it’s been more than a year since george floyd was murdered. more than a year since companies all over the nation made statements indicating their support for black lives matter and a commitment to racial justice.

since last year, we have grieved the losses of many more black people. we watched as a police officer was convicted of a murder that was seen in broad daylight by many around the world.

our work as a nation, as companies, and as individuals is not done. at magoosh we will continue to do the work. we know that it’s action, not words, that count most.

last year, we wrote about our progress and next steps, and we owe you an update.

so what have we done at magoosh since june 2020?

#1: we’ve donated $50,000 to organizations that support movement towards justice for the black community.

we decided to make meaningful donations to a few organizations (as opposed to smaller sums to a lot of organizations). we identified four categories to support, making a donation to one organization in each category:

• organizations that support longer-term police reform
• organizations that train young black organizers and advocates
• organizations that promote racial justice through education
• bail or legal defense funds to support arrested protestors

we also prioritized organizations that are grassroots, are black-led, employ community-based solutions, employ evidence-based interventions, are geographically diverse, and have strong ratings on charity navigator, guidestar, or great nonprofits or have a connection to a magoosh employee who can vouch for the organization’s effectiveness.

we chose the following four organizations and donated $12,500 to each:

• families for justice as healing: fjah is a small grassroots organization connecting formerly incarcerated women and girls working to end mass incarceration. they are led by black women and young organizers based in roxbury, ma.
• black swan academy: bsa’s mission is to empower black youth in under-served communities through civic leadership and engagement, giving them a comprehensive set of tools needed to succeed in life and become active social catalysts in their communities. they are based in washington, dc.
• hip hop for change: hhfc empowers black youth to express and advocate for their vision of justice and change by engaging with the history and culture of hip hop. they are based in oakland, ca.
• national bail fund network: this fund network supports over 70 local bail and legal defense funds to support protesters who have been arrested. the fund is nationwide.

#2: we put more intention and resources into our journey to make magoosh a more equitable and inclusive organization.

• we started employee resource groups (ergs), with the goal of creating spaces where marginalized magooshers can be in community with others who share some of their lived experiences. our ergs are a strategic part of our plans to make magoosh more inclusive and create a greater sense of belonging. we support the work by allocating time and budget for employees to engage in these communities as a part of their normal workload. i’m fortunate to serve as the executive sponsor for our black magooshers all together (bmat) erg.
• we implemented a recognition and compensation plan for our erg and dei committee leads. the work to lead an erg is not only logistically challenging, but emotionally taxing as well. in addition to allocating time for our leads to work on their groups, we compensate them, provide a dedicated professional development stipend, and are formalizing a sponsorship program with their executive sponsors to support their professional advancement. we are also working to add committee work to performance and leveling conversations this year.
• we hired a full-time director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. desiree morton has already worked with our deib committee, people ops team, and erg leads to help us build a more cohesive approach to deib at magoosh. she’s played a major role in ongoing erg support and developing the recognition and compensation program for those doing this work. in addition, she’s challenged us to develop more inclusive management and leadership practices and helped us prioritize educating ourselves about the challenges under-represented employees and students face. i’m beyond grateful to have desiree on the team as a fierce advocate for those who most need that advocacy and support and to help magoosh better fulfill our mission and truly become the kind of workplace i envision.
• we updated our approach to test prep content development by revising our style guides to promote inclusive language, and we gave content creators resources and guidance to draw on diverse histories, perspectives, and representation in our materials. we are auditing and fixing insensitive issues within our existing lessons and marketing content so that it is culturally aware, diverse, and inclusive. we also know that to make the most effective materials, our content creators must come from a wide range of backgrounds and identities, which is why we are committed to fair and unbiased hiring practices and have goals to increase the diversity of our content creators. we want our students to see themselves represented in our content and our instructors, and will continue to focus and invest in these areas moving forward.
• we published our diversity report, and are working on our next one. we want the diversity of our team to represent the diversity of our us student base. several years ago, we set explicit diversity goals across 4 dimensions:
  • gender
  • race
  • first in family to go to college
  • grew up in a non-english-speaking household (primary language).

currently, over 50% of our team identify as women, 19% are from underrepresented groups (including 9% who identify as black and/or african american), 17% are the first to go to college, and 28% grew up in a non-english-speaking household.

we plan to be transparent with our progress, and invite you to hold us accountable.

#3: we’re leveling the playing field in test prep.

• this has always been our mission, but we’ve committed ourselves to learning more about inequitable experiences that our students face before, during, and after their studies with magoosh, including how standardized testing upholds systems of oppression against marginalized communities. in practice, this includes setting time aside for every single magoosh employee to learn about inequality within the education system, and also time to incorporate that learning into our work of building quality and effective test prep that’s affordable and works for every one of our students.
• we’re committing to measuring and sharing the equity impact of our products. specifically, if we want to level the playing field, we need to be sure that our test prep supports our most marginalized students in a meaningful way. we have begun this work with data collection and goal setting prioritized alongside our growth and innovation goals. we look forward to being transparent about the impact we’re having.
• we continue to partner with organizations to provide free and low-cost test prep to students such as smash scholars, oliver scholars, and mcnair scholars.

our values make this work possible

doing this type of work requires a great deal of commitment and investment. we are fortunate that we can lean heavily on our values including challenge > comfort, change > status quo, and learning > knowing to continue to do what is right for our employees, students, and communities. the work will be ongoing, and we know that, even with the steps we have taken leading up to and during this past year, we have a long way to go. we’re here for it.

author’s note: i’d like to acknowledge that this article is the result of a massive team effort. i’d like to thank desiree morton for her significant contributions to the content of this post as well as our reviewers alan day, hannah baker, jessica wan, naomi tepper, trish do, viva asmelash, and all the other magooshers who have made this post (and this work!) possible.

the post the journey continues for our racial justice work — 2021 update appeared first on magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地.

getting a job in tech isn’t easy—especially if you come from a historically marginalized group, like me. i was acutely aware that biases, conscious and unconscious, can seep their way into every stage of a hiring process, starting from the resume review all the way through the final interview stages.

the knowledge of these barriers made getting a job in this industry feel daunting. if your experience in job seeking has been anything like mine, i’m here to share all the things i didn’t know about interviewing for a job in tech. i want to try and lessen that nervousness and lower some of those barriers for you.

i will be your #1 cheerleader. you got this.

table of contents

• my magoosh story
• our hiring process (part-time/contractor and full-time)
• how to prepare for the magoosh interview process
  • application stage
  • phone interview stage
  • assessment stage
  • final interview stage
• final thoughts

my magoosh story

when i began looking for jobs, i wanted to find a company that did hiring differently. i wanted to be at a place that did more than just talk about their commitment to diversity. i wanted to be somewhere that was actively engaging in ways to break these forms of bias that so easily impact marginalized groups’ chances of getting the job.

i came across a job post on linkedin for an associate recruiter and thought, i have some of the experience they are looking for, but not all. i scrolled further and read, “don’t meet all the requirements for the position? that’s okay. we encourage you to still apply.” i mean, hey, if they are telling me to still apply, why not! what did i have to lose?

i hit send on the application and my nervousness set in. the fear of rejection felt just as overwhelming as the fear of getting the interview and having to figure out how to make it through the interview process. i didn’t really know anyone in tech, and i lacked the networks to help me prepare for this process.

despite my concerns, i was invited to the next stage of the process and went through about a month of interviewing with magoosh. i nervously made my way through each step, wondering, do i have what they’re looking for, will this organization be able to hold my identity as a black woman, how will they evaluate me, and will my identity impact their perception?

spoiler alert. i got the job!

the magoosh interview process can feel long and honestly a little intimidating, especially if you have never gone through a process like this before. there were a lot of things i wish i knew, and i want to share some tips to help you prepare for your magoosh interview (and really, any tech interview)!

interviews take a lot of time and emotional energy and unfortunately some interview processes you enter will end with a rejection. i can tell you, i have definitely received more rejection emails than interview invites. rejection is hard and it can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re excited for a job or are going through hard times and need to catch a break. i have always tried to frame each rejection as an opportunity to learn and grow, but honestly, it can be hard to bounce back, especially if you have experienced multiple rejections. as we dig into interview tips, i’ll also share some ways i have bounced back and learned from rejection.

