Compensation and Benefits

Compensation philosophy¶

Our salary policy should ensure that our team feels financially supported and respected in their roles, and should be aligned with our values and mission as a non-profit organization. Team members should feel that 2i2c is a competitive workplace from a salary perspective, while recognizing that we do not have the financial resources of most tech companies. Below are a few guiding principles of our salary policy:

• Benchmarked to non-profit tech. We should benchmark our salaries based on similar roles in our sector (non-profits that do technical or research work, depending on the role). See Salary band process with GuideStar for the current process we follow.

  • If we determine that a sector is systemically under-paying a given role in a way that makes us uncompetitive, then we may increase the salary band for the role to be more aligned with the private sector.

• Explicit rationale. All of our salaries must be tied to explicit roles, with consistent and transparent responsibilities and expectations for entering and advancing a role.

• Transparent compensation by role. Our salaries, benefits, and the roles that they are attached to should be available to all.

• Fixed salaries for a role. We do not negotiate salaries within a given role. Salaries are fixed for a given role and tenure^[1].

• Equal pay for equal work. We practice equal pay for equal work across our team. Salaries do not distinguish between geographic location or cost of living and are benchmarked against North American salaries in the non-profit tech sector.

Salary band process with GuideStar¶

We define our salary levels relative to non-profit organizations with a similar size and scope as 2i2c. In order to have a more objective definition of competitive salaries, we use the GuideStar compensation report to compare common numbers across non-profits. This is provided by CS&S, and we have a PDF in our drive here:

• GuideStar Report for non-profits similar to us (2022)

• Full GuideStar report here

Use the following criteria when defining the salary for a given position / level with the GuideStar report:

• Use the Science and Technology Research Institutes, Services category

• Use the $1m-$5m budget category

• Choose an appropriate job category that most closely matches this position.

• Define “compensation” as base salary + 25% benefits.

• Use the median compensation in a category as a starting salary.

• If this is for an earlier job in a given series, adjust the total compensation down accordingly (see below for a guideline).

Understanding the GuideStar reports¶

Here are a few tips to understand the GuideStar reports:

• The numbers there are for the top-paid position in each category. This means that for earlier levels in a job category, we need to reduce the total compensation accordingly.

  • Rule of thumb: Expect a 10% salary bump between job levels, and a 2% salary bump for steps within a level.

• This is total compensation, not salary. GuideStar reports a combination of salary and benefits, keep this in mind when defining our salary bands.

• Do not share the GuideStar report externally. It is a service paid-for by CS&S and should not be shared out of the CS&S organization. The links above should only be available to those with a @2i2c.org email address.

List of salary bands¶

Current positions, roles, and salaries are tracked in our AirTable Salaries base.

We recently developed an internal Engineering-specific salary bands matrix as well.

Cost of living adjustments (COLA)¶

We aim to adjust salaries over time to offset the impact of inflation on team members’ cost of living. Any annual adjustment is tied to our financial runway and benchmarked against the US Social Security Administration’s Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), since we index our salaries to the US market.

See the DRAFT Cost of Living Adjustment Policy for the current proposal, decision-making framework, and yearly decisions.

Benefits and expenses policy¶

This section describes our benefits and expenses policy across all team members at 2i2c. 2i2c team members include people who are designated as employees and as contractors, depending on their role at 2i2c.

Benefits are available to employees only and are managed through Code for Science and Society’s relationship with a service partner or PEO. For example, employees who are US based and employed through Code for Science and Society’s relationship with Trinet, will have access to health coverage and retirement benefits through Trinet. Employees based outside the US and employed through a relationship with a PEO like Remote will have access to benefits available in their region through that PEO. More details can be found at the the CS&S employee handbook.

Contractors are independent, not employed by CS&S, and are brought on to support 2i2c with their specific expertise. To support these contract relationships, 2i2c estimates a 20% on top of the contractor’s monthly payment is needed to match some types of expenses related to the operation of independent contract business, such as would typically be charged as overhead at a larger organization. These expenses include healthcare, accounting services, etc.

Time off¶

Our time off policy is documented in our Taking time off section.

Mechanism for reimbursement¶

For anything that involves purchasing equipment, services, tickets, etc., our reimbursement process is documented in our Reimbursements and Ramp section.

List of additional reimbursable expenses for our 2i2c team members¶

Equipment¶

We inherit the Equipment Policy of Code for Science and Society. Each team member has a budget of $5,000 every 3 years for equipment (computers, monitors, desks, chairs, microphones, etc.). As a distributed team, good equipment is a work necessity, not a perk, and we trust team members to make reasonable decisions about it.

• Buying: Use your judgment and follow our reimbursement process. If a purchase is unusually large or you’re unsure it qualifies, check with your manager first.

• Ownership: Equipment belongs to 2i2c (via our fiscal sponsor), but it lives with you and we don’t track an inventory.

• Leaving 2i2c: If you leave 2i2c, we may request that you return equipment. Here’s a rough guideline:

  • More than a year after purchase: Keep the equipment. Shipping it back usually costs more than it’s worth.

  • Less than a year after purchase: Work out something reasonable with your manager (return it, buy it out at a fair used price, or keep it).

Internet¶

We reimburse up to $100 a month for a high-speed internet subscription.

Travel¶

We reimburse any work-related travel expenses for its team members. Team members should get approval for travel (and a rough budget) before any booking.

Personal development¶

Development recommendations and reimbursement are described in our Personal and professional development section

Wellness¶

We want to help you to maintain a well-rounded and healthy lifestyle. You can be reimbursed up to $600 per calendar year for activities such as:

• memberships (ie. gym membership)

• exercise technology (ie. fitness trackers)

• lessons or personal training (ie. sports, music, art)

• classes (ie. yoga, martial arts)

• personal services (ie. massage, nutrition counseling)

• purifiers and humidifiers (ie. water purifiers, air purifiers)

The list is not exhaustive, so use your best judgment in determining what to submit through wellness reimbursement (and use the above examples as references).