How We Think About Pay & Rewards at Glassdoor

Imagine a world where everyone can find a job and company they love, where everyone is treated and paid fairly, and a world where companies are held accountable to strive to become better employers. We believe with radical transparency, we can take steps towards making this world a reality.

One of the best examples of the power of transparency is with regard to salary. Today, very few of us share what we get paid. It’s taboo. But imagine a world where everyone shared their salary. While it sounds uncomfortable at first, you can quickly see that it would be better for everyone. It would empower every job seeker and employer to ensure that employees are paid fairly. Pay equity is something we are incredibly passionate about at Glassdoor.

To make this change in the world, we need to start at home. We publish our Total Rewards Philosophy and internal salary ranges externally in the pursuit of ensuring everyone who comes to work at Glassdoor will know with certainty that they are paid equitably. Our goal is to drive change everywhere, both by (1) leveraging the powerful salary transparency provided by our platform and (2) leading by example.

To learn more about Glassdoor’s Rewards Philosophy, see below.

Total Rewards Philosophy 

At Glassdoor, our number one company value is transparency. We believe transparency empowers people with the right information to make the right decisions. Whether you are a job candidate considering working at Glassdoor, or an employee trying to learn more about your compensation package and how it can grow with your career, this document will provide answers to your questions about the compensation and rewards (Total Rewards) programs at Glassdoor. 

An Overview

Glassdoor is committed to providing a competitive and transparent compensation and rewards program to hire, retain and motivate amazing people who love working here. We apply four guiding principles for how we develop our Total Rewards. These goals (in order of priority) are:

We maintain a performance-based total rewards approach that offers many types of total rewards  including base pay, variable pay, 401k or pension match, a long-term incentive plan for eligible employees and an array of benefits and perks.

To differentiate our Total Reward profile against our peer group, we will be best positioned by focusing on the following core areas:

In support of pay equity, Glassdoor conducts regular compensation audits to remove any potential bias from our pay practices. If and when we find a pay gap by gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or other potential divide, we will correct it. 

Types of Total Rewards We Offer

Our total annual cash compensation, which includes base and variable pay, takes into account industry, location and various other factors to  target a competitive range for non-tech jobs and an even more competitive range for harder-to-fill, technical roles. In other words, for non-tech roles, Glassdoor pays higher than most other similar companies, and for tech roles Glassdoor pays higher than a significant majority of other similar tech companies.  Each employee is placed in a role that is consistent with their responsibilities, skills, and experience in accordance with our leveling guides. 

1. Base Pay

We regularly evaluate our pay based on the market. We use leading and widely recognized third-party compensation data providers, combined with Glassdoor salary data and insights we learn from our recruiting experience. In addition to staying informed on the latest market trends, we pay for performance and use a merit-based approach to increase base pay as employees get more experience and increase their value to the company. 

We review and generally update salary ranges on an annual basis. We proactively recommend base pay market adjustments when the salary range midpoint for a specific role changes by 10% or more, based on our research, benchmarking and budget.

Find all Glassdoor base salary ranges published here.

How we determine base pay:

An employee’s salary relative to the midpoint of their pay range is known as their compa-ratio (aka comparison ratio). Thus, everyone’s compa ratio should be between 0.80 and 1.20. 

How we establish pay ranges for each position:

How base pay can change throughout employee tenure:

2. Variable Pay

We offer employees the opportunity to earn additional income through variable incentive pay, which depends on an employee’s performance. The structure of the variable pay we offer differs for sales/customer success employees and non-sales employees.

For Sales and Customer Success employees…

Glassdoor offers a Sales Incentive Plan. Targets are set based on roles ranging from 20% to 50% of overall cash compensation, tied directly to individual and/or team results and payable on a quarterly basis.  

For Non-Sales Employees…

Glassdoor offers a bonus plan. With the bonus program, target payouts are expressed as a percentage of base pay earned during the period and are set by level. The more senior you are, the higher the target percentage. 

The bonus pool is funded based on company performance. If the company does well, we may “overfund” the pool. If the company does not meet its goals, the pool may be funded at a lower amount. Individual bonuses are allocated based on individual performance, experience, contributions to the company and value to the company. The bonus program is discretionary. 

Keep in mind the bonus targets are just that -- targets. Actual amounts paid may be above or below target based on employee performance and potential and company performance during the six-month review period. 

The Glassdoor Bonus plan is paid out twice per year: Winter and Summer

Assuming the bonus pool is fully funded, an employee who receives a "successful" performance rating for the period will likely get close to their target bonus ( 80%-120% of target), "exceptional" performance would be paid above target ( 120%-% of target) and "inconsistent" performance paid below target ( 0%-70% of target). Generally, "change is needed" performance would not receive a bonus for the 6-month review period.

3. Restricted Stock Units (RSU)

Restricted stock units (RSU) are a type of incentive-based compensation in the form of shares of company stock issued by an employer that vest over time. RSUs are issued through a vesting plan and corresponding distribution schedule, and their value is based on stock price at time of vest. Upon vesting, a portion of the shares typically is withheld to pay income taxes. The employee receives the remaining shares and can sell them at their discretion.

The RSU program gives Glassdoor employees an opportunity to benefit from the market performance of its parent company, Recruit Holdings, Ltd.  (“Recruit”). Recruit acquired Glassdoor in 2018; Read more about our partnership here.

All full-time, permanent Glassdoor employees are  eligible for RSU grants that will lead to their owning Recruit stock. New employees will receive grants upon hire. The RSU value is based on Recruit’s performance overall. The RSU pool is determined by taking into account the number of employees eligible, the competitive total rewards package per eligible employee, and our forecasted fiscal headcount growth.

Long-term incentive plans such as RSUs are designed to reward an employee’s expected impact on the organization, taking into account their role (job profile), performance and future potential. Glassdoor managers responsible for compensation planning will recommend a grant amount (in an employee’s local currency) with these criteria in mind, along with available data to assist in creating a total rewards package that is market competitive.

RSUs awarded are expected to vest according to the following schedule: 

4. Other Compensation + Rewards Information

Retirement Contribution

For U.S. employees, Glassdoor offers a 401k match: Glassdoor will contribute $0.50 for each dollar you contribute up to $10,000 of what you contribute (the maximum annual company match is $5,000), with immediate vesting. Vesting refers to the portion of your account balance you are entitled to under the Plan's vesting schedule. You are always fully and immediately vested in any elective contributions you make to the plan and you will also be fully and immediately 100% vested on any 401(k) match that Glassdoor makes.   

For Ireland-based employees, Glassdoor offers a pension match - Glassdoor will contribute 1% of your salary for each 1% you contribute up to 5%. 

Glassdoor provides UK-based employees a contribution of 5% of base salary. 

5. Benefits

Benefits are a valuable part of the rewards we offer to employees. We pay 100% of the cost of employee healthcare coverage and 80% of the cost of dependent care coverage in the U.S. for our core plans, and 90% of dependent care coverage for non-U.S. core plans. After 48 months of continuous service, Glassdoor will assume 100% of the co-share premium cost for both employees and dependents enrolled in one of these plans. We pay 100% of the cost for employees, spouse/partners & children for our UK & Canada employees and 100% for employees and 90% for spouse/partner and children for our Ireland employees.

The range of benefits includes competitive medical, dental, life insurance, and other great benefits outlined below:

We strive to provide benefits programs using a consistent methodology across all offices and regions but within the context of local norms. We also strive to remove all unintended bias or discriminatory practices within our benefits programs through non-discrimination testing. 

Updated as of July 2022