first, let’s talk about the hiring process

at magoosh, we run two hiring processes depending on the type of role.

our part-time/contractor process:

• application→ assessment → final interview

and our full-time process:

• application → phone interview → assessment → final interview

the primary difference between the two is that part-time/contractor roles will move straight into the assessment stage after the application, and the final interview process is generally shorter. please note, these are generally our two processes but if you have a different process for your role, the information below should still be helpful!

as i shared earlier, i wanted to find a place that did hiring differently, and i found that in magoosh. one of the first blog posts i read was bhavin’s article on diversity and the magoosh approach to addressing unconscious bias. i was impressed and excited that magoosh was taking steps to mitigate unconscious bias, but i also had many questions. during my interview i was able to gain clarity into the practices bhavin writes about in the article but there was one tool i had lingering feelings about, even as i started in my role and that was the rooney rule.

the rooney rule

the rooney rule is an accountability tool we use to ensure we engage a diverse group of candidates. we don’t move forward with final interviews until we know we have a diverse group in that final stage of the process. as a black woman, i didn’t really know how to feel about the rooney rule. i liked that magoosh was doing the work to ensure their pipeline was diverse, but i also wondered, am i being interviewed because i identify as an underrepresented minority? am i the “token”? if you are wondering this or have these feelings after learning about the rooney rule, i get it.

i want to let you know that we are interviewing you because you are the best fit for the job. the demographic data you submit with your application will never be tied to any identifying information you provide to us in the interview process (i.e. name, email, resume, etc.) and it will never be used to make a hiring decision.

we know there is a considerable diversity gap in tech and education and that we work at the unique intersection of two institutions with barriers to entry for underrepresented minorities (urm). the rooney rule helps us track our efforts in addressing those gaps, and it holds us accountable to our goals of having a team that’s representative of our student base.

image credit: lankogal (licensed via shutterstock)

here’s how to prepare for the magoosh interview process!

the stages will be outlined based on our full-time process, but a lot of the recommendations apply to our part-time process as well!

application stage

what we’re looking for:

• passion for magoosh’s mission and role
• resume, cover letter and screening questions are complete and reflect a potential skill fit for the role

quick tips:

1. apply even if you don’t meet all the requirements! this can feel a little vulnerable, especially if you don’t think you check all the boxes. i know i was really nervous about hitting submit, especially since i didn’t think i met all the qualifications! when we evaluate candidates’ applications, we are not just looking at relevant job experience. we are looking for candidates who demonstrate a passion for our mission, excitement to learn, and eagerness to take on new challenges. a resume sometimes doesn’t tell the full story, so my next piece of advice is to…
2. write a cover letter. at magoosh, we read every cover letter that comes to us. this helps us learn a little more about you and the “why” behind your interest in the role. sometimes a meaningful cover letter can be the difference between moving forward or not in this stage of the process. please note that meaningful doesn’t necessarily mean long! i know cover letters are very time-consuming to write, especially if you are applying for multiple roles. what we’re looking for is a genuine passion for our mission and interest in the role you’re applying for.we have had a lot of conversations about cover letters and whether or not to require them for our applications. we see them as an opportunity to learn more about you beyond the points on your resume. we don’t want you to spend too much time crafting the perfect cover letter. my recommendation would be to share a little bit about why you’re excited about the role and mission, provide some interesting insights into your experience that we don’t see in your resume, and then build in some connections between your experience and the role you’re applying for. aim for a length of around 3-4 paragraphs.
3. answer all the screening questions, even if you don’t know all the answers! finally, answer all the screening questions! as you are filling out your application, you may notice open-ended questions. those are our screening questions. we use screening questions to assess the baseline skills needed for the role. if you don’t have a great answer for the screening questions, do your best, acknowledge the knowledge gap, and share some ways you would bridge that gap in the role.i know. screening questions, a tailored cover letter, and a tailored resume is a lot just for the application stage. i was definitely a little apprehensive about all the pieces i needed to put together just to submit an application. i can tell you that everything we ask you to submit, we review. we know that we ask a lot of our candidates, and we have constant conversations about how to make sure we are being thoughtful about your time investment. we only ask for information that we need, and we want to make sure we are assessing candidates from multiple angles.

if you’re rejected in this phase…

check your resume and cover letter again. are you demonstrating why and how you’re a fit for the role? sometimes even the simplest changes in the language i was using shifted the number of interviews i was able to get after this stage.

for me, this is the stage where i most commonly faced rejection. if you get hit with multiple rejections in this phase, keep pushing! sometimes it takes multiple applications and multiple tweaks of your resume and cover letter before you finally get a callback.

phone interview stage

what we’re looking for:

• passion for the role and mission
• experiences that highlight magoosh core values
• ways you might add to our culture and values

quick tips:

1. review the core values. you made it to the next stage! congrats! to prepare for your phone interview, take some time to review the magoosh core values. many of the questions we will ask are directly tied to those values. we’re super committed to our mission of increasing equity and access, so we want to learn about how you might add to our culture and values. i was really nervous about this interview, but i also really enjoyed it! there are no right or wrong answers for this interview, we genuinely just want to learn about you. brainstorm some of the unique qualities and perspectives you can bring to the team. to give you a little more preparation support, here’s some questions we might ask during your interview!
2. prepare real life examples. a lot of our interview questions ask for real-life examples from past work experiences. have some examples that connect to our core values top of mind (bonus tip: structure your responses using the star interview method). i struggled coming up with examples on the spot during my interview and could have benefited from taking some time to think through a few before the interview. you’ll want to specifically think about examples of times when projects went well, when they didn’t go well, times you had to give and receive challenging feedback, and times when you learned something and grew from it. you could script the answers out before time and practice with a friend or in front of a mirror to build confidence!
3. assess mutual fit. finally, the phone interview stage is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about magoosh. we believe in mutual fit. we want you to be just as excited about us as we are about you! we leave about 10 minutes at the end of the phone interview for you to ask any questions you have about magoosh.when i interviewed with amrita, i asked a bunch of questions! i specifically wanted to learn more about magoosh’s deib efforts—as i shared earlier, that was a major area of interest and concern for me, and i wanted to know i was stepping into a space that was ready to do the work. it’s okay to ask tough questions. a question i commonly get is about the diversity of magoosh. some candidates who interview with us come to our team page and don’t see enough representations of themselves and feel uneasy about it. know it’s okay to name that and learn how we are addressing it. don’t hesitate to gain the clarity you need on the team, the role, or the larger organization!

if you’re rejected in this phase…

ask for feedback on how you can improve and what gaps the interviewer saw in your skills. were your examples clear and relevant to the role? did you demonstrate a passion for the mission? did the examples you shared align with core values?

also, check in with yourself. did you give yourself enough time to prepare? how did you feel about the interview? where did you think you really shined and what moments were weaker? for your next interview, build on what went well and work on the things you thought could have gone better. practicing responses out loud in areas that i commonly struggle with has always been super helpful for me!

assessment stage

what we’re looking for:

• subject matter knowledge
• clear and thoughtful approach to the exercise
• problem solving skills

quick tips:

1. assess mutual fit, again the assessment stage gives you an opportunity to get a feel for the type of work you will be doing at magoosh! when we create the assessment, we try and replicate a bite-sized piece of the role so you can get a feel for what you’d be doing. the assessment focuses on a problem we have addressed in the past, and any data we share with you to complete the assessment is either old or made up. the assessment is another great place for you to assess a mutual fit. if you are excited about the exercise, it’s usually a good sign that you will be excited about the work you do in the role. on the flip side, if you receive the assessment and find the exercise boring or draining, that’s okay! just reach out to the recruiter and let them know that this is not something you’re interested in.
2. if you are feeling stretched, focus on approaching the assessment with a growth mindset. the assessment is about problem-solving skills and subject matter knowledge. the expectation isn’t that you know how to do everything in the same way we do it at magoosh, but that you are thinking creatively and demonstrating a growth mindset in your approach. we are much more interested in how you get to your solution than the solution itself. i felt unsure about how to approach some questions in the assessment. i leaned on how i would approach the questions if i were in the role, even if i hadn’t done that exact task in the past. we don’t expect your submission to be perfect! in this stage, we mainly want to learn about how you approach your work.
3. ask questions! when i received the assessment, i had so many questions! the fear of looking unqualified held me back from asking those questions. now i know that couldn’t be further from the truth. if you have questions about the assessment, please reach out to your recruiter. we are a resource for you, and we genuinely want to see you do well in the interview process.

