that performance expectation measurements are feasible to provide accurate assessments.

Salary Range Outliers

When a team member's salary is less than their role's salary range minimum, it's set to that amount.

When a team member's salary exceeds their role's range, we will limit the raise to the maximum salary range. Only COLA adjustments or Salary Appraisal Overrides will break this limitation.

This salary cap aligns with Axelerant's Being Axelerant | Continuous Improvement trait for Being Axelerant | Enthusiasm while ensuring peer pay fairness. E.g., respecting a team member's desire not to pursue a promotion or overcoming a misaligned value to Axelerant.

Salary Appraisal Overrides

At the discretion of a team member's appraisal owner, they may override the systematically suggested salary appraisal to account for corrective situations. When the appraisal owner isn't sure, they may contact the @performance-management-team via Slack for assistance.

Examples

Aggregated Performance Expectations Score Example

Quarter

PE1 Score ≥90

PE2 Score ≥1

PE3 Score 40 hours

Quarter

PE1 Score ≥90

PE2 Score ≥1

PE3 Score 40 hours

Q1

89

3

40

Q2

91

0

32

Q3

95

-

38

Q4

90

-

40

Average

365/360 = 1.0138888889

3/2 = 1.5

150/160 = 0.9375

Weightage

40%

20%

40%

 

1.0138888889 * 40% = 0.4055555556

1.5 * 20% = 0.3

0.9375 * 40% = 0.375

Aggregated Performance Expectations Score

0.4056 + 0.3 + 0.375 = 1.0806 = 108%

Appraisal Percentage Modifier

110%

Salary Appraisal Examples

  • L2, with an Aggregated Performance Expectations Score of 93%.

    • COLA 4% plus L2 7% * ≥90% 100% =

      • 4% + (7*100/100)% =

      • 4% + 7% =

      • 11% salary appraisal adjustment

  • L4, with an Aggregated Performance Expectations Score of 67%.

    • COLA 4% plus L4 5% * ≥60% 15% =

      • 4% + (5*15/100)% =

      • 4% + 0.75% =

      • 4.75% salary appraisal adjustment

  • L6, with an Aggregated Performance Expectations Score of 113%.

    • COLA 4% plus L6 3% * ≥100% 110% =

      • 4% + (3*110/100)% =

      • 4% + 3.3% =

      • 7.3% salary appraisal adjustment

What happens to appraisals when a team member resigns/or is serving a notice period?

If a team member has resigned from their position with Axelerant and is serving their notice period, they are not eligible for performance appraisals.
However, any performance-linked bonuses for any team member during their resignation period will be paid based on their present KPI and agreed-upon payout criteria.


Related

  • https://axelerant.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AH/pages/3597238320