if you’re rejected in this phase…

this is another great time to ask for feedback! since this exercise is specifically assessing skills for the role, i’d recommend specifically asking for feedback on where your skill set could improve.

final interview stage

what we’re looking for:

• passion for the role and mission
• subject matter expertise
• problem-solving skills
• growth mindset and the ability to take on new challenges

our final round of interviews can run from 4 to 6 hours. we try to make the final interview as fun and engaging as possible, but it can be exhausting. two to three days before your interview, you will receive an agenda outlining what you can expect on your interview day. we usually add at least two breaks and a lunch period into that agenda; however, if you would like to add some additional time to take a breath between interviews, let us know! we want to make sure you feel as comfortable as possible. our goal is to set you up for success. we want the best person for the job, not the best interviewer.

we also give candidates the option to do a prep/pep talk with the recruiter prior to the interview. i think i can speak for the entire recruiting team when i say, we want you to take advantage of this! we are more than happy to share some more details about team members you will be meeting with, the interview day, or anything else that is on your mind as you get ready for the interview. again, we are rooting for you and want to see you succeed.

the interview is usually comprised of:

• 90-minute culture interview (similar to the phone interview). the culture interview asks questions that are closely tied to magoosh’s core values. in preparation for that interview, i’d recommend taking some time to review the core values again, but also to think through some examples of:
  • giving and receiving feedback
  • positive and challenging work relationships
  • past projects
  • ways you have grown and continued to learn throughout your career.

  similar to the phone interview, we will be asking you to draw from past work experiences, so have some examples ready to go.

• one or two 45-60 minute, skill-based exercises. prior to the interview, we will send over some prep materials for the skills-based interview and details about the exercises you will be working on. once you have reviewed those materials, please reach out with any questions!as part of the skill-based interview, we normally include an exercise that revolves around collaboration or giving/receiving feedback. for these exercises, we want you to be able to ask questions and engage in the exercise authentically, so don’t hold back! your interviewer is anticipating questions and doesn’t expect you to know everything. similar to the assessment, this is more about how you work and think through problems than the actual end product.
• a 30-min reverse interview. the reverse interview gives you the opportunity to interview us! to prep for this interview, i wrote down a couple of lingering questions that i had. you’ll be paired with someone who works in your department (or very closely with your department), and we do our best to choose someone who would also share the same manager as you. your reverse interviewer will not be a part of the evaluation team, so please feel comfortable asking any and all questions—we want to make sure you leave the interview with the clarity you need!

if you’re rejected in this phase…

if you make it to this stage in a magoosh interview, you generally would get feedback, but if not, reach out to the hiring manager or your recruiter and ask for feedback. since this interview is assessing deeper core values, mission and skill fit, try to find out where the red flags came up. you can also ask for any words of advice or gaps to address before your next interview if you’re applying for a similar position.

finally, know that you did your best no matter the outcome!

no matter if you got the job or not, you applied and you hopefully learned from the experience. i have always tried to frame my failures and my successes as an opportunity to dig into where i can grow and how i can be even better. if you get rejected after applying for a role at magoosh or elsewhere, take what you can from the experience, allow yourself to process, and press forward. there’s another opportunity waiting for you!

our hiring process isn’t perfect. we are always looking for ways to learn and grow, so if you have any feedback on how we can improve please share it with us here.

these are just a few of the things i wish i knew before my interview. i hope that it has been helpful for you! if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. like i shared earlier, we are a resource and are always happy to help.

now hit “send” on that application. we can’t wait to meet you.

the post is there room for me in tech? appeared first on magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地.

today, i’m still proud to work at magoosh and for all that we’ve accomplished in the last 7 years i’ve been here, but i’ve also learned in the last year that we have a long road ahead. this article will share how and why we decided to dig deeper into deib (even when the data ‘looked good’), what steps we took, and what our specific action plan and roadmap ahead look like.

if you’re interested in going straight to our deib audit results, click here.

background: why did we dig deeper into deib?

in q4 2019, we created an annual plan for 2020. that plan centered around the theme of creating more cohesive strategies–if our processes were built from the ground up (instead of scrappily put together like we had done for years past when we had fewer resources), what would they look like? as a natural step one to that plan, it made sense to thoroughly audit all of our processes including hr, business operations, and dei.

as we were thinking about our annual plan, trish and nicole on our recruiting team encouraged us to take a more intentional approach to deib. at the time, we were honestly a bit dismissive, pointing to our strong engagement data across all demographic groups. what we failed to realize at the time was that when two people — particularly women of color who interact with all of our prospective employees — say we should focus on deib, that in itself is a critical data point. thankfully, they continued to push.

it can be hard to call out that data might be missing, that just because our engagement data looks good doesn’t mean it’s fully capturing all the deib factors– it can be especially hard to voice that when you’re at a company that values “data>intuition.”

in february 2020 (q1), we took on a project around diversity, equity, and inclusion—specifically, to collect more data as it relates to our people operations processes. that was step number one.

how did we go about it?

1. finding the right people

going back in time to q4 2019 (november/december), we were originally planning on collecting this data ourselves internally. our goal was to find a way to conduct a thorough deib audit to figure out where there were gaps in our systems and where we had room to grow.

we hoped to do this by applying a dei lens to our internal practices. however, we realized while investigating past practices (the internal surveys) that we weren’t getting the information we needed. we were sorely lacking the expertise needed in this area.

luckily for us, trish, our recruiting lead, had already previously vetted peoplism for some recruiting specific work we had halted in 2019. everything clicked into place and peoplism signed on to take on the work of providing us with an audit.

2. running the audit

so what do we mean by audit? this process involved a few different pieces:

• group sessions: first, this included group ‘office hours.’ peoplism representatives hosted sessions that anyone could join (minus leadership) that centered around specific topics (what did people like the most, did they feel seen, etc).
• individual interviews: next this also included individual interviews with an assortment of folks across the company with peoplism. the hope was that folks might feel more comfortable being completely honest given they were talking to someone outside the company.
• data analysis: then, in addition to the in-person discussions, we also gave them access to the raw data in cultureamp so that they could conduct further analysis—something that we don’t have access to within the company to protect the anonymity of our employees.

so all in all, there was a lot of information for them to collect and dive into.

3. getting the results

we got the results from peoplism over the course of two, three-hour meetings. truly the meetings could have been much, much longer if we’d all had the time, given the passionate discussion, the great insights, and the countless questions on how to put all of their ideas into practice and decide how and what to prioritize.

4. communicating the results to the team

one of our values is communication>efficiency and, given our learning that we could have communicated our processes better, we wanted to ensure we communicated our findings well and with the whole company. we wanted a solid foundation on which to take the next steps.

we shared a cleaned up, shortened version of what peoplism had shared with us. in addition, we had a live, recorded zoom meeting where folks could ask questions. they could share these questions either live or via an anonymous google form, whichever format felt most comfortable.

we also created public tasks around the plan with due dates and assignees, so if anyone wants to ask a question or see where we are at, they know how and where to follow up.

the feedback we’ve gotten here has been positive.

5. taking action/building the roadmap

to recap:

1. in q1 2020 we founded the team to help us in this charge to get more data around dei.
2. in q2, we got that data, developed a plan of action, and communicated it.
3. and now, here we are in q3! here is the link to our action steps roadmap mentioned above. we have made some progress but have quite the road ahead!

so far, we have:

• collected information for our eeo-1 report which has also enabled us to track our internal demographics better and ensure we’re applying our processes equitably.
• shared out a process for creating employee resource groups and have some of our amazing magooshers have already set a few ergs up (bmat- black magooshers all together, aapi- asian american and pacific islander, and an lgbtq+ one in the works, and more to come).
• added our part-time employees to our team page which is really exciting as well.

what does the future hold?

i’m really excited about a number of these action items that we have ahead, in particular the underrepresented minority mentorship program as well as the employee referral program.

but i also know that this is only scratching the surface and only focused on our operations efforts and there’s more to be done not only in this space but for our students and for the community we work in as well. my hope is that i can write an update to this article a year from now to show how far we’ve come, how much learning we’ve done and will continue to do, and what more we have to work towards.

the post peoplism roadmap: how we examined deib at magoosh appeared first on magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地.

first, why is diversity at work important for us? our mission is to help level the playing field in education, and we’ll only be able to achieve that mission if our products serve all students equitably. that’s why we believe it’s important to ensure our company and workplace culture reflect our students and their lived experiences.

this journey has been an incredible learning process for our people teams here at magoosh, and we’ve made a ton of progress. looking back, it’s clear that we did not get everything right. we hope that by publicly sharing our successes and our failures, we can hold ourselves accountable (and help other companies) to create a diverse and equitable workplace for all. together, we can work collectively on diversity and inclusion in tech and higher education.
 

vision of diversity at magoosh

magoosh students are a broadly diverse group. in order for magoosh to best serve its students and to grow as a business, our team must reflect the diversity of our students. our long term goal is to have a magoosh team that reflects the diversity of our us-based students.

here’s what we know about our students:

race/ethnicity: 46% white, 17% hispanic or latino, 16% black or african american, 13% asian, 6% two or more races, 1% american indian or alaskan native, 1% prefer not to say
 

first-generation college student: 23.2% yes, 75.8% no, 1% prefer not to say
 

first language: 34% not english, 65% english, 1% prefer not to say
 

gender: 63% female, 35% male, 1% other/nonconforming

the benefits of diverse teams have been widely researched: diverse teams tend to have better outcomes. we want magoosh to be a more diverse company, not only because doing so is aligned with our mission, but also because a diverse team will set us up for continued growth and success. at magoosh, we are treating diversity at work like any other area of our business and setting specific, measurable goals to ensure that we achieve our vision.
 

our 2020 diversity at work goals

to reach the longer-term vision of magoosh reflecting the diversity of its students, we set benchmark goals for 2020.

we recognize that there are many ways for groups to be diverse and that no set of diversity goals will ever fully encompass all of the aspects of our students. furthermore, different dimensions of diversity are not discrete line items; they intersect in important ways that have a significant impact both at the systemic and the individual levels. we also know from experience that we are most likely to see change when we set specific, measurable goals and consistently track our progress towards them.

to build a team that reflects the diversity of our students, we set the following goals for 2020 as part of our three-year plan:

1. 20% of magoosh employees will identify as a member of an underrepresented minority (urm) ethnic/racial group.
2. 16% of magoosh employees will identify as the first in their family to go to college.
3. 23% of magoosh employees will have grown up in a home where the primary language spoken was not english.
4. on every team made up of seven or more people, there will be at least two people of non-majority gender identities.

we’ll be sharing our process for setting these goals in a future blog post.

these goals are benchmarks, not goalposts. we’re measuring ourselves against these goals in 2020, but also looking ahead to future years where we will continue to push ourselves to better represent our students.
 

where we started

we started the process of setting diversity at work goals in late 2017, and our first step was to get accurate data on our current team. here is a snapshot of how we stacked up against our diversity goals at that time:

• 7% of employees identified as a member of an underrepresented minority group.
• 10% of employees identified as the first in their family to go to college.
• 28% of employees identified as growing up in a home where the primary language spoken was not english.
• half of our teams with more than seven employees had at least two people of non-majority gender identities.

where we are now

on our recent survey of employees, here were the results:

*additionally, for our gender goal, 100% of teams of size seven or more have at least two members of the non-majority gender identity.

looking at these results, we can see we’ve made substantial progress towards our 2020 goals, hitting them in two areas and coming quite close in the other two. however, we still have a long way to go to achieve our vision of reflecting the diversity of our students. we’ll be pushing forward that work into 2021 and beyond to ensure we achieve that vision.
 

diversity at work: addressing inclusion, equity, and belonging

of course, hiring a diverse team is not enough to ensure that magoosh and our students benefit from the results. members of historically underrepresented communities need to:

• be included and engaged in their work
• feel a sense of belonging
• be treated equitably
• be given equal opportunities for promotion and advancement.

as we grow (and grow more diverse), we are challenging ourselves to think more critically about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace, and we’ll be sharing more about our progress in future blog posts.
 

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george floyd. breonna taylor. tony mcdade. ahmaud arbery—four black americans who were senselessly murdered at the hands of police officers and vigilantes this year alone. these murders, among so many others that have occurred over the years, are unequivocally unacceptable. this should not happen.

we at magoosh stand with those protesting and with the black community against racism and violence. we know that the u.s. systems that claim to support all individuals actually oppress and harm the black community. we also acknowledge that racism has existed for many decades prior to this moment and sadly will exist into the future. the fight is long and difficult. we’ve been taking action, and we’ll continue to do so.

the work we’re doing today

we’re donating to organizations that uplift the black community and fight against racial injustice.

we’ve committed $50k towards organizations that uplift the black community and fight against social injustice. more broadly, we donate at 1% of our revenue each year using a combination of employee donation matching and corporate philanthropy towards organizations that help with education equity and access. later this year, we will share the organizations that we chose to support and why.

we’re building upon the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work already started.

we’re committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment. representation matters.

we know that in order to achieve our mission, the makeup of our team needs to represent the diversity of our student base. several years ago, we created specific and measurable diversity goals among several axes including race. since then, we’ve heavily audited our hiring process: we increased the number of black and under-represented applicants in our pool through active sourcing, anonymized and standardized steps in our hiring process, and shared with candidates what each interview would entail and how it’s representative of the role.

• we also have policies that combat pay disparity such as structured approach to salary and equity and share those policies with candidates, including posting the salary range on the job description. these changes among many others have helped us attract and hire more black employees who contribute to our mission and who help inform our policies.
• earlier this year, we engaged a 3rd party company (peoplism) to conduct a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging audit to further review all our processes including hiring, performance, pay, and more. with the audit now in hand, we’re planning further changes to support our employees, especially those underrepresented in tech.

we’re committed to fully living out our mission.

over ten years ago, magoosh was founded to level the education playing field and solve for the inequities that have prevented so many underserved individuals from achieving their educational aspirations. we’ve created one of the most accessible and affordable test preparation products to help students overcome the barriers of standardized tests—and we know these barriers disproportionately impact black students.

• we offer free and heavily discounted prep to non-profit organizations many of whom serve the black community, such as smash scholars, oliver scholars, and mcnair scholars.
• currently, we estimate that we serve 10,000+ black students each year. we’ll continue to serve this population and challenge ourselves to do more and do better.

there’s more work to do going forward

we’re examining how we can do better for our employees, students, and community.

we know we’re lacking in a number of areas, and here’s some of what we need to do:

• create employee resource groups for black employees (and other groups).
• better support our black and minority students by ensuring that our products are inclusive and by hiring instructors who are also black and minority and who more accurately reflect the diversity and experience of our student base.
• proactively partner with organizations that are already experts in and actively pursuing diversity and racial justice work within our communities.

lastly, and possibly most notably, we have no black or under-represented minority representation in senior leadership. we recognize that diversity in our leadership team may be the most impactful way to create lasting change across all groups: employees, students, and community.

we’re actively working on these areas and know there’s a lot more work to do as well. we look forward to updating the magoosh community on our progress.

what else are we doing (and what can you do)?

we realize each person experiences these tragedies and the associated trauma differently. as individuals and employees—particularly those of us with racial or ethnic privilege—we aim to do the following:

• we need to listen to voices in the black community and amplify and elevate those voices.
• we need to educate ourselves and learn to become better allies—this burden should not be on the black community.
• we need to educate others, especially white and non-black people of color.
• we need to discuss race and its implications at work and in our work.

many of our employees are taking additional independent and collective actions. if you’re looking for guidance you can start with this resource compiled by the magoosh diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. if you know of other actions or causes that support the black community, or if you need support in providing test prep to black and under-represented communities, we’d love to hear from you. please reach out in the comments below or email us at help@www.catharsisit.com

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update as of 9/10/2020:

we’re taking an additional paid week off as a company (rotating by team) in the month of september and early october! we are naming this time off “fall leaves”, because 1) they’re days off in fall and 2) we’re leaving work! given the stress of the pandemic and 2020 craziness has continued, folks have continued to take on a lot and we want to make sure folks have time to recharge and avoid burnout.

update as of 4/28/2020:

we’re taking one paid week off as a company (rotating by team) in the month of may! peter, our vp of operations, proposed a company week off, aptly named “may days,” because 1) they’re days off in may and 2) that’s the message you send out when you need help! given that everyone is working in addition to balancing the stress of the pandemic, taking care of their health, and supporting their loved ones, folks have been taking on a lot and we wanted to give everyone some time to breathe.

here are some of the other ways magoosh is supporting our employees and extended community during this uncertain time:

strong leadership through the times of covid

one of the keys for supporting our team has been to ensure that there is centralized messaging and clear communication. our leadership team has been vocal and unified in providing magooshers with a sense of direction during this time.

• one of the first messages about covid after shelter in place began in the bay area was from our ceo, bhavin parikh. he shared how the expectations were that everyone would be at a reduced capacity—whether due to childcare needs or taking care of their mental health, and that was not only ok but also encouraged
• additionally, peter started an internal weekly covid newsletter to share how the business is doing, new policy information, and updates to our office and remote work situation. this has provided our team with a level of consistency during an otherwise very uncertain time.
• finally, while we would normally have a monthly meeting to discuss the specifics of our work, bhavin used our last meeting to instead to provide reassurance to our employees, to share how magoosh as a business may or may not be impacted by this crisis, and as a townhall to answer any questions folks might have and to alleviate concerns.

adapting our sense of community to a remote world

one of the reasons i have worked at magoosh as long as i have (currently 6 going on 7 years!) is because of the sense of community and camaraderie that we have. we’ve worked together to translate that sense of kinship to an all-remote setting and facilitate that feeling of togetherness during these otherwise isolating times.

• we set up additional communication channels such as a covid specific slack channel to provide folks a space to get updates, ask questions, and share advice and learnings with one another.
• morgan, our amazing associate office/operations manager, has planned some incredible social events from a kids talent show to virtual pet happy hour to matching folks for 1:1 coffee chats.
• we have a watercooler google meet link where folks can hang out and just chit chat as they would have in a normal office environment.
• we’ve provided calendly links to our hr to make it easier for folks to get in touch.

providing accessibility and security to our employees

making sure people have what they need—from time off to flexibility—has been critical to ensuring folks can focus what bandwidth they have on the work at hand instead of spending their precious mindspace on worrying about logistics.

• iris, our senior hr manager, has gone above and beyond to set up our processes for remote work, such as creating a remote onboarding process for our incoming new teammates.
• our operations team has made trips to the berkeley office to grab equipment folks might need and drop it off at their homes.
• we immediately provided additional sick days for anyone who needs the time during this period as well as the hr support to facilitate that.
• we’ve provided additional flexibility and enabled folks to take advantage of, and encouraged, more time off and reduced schedules.
• we’ve created exceptions to our policies such as enabling folks to reschedule their sabbaticals if they were interrupted due to covid.
• we’ve sent out resources—for both mental and physical health—to help folks cope with the anxiety and stress, as well as any physical ailments during this time.

delivering on our values of passion and wow

ultimately, one of the ways in which magoosh has been so lucky with this crisis is not only due to our business but also due to our amazing, driven workforce. they have gone above and beyond to support one another, and have found ways to work more creatively and strategically during this time.

• most video calls i’ve recently had have involved at least one parent in the meeting having a child with them or interrupting at some point. this is the norm and is not to be apologized for. it is incredible to see parents balancing their additional childcare responsibilities with passion for their work.
• folks have been more strategic in their prioritization of projects and found ways to structure their time so that they are able to make the most of the limited time that they do have devoted to work
• we’ve had employees going above and beyond for one another—whether dropping off groceries or equipment, or providing a listening ear and links to resources. it’s been incredible to see magooshers stepping up in support of one another.
• morgan added some surpise and delight to our weeks by getting everyone some incredibly cozy slippers to add some comfiness to our new wfh normal.

helping our students and our communities

ultimately, our mission is to make the world more accessible which means not only supporting those who work for us but going beyond that and providing support to our students and our communities during these difficult times.

• our students: magooshers have found ways to go out of their way to help our students. from tireless efforts to test out the experience of remote exams to providing webinars on how to deal with studying during such an uncertain and unstructured time, from blog posts with advice on how to handle test cancellations to proactively providing product extensions—i’ve been blown away by how all of our teams have quickly focused on ways to be there for our students.
• our community: magoosh has had a large presence in the berkeley community for over ten years and as such has donated $50,000 to the berkeley relief fund. iris found masks that we had from the fires and donated those along with our office hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes. morgan donated the money we would have spent on a team dinner this month to a charity helping fund meals for essential employees working to save lives right now.

when times are tough, a real spotlight shines on how companies and individuals react. my hope is that we as a company can look back on this response and feel good about the responsibility that we took and the togetherness and sense of safety that we were able to foster. it is times like these that i feel most proud to work at magoosh.

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(note: this next paragraph contains a reference to self-harm; if that’s something you struggle with, you might want to skip it.)

i have a vivid memory of walking to the school i taught at one morning and thinking “hmm, that car isn’t going too fast. i bet if i jumped out in front of it i’d get hurt enough to get some time off. it’d be bad, but not too bad.” at the time i remember laughing at how preposterous that thought was and (thankfully!) did not jump in front of moving traffic.

with the perspective of time, i can now recognize that this was a completely unhealthy thought that should have indicated i was in a seriously rough state.

i was experiencing burnout.

image credit: nickvector (licensed via shutterstock)

i ended up leaving the teaching profession, going to business school, and getting a job at magoosh. but i never forgot that feeling of burnout, and i try to be aware if i see it in others.

fortunately, magoosh is a company that prioritizes the whole lives of its employees. we have a flexible vacation policy, generous benefits and parental leave, and a culture that specifically eschews perfectionism. but we’re still a startup, and that means there’s always more to do than there is time to do it. work is often a sprint, and you just can’t sprint forever. i want to make sure no one who works at magoosh ever feels that same sense of burnout i felt in dc.

that’s why we’re introducing sabbaticals at magoosh.

magoosh now offers six-week fully-paid sabbaticals for qualifying full-time and part-time employees who have worked at magoosh for five years or longer, averaging at least 24 hours per week.

you can take a look at our sabbatical policy (the document we shared with all employees when we rolled this benefit out back in october) here if you’re curious about the specifics.

why offer sabbatical to our employees (especially as a small company)?

the goal of magoosh’s sabbatical benefit is to encourage longevity with the company, prevent and alleviate burnout, and help longer-tenured employees get a fresh perspective on work.

in addition to this being good for the individuals who take it, there is some compelling research that a sabbatical policy can be good for the company overall.

magoosh employees have also shown an interest in having a sabbatical policy. we have an “ideas and brainstorming” section of our company asana, and offering a sabbatical benefit has been a proposed idea for quite some time.

so, for a company wanting to attract and retain great employees — and help them do their best work — offering a sabbatical benefit seemed like a great next step.

but why now? well, magoosh grew substantially in 2013 and 2014, adding many new employees in that time (including me!). a lot of us are still working at magoosh, and some of us are in need of a break. after having conversations with a few long-tenured employees, we decided that 2019 was the right time to prioritize creating a sabbatical policy.

how we structured our sabbatical program (and challenges we’ve faced so far)

when we first set out to make a sabbatical policy, we thought that the biggest issues would be hammering out the specific rules (length of service, length of sabbatical, etc.). it turned out those questions were pretty easy to answer, but then others were surprisingly tricky!

let’s start with the easy stuff.

length of service. we pretty quickly settled on five years as a good length of time. when we looked at other companies that offered sabbatical, five years was the most common requirement. i’ll admit, as a linguistic purist, i really wanted to keep to the traditional seven year duration (“sabbatical” comes from the biblical “sabbath”, as in “on the seventh day, he rested”). but five years is far more common in corporate sabbatical, and is also a nice round number.

length of sabbatical. we chose six weeks as the length of time for a couple of reasons. again, this length is comparable to length of sabbaticals at several other companies that offer them. additionally, it feels long enough to be meaningful, but not so long that it would be particularly difficult for our teams to plan around.

eligibility criteria. everyone at magoosh was aligned on the idea that we wanted to be able to provide sabbatical benefits to both our part-time and full-time employees. we have several part-time employees who have worked at magoosh for many years, helping literally thousands of students individually. we modeled our part-time sabbatical requirements after adobe’s, offering the benefit to folks who work the majority of their week at magoosh (three out of five days, or 24 hours per week).

these points came together pretty quickly. but, as i said, it was the other questions that came up that really made us think. “can i take a sabbatical in smaller chunks?” “can i save up sabbaticals and take twelve weeks after ten years?” “can i combine sabbatical with other pto, unpaid time, or leave?”

we really struggled with some of these questions! on the one hand, we want employees to do what is best for them and don’t want to put up arbitrary restraints or rules. on the other hand, sabbatical really only benefits the company when employees take the time in a way that is restorative.

we decided to align our approach to these trickier questions around a guiding principle: the purpose of sabbatical is to give employees lengthy, uninterrupted time away from work so that they come back to magoosh with a fresh perspective and renewed energy. if an employee wants to use their sabbatical time in a way that is in alignment with that principle, then we’re generally ok with it.

image credit: alena ozerova (licensed via shutterstock)

our first employee to take sabbatical will go out in december 2019, and we have four more already scheduled for 2020 (including our ceo’s in late summer — have fun bhavin, we may or may not fold our bagels in half while you’re away!). while our sabbatical is optional, we do hope that everyone who is eligible takes it.

i’m sure we’ll have more challenges and bumps along the way as we prepare for and go through our first employee sabbaticals. if you’ve taken a sabbatical, let us know in the comments what challenges you and your organization faced. and if you’ve never worked at a company with a sabbatical policy, maybe now’s the time. check out our careers page for open roles and join our team!

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nearly five years ago, i wrote about how we don’t negotiate salaries as a means of fostering fairness across our company and taking tangible steps to reduce wage gaps that are unfortunately inherent in the tech sector.

a quick google search, however, will reveal that the dialogue is still centered around tips, tricks, and hacks for how candidates should approach salary negotiation, with few questioning how negotiation itself simply rewards the ability to negotiate (disproportionately favoring men and non-minorities) over fairly compensating the value of one’s skills and experience.

we still don’t negotiate salaries to this day, and our company culture continues to thrive in part because, and not in spite, of this stance. we’ve since twice been named one of the best places to work in the bay area (2017, 2019) and, in a q4 2018 cultureamp survey of our employees, 100% of them agreed that they feel respected at magoosh and that their wellbeing is generally cared for.

although (to our knowledge) we remain one of a handful of tech companies who’ve adopted a no-negotiation policy on salary, we’re hopeful that founders who are passionate about growing strong and diverse startups will consider following suit. if you’re interested in learning more about the how of a no-negotiation policy, and the ways in which we’ve improved our framework to support our employees in receiving equal pay for equal work, you’ve come to the right place.

putting a fair salary system in place

ideally, two people in the same role, with the same level of experience, should be paid equal amounts and evaluated by similar performance metrics. but this is sadly often not the case, especially for women.

as a first step in addressing the lack of fairness around salary, we created salary tracks (or ladders) for each department/function at magoosh, including:

• marketing
• content
• academic support
• product support
• engineering
• product / data / ux
• operations (hr / recruiting / business ops)

we realize that many of the functions above could be split into more detailed functions, but to keep our process manageable and sustainable, we group similar functions together as long as our third party compensation data suggests that people within those roles are paid similarly at the same level. for example, we’ve found that product, data, and ux functions are paid similarly based on the most recent compensation data we received, but if that were to change, we’d separate those tracks.

for each job function, we have two salary tracks, one for individual contributors (ic) and one for managers (m). within each track are levels that correspond to role responsibility, scope, and title, and step increments between levels that indicate smaller advancements in professional growth. these tracks ensure that all ic1 marketers get paid the same, all m3 marketers get paid the same, and so on. guidelines and examples about what constitutes an ic1 vs. ic2 vs. m1, along with the entire salary track, are shared with all employees by function, so they know the skills and experience they need to reach the next level, as well as how much they’ll get paid when they do level up.

validating and updating salary tracks using market data

once you have a salary system in place, how do you actually determine what constitutes fair pay for each role? enter market data:

every year (usually q3), we use third-party data to determine market compensation for each level within a job function. we choose to use radford and optionimpact. we currently target a 65th pay percentile for companies of our stage, up from the 50th percentile a few years ago, and we may adjust that upward in the future. if the market rates increase for similar companies (based on geography, company stage, etc.), we provide salary increases to our employees.

in both 2017 and in 2018, every full-time employee received a market increase. on average, mid-level employees received a 20% increase solely from the market adjustments during this 2-year period (e.g. someone earning $100k in 2016 would receive $120k in 2018). in addition, employees may have received additional increases due to an increase scope and performance.

how to set and share salary levels objectively for new hires

for every job opening, we publish the salary range, so candidates can see not only the job description but also the compensation prior to applying. we also share our no-negotiation policy early in the hiring process, so candidates can opt-out if they choose.

when we initially draft a job posting, the hiring manager estimates the level of the role using the job description and our leveling guidelines. during this process, they sanity check the anticipated level for the new role with their manager and the hr team. we then include the pay of the surrounding levels as the salary range on all job descriptions (so for us, there’s also a method to creating the range).

for example, the job description for our currently open senior product manager role includes a salary range of $150,500 – $168,500, depending on experience. on our salary track for individual contributors, this correlates to a level of ic3.3 – ic4.0, and the hiring manager’s target level for this role is ic3.7.

during the hiring process, we have several candidate assessments: an anonymized take-home assessment and one or two in-person assessments. we use those to help us determine (1) whether we should hire the candidate and (2) what initial level to set for the candidate.

we’ve worked hard to ensure our assessments are reliable and valid, but in full transparency, our assessments aren’t perfect, and we have unfortunately incorrectly leveled individuals. we can fix under-leveling issues relatively quickly because we re-assess levels every 6 months, but over-leveling is more problematic. in these situations, employees end up at a given level much longer than average. they can often feel that their growth has stagnated when, in reality, they were over-leveled to begin with but have been growing. this is something we’ll continue to work on.

how to fairly approach salary increases and employee promotions

our hr team runs a committee-led leveling process every six months. during this process, a manager can advocate for a potential leveling increase for an employee. we know that some managers may be more aggressive about pursuing increases for their team while others less so. for that reason, our hr team periodically looks at the data to identify trends among teams and also encourages managers to bring up employees for leveling even if managers are unsure about the employee’s case.

the leveling committee always involves hr and will also involve managers or executive leadership, depending on the proposed levels being discussed. during those meetings, we don’t look at the time an employee’s spent at a given level but rather at their work output. we review past examples of others who leveled up, and our leveling guidelines, to help mitigate bias as much as possible.

under our system, an increase in level corresponds to an increase in salary, but not necessarily a title or responsibility change (more on that below). it’s important to note that we don’t share or encourage anticipated “time to level up” for any of our roles, as growth is dependent on a number of individual and company factors that are impossible for us to predict.

three more benefits we don’t negotiate

at the risk of sounding like a scrooge of a founder, our no-negotiation policy extends to other compensation-related benefits as well. some companies provide negotiation loopholes, leading candidates to think, “if i can’t negotiate on salary, then maybe i can negotiate on x.” we try to close those loopholes so that we can generally strive for fairness across our employee base.

job titles are tied to levels within our salary tracks, so there’s no room for negotiation on titles. for example, all m4s have the title “director,” no matter whether they work in marketing or engineering.

equity is also non-negotiable. we use an equity formula based on job function and level. we then offer refresh and promotion grants once a year, so if an employee does level up, they can earn more equity.

pto is already flexible, and you can read more about our processes to support that here. items of note: employees take 4-5 weeks of pto on average and hr helps managers flag employees who haven’t taken enough pto.

in defense of fair pay

simply put, offering equal pay for equal work – and providing transparency around the process – is not a radical stance. as an employer, i believe that treating my employees (and by extension, my company) well includes compensating them fairly and without bias, and our stance on not negotiating salaries stems from this belief.

equal and transparent pay supports your business bottom line by helping you attract and retain best-fit candidates. when hiring managers set and openly communicate fair salary tracks for new roles, it eliminates the need for competitive negotiation and levels the playing field, as candidates are paid on merit, not on their ability to negotiate.

we realize that a no-negotiation policy can turn some folks away, especially if they erroneously believe we won’t pay a fair wage as a result. we also know that some companies use no-negotiation policies to purposefully lowball candidates. honestly, my previous thinking (when we were smaller and couldn’t afford to pay more) was that we didn’t want to compete on salary; we wanted employees to choose magoosh mostly for our mission and learning opportunities.

while i still want candidates to be passionate about our mission and environment, i’ve realized pay and passion need not be mutually exclusive. we still use our no-negotiation policy as a way to maintain pay equity and support our diversity, equity, & inclusion goals (by directly supporting those who are less likely to negotiate). but we also want to pay competitively and want employees to feel good about their compensation.

as a startup founder, i can also understand the many reservations around this approach and am happy to talk through concerns and questions – just drop a note in the comments below.

in the meantime, i continue to encourage other companies to reassess their approaches to salary and to consider alternative practices that could increase pay parity, and ultimately, employee satisfaction.

tech companies, it’s time to stop treating equal pay for equal work as a luxury you can’t afford. pay equity should be a starting point for your employees, not an aspiration.

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what would happen if all salaries at your company became public today — everyone found out what everyone else was paid? would an employee be upset to learn that they were being paid less than their peers of equal experience? would one team be shocked at how much higher other teams were being paid? would manager biases become immediately apparent? would it fuel feelings of jealousy or of fairness?

if that happened at magoosh today, my guess is most people would simply shrug and say “yeah, that sounds about right,” and carry on with their day. and that’s because, without exception, any two people at magoosh at the same job level in the same role are paid equally.

employee salaries and benefits are the largest expense, by far, for most tech companies. and yet, most don’t talk about, much less share, how much people are paid. not only is that a shame, it’s a short-sighted stance and a missed opportunity to improve hiring practices and employee retention.

sadly, tech companies aren’t alone in the struggle for pay equity. five years ago, beyoncé famously spoke out on the myth of gender equality, noting that “equality will be achieved when men and women are granted equal pay and equal respect.” a forbes piece on the rampant nature of gender pay gaps across a number of industries cites that, in the past few years, the 10 top-paid actresses in hollywood earned anywhere from 24 to 35 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts. on netflix drama the crown, even the queen herself, played by actress claire foy, found out she was being paid less than her co-star matt smith, who played prince phillip. the reality is even more sobering for the pay gaps faced by women of color.

a 2017 paper on the hollywood wage gap from economists at lancaster university suggested salary transparency could help reverse this phenomenon, noting that “making contracts not blinded in the film industry and thus providing social information about what other co-stars earn can reduce the negotiation gap and therefore the residual wage gap.” ethical clothing brand nisolo recently began publicly disclosing the lowest wages in its supply chain as a means of encouraging other fashion manufacturers to commit to ensuring that all workers are paid at least a living wage. this summer, museum workers banded together to create a public spreadsheet of salaries across museum positions, to expose the rampant pay disparities in the art world. the initiative, led by art + museum transparency, went on to write an opinion piece calling for salary and benefits to be included in all culture sector job descriptions.

so, fellow tech workers, what’s our excuse? why are we still behind the times in treating salaries as a shameful secret or a game to be hacked by the most privileged of us?

it doesn’t have to be this way. you can be a fun, profitable tech company with transparent and fair salary practices, all in the same breath. we know this because magoosh is living proof, ten years since our founding, that transparency is good for business. here’s what we’ve learned from including salaries in our each of job descriptions:

transparent salaries help you hire the right people

my guess is that most startups don’t make salaries for their open positions public for a simple reason: they don’t know what the salary ranges are. managers have identified a need on their team, and they want to find someone to fill that need. they likely haven’t figured out exactly how much filling that need is going to cost. unfortunately, this means they don’t know who they’re actually looking for.

publishing salary ranges in your job descriptions forces you to figure out what problem or opportunity you’re solving for by hiring, and how much you think it will cost to find someone who can do it. this planning prevents you from pursuing under- or over-qualified candidates, and helps you hone in on exactly the right people for your role.

this planning also saves you money. when you’re clear on the level and role you need to fill, you prevent yourself from 1) spending too much hiring someone “great” who is overqualified for the job you need and who will likely become disengaged and quit because there isn’t enough exciting work for them to take on, or 2) spending too little hiring someone “good enough” who is unable to grow into the role long-term and will need to be replaced. getting the right person in the role now saves you money in the long-term.

this planning is critical, but often not a step that happens at fast-growing startups where things are moving quickly. by putting salaries in your job descriptions, you force hiring managers to think critically about their needs, and to budget accordingly.

transparent salaries save you and your candidates from wasted time

a few weeks ago, i received an outreach email from a recruiter at another ed-tech startup. i took the call and spent about 35 minutes on the phone with a recruiter. at the very end of the call, they shared the salary range. as it turns out, it was substantially lower than what i currently make at magoosh (shout out to our compensation!), and if i were seriously considering the opportunity, this would have been a waste of both my and the recruiter’s time. if the initial job description had included salary information, i could have self-selected out of the process and saved us both the time.

(side note: i don’t have plans to leave magoosh, but it’s good to know what’s out there! and since the recruiting function at magoosh is on my team, i like to understand how other companies approach outreach.)

i’m not alone in wanting salary details in job descriptions. according to a study linkedin published on what candidates want to hear from recruiters, 72% said they wanted to learn about salary range in the initial conversation. that’s more than the percent who wanted to hear about job title, company culture, or mission (54%, 40%, and 27%, respectively).

by keeping salaries secret, you will lose out on experienced talent who don’t want to waste time going through a hiring process before finding out what the compensation will be.

transparent salaries help close the wage gap for women and minorities

at magoosh, we put a lot of time and effort into making sure that our salaries are equitable and fair for all employees. we have a no-negotiation policy, and a structured salary framework for every role. any two people in the same role at the same level are being paid the same amount — equal pay for equal work. publishing our salary ranges is a natural outcome of that focus on equity.

by keeping salary information secret, you create an information imbalance that favors your company during salary negotiations. but here’s the problem: studies consistently show that women and minorities are less likely to negotiate salary, and less likely to win larger concessions when they do negotiate. this economic benefit to the company is coming at the direct expense of historically marginalized people.

moreover, unequal salaries will hurt your company. the kapor center’s research identified unfairness as the top reason that people of all backgrounds leave tech companies. saving a few thousand dollars in a salary negotiation isn’t really a win if it later leads to talented individuals leaving your company for competitors who choose to pay them what they’re worth.

“yes, but…” – three common objections to publishing salary ranges in job descriptions

while researching other perspectives on salary transparency, i came across a number of surprising (to me) rebuttals from hiring managers and recruiters. to be quite frank, i believe much of what people frame as disadvantages to salary transparency are honestly just excuses to perpetuate terrible hiring practices, and by extension, foster unhealthy company cultures.

one of the most common objections to publishing a salary range is that hiring managers are worried that great overqualified candidates won’t apply. the idea goes that you might be looking for someone who can do x, but if someone truly great comes along who is capable of doing x+y, you would offer them more money. it’s a really tempting idea, but it’s also totally backwards. do you need x+y? if so, then budget and pay for it. if not, then don’t overspend; you’ll end up hiring someone who is overqualified and will likely become disengaged.

another common objection is that managers don’t want to hire people who are motivated solely by money. in fairness, i, too, don’t want to work with people motivated solely by money. but this is a bit of a straw man. most people have lots of other motivations, but they also want to be paid what they’re worth — and that’s ok! people with families, dependent parents, or other responsibilities have mouths to feed and little time to waste. saying that they shouldn’t have information about salary to guide their life decisions is foolhardy.

then there’s the objection, worth mentioning again, that sharing salary ranges in job descriptions takes away the company’s leverage in a negotiation. and you know what? that’s true. but shifting the inequitable power dynamic between employers and candidates is also a benefit. being transparent about salary in your job descriptions encourages equity and fairness, and helps those who have historically not been able to advocate for themselves (or have been dismissed as overly assertive or demanding when they do).

will you take a step towards equal pay?

salary transparency is a great practice to institute in your company, one that can take many forms. although it can be a robust and (sometimes) complicated process, one of the least burdensome steps you can take is to make the salary ranges for your open positions public in job descriptions. this simple change will reap benefits multiple times over, helping you plan, find qualified candidates, and promote equity within your team. in the long run, this will strengthen your business.

creating a salary structure, an equity-based performance management framework, and an unbiased compensation review process is a lot of work (i know, because we’ve put these all in place and still have a lot to learn!). but publishing salary ranges in job descriptions takes almost no work at all. it’s a great first step towards building a compensation system that is fair, equitable, and transparent.

at magoosh, one of our core values is done is greater than perfect. you don’t have to have all things pay equity figured out to make salary ranges a consistent presence in your job descriptions. after all, when has beyoncé ever been wrong?

the post want to hire the best candidates? add salary ranges to your job descriptions appeared first on magoosh 2022年足球世界杯举办地.

we wouldn’t.

at magoosh, we make every effort to avoid a situation like the one above, but we don’t negotiate on salary. bhavin, our ceo, already wrote about our rationale here. now i’d like to give you an inside look into how we approach raises.

research shows that people—depending on factors such as current position in the company, gender and race—are not equally likely to ask for raises, and that managers are not equally likely to evaluate raise requests from different people.

while employees may reevaluate and reconsider their value and respective compensation, some are able to voice these concerns much more easily than others.

on the other end, even with a strong intent to value employees throughout their careers, managers can be susceptible to unconscious biases and, therefore, may not be providing credit where credit is due.

to solve this problem, we created a comprehensive performance framework to determine the appropriate salaries of magooshers over time. the framework—which we continually strive to improve—mitigates the issues with negotiation, such as how some employees are more likely to ask for raises, or push for their team members to get raises, than others.

our end goal is to make sure that people are compensated fairly throughout their career at magoosh.

while we could write multiple posts diving into each of the steps below—and we likely will—this article is meant to give you an overview of how we do it.

step 1: find reliable market data and create salary tracks

our approach: we looked into a number of ways to find reliable market data from sources such as angellist postings, glassdoor, and a number of salary surveys. while salary compensation surveys certainly have their pros and cons, we currently use one from radford because of recommendations from others, the large dataset, and their focus on job level as opposed to job titles.

one issue with a large set of salary data from any source is that it’s just data, not a salary track. so, as a next step, we take this data and smooth it out to create tracks with logical increases between the steps. if there aren’t enough data points for one particular job description, we look at related fields to compile better, more reliable data. what we end up with is something that looks like this:

step 2: match internal jobs to market data based on job duties

our approach: beyond a large set of data, another key determinant in deciding on a salary compensation survey was looking for salary mapped to level of work as opposed to title.

titles at bay area companies fluctuate greatly. a vp at a large company with lots of hierarchy, etc., for example, may do very different work from a vp at a small company with a lot of funding—and the two should be compensated differently.

this difference was important to us. we didn’t want to do a disservice to our employees and accidentally mismatch them to a salary that didn’t capture the complexity of their work.

you can see a quick example of the difference in salary for the same titled position at differently sized companies below:

step 3: create a set of examples that make level matching tangible to managers and employees

our approach: at this point, we have the salary tracks for each job family, as seen above. and we have a leveling chart with general examples, provided to us as part of the survey.

however, the examples are very generic. they are enough to map to the right salaries, but they are not magoosh-specific, nor are they enough to create a performance path from. examples based on internal work here at magoosh are at the heart of what enables us to match internal roles to their equivalent market rate pay.

these examples have been painstakingly curated through thoughtful conversation between all of our team leads to determine what type of internal work matches the generic language that’s provided. for instance, if a general example referred to “difficult conversation,” we would determine what that language would refer to specifically at magoosh.

here is an example of what this might look like:

step 4: calibrate

our approach: steps 1 through 3 encompass the steps that enabled us to create the basis of our framework.

market salary data → leveling structure tied to market data → company-specific examples tied to leveling structure → role-specific, non-negotiable salaries tied to market salary data

calibration is a quarterly check on all departments to ensure that every manager is thinking about examples in the same way. it protects employees from managers who might be resistant to promotions while also helping to reign in others who may be too eager.

deep dive into step 4: calibration process

mid-quarter evaluation
every quarter, we have a recurring structured task for company-wide leveling—what we call the system of performance increases at magoosh.

mid-quarter, managers write up notes and have holistic discussions with employees on where folks currently stand based on the scope of the work they are doing, the complexity of the projects, and the amount of supervision they require (or are providing, in the case of those on the manager track). managers and employees refer to both the salary track for that position as well as the examples for each section, as described above.

calibration notes
if, based on an employee’s progress, their pay should be matched with a higher level, their manager will write up specific examples of their team member’s work. this write up includes:

1. how the employee has been doing the work,
2. the employee’s goal setting,
3. the success of their projects, etc.

these examples—as well as their ties to our leveling examples—are shared as a proposal with all other managers.

calibration meeting
all department managers comment on the proposal with questions, thoughts, and concerns. afterwards, they all meet to further discuss each proposed level change.

this process is arduous and, at times, reveals issues or areas in which our examples might be lacking. however, this is also a critical step that enables every situation to be provided its due time and thought. there are no rash changes, and every change has the buy in of folks from different departments.

if there is someone on a team whose work has increased in scope but their manager hasn’t brought it up, another team lead involved in the project will ask about it. on the other hand, if a proposed change isn’t in line with the examples at that level, that will be discussed as well.

it is in this step that we are able to deliberate and clarify what changes are being made.

having a process delineated enables us to be thorough and thoughtful each quarter. no steps are missed and there are no random raises that don’t follow process.

drawbacks to consider

this evaluation process does have its drawbacks:

• it’s time consuming—we’re still working on ways to scale it.
• at times of disagreement, it can be frustrating.

however, it is through these very conflicts and open dialogue that we are able to create clearer examples and better systems of thinking for the future.

the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks

all that said, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. working on this salary structure will hopefully continue to promote compensation fairness and consistency between different roles, genders, backgrounds, departments, and more here at magoosh.

for example:

• with a purely market-based framework and a no-negotiations policy, the shyest introvert is afforded the same opportunity for raises as the most persuasive self-aggrandizer.
• if an employee is unsure whether their manager is reviewing their performance fairly— a situation they are encouraged to bring up—they also know that their manager’s evaluation is reviewed by others at the company.
• if a person in one department is worried that their peers in other departments are moving up more quickly, they can count on examples for different roles and departments all being calibrated against one another and similar examples being set at the same level.

it is our hope that building upon these structures will foster further pay equality as we grow as a company, increasing inclusion and diversity as a whole.

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