Coinbase bans salary negotiations after IPO success
Coinbase argues these negotiations can disproportionately leave women and underrepresented minorities behind, and a disparity created early in someone’s career can follow them for decades.
Coinbase has announced it is is eliminating negotiations from the hiring process as the its past success and recent mediatic IPO has potentially strained relations between employees and the company.
The cryptocurrency exchange has doubled its staff in 2020 and top talent is one of its most important values, which requires the firm to constantly revisit our compensation practices and that they reinforce the culture the firm wants to build.
As evolving compensation is not only about appealing to candidates, but also designed to ensure more equity across the workforce, and improve transparency, the operator has decided to increasing compensation targets, eliminate negotiations from the hiring process, and adopt annual equity grants that drive predictable, real time compensation.
“Because our standard offers are world-class, we are officially eliminating negotiations on salary and equity from our recruiting process.
“Anyone who wants to work in crypto belongs and is valued at Coinbase. It doesn’t matter what your background is, where you went to school (or bootcamp), where you’ve worked before, or even what you’ve been paid before. If you pass our bar and are hired to do the same work, you get the same offer as the next candidate for a role.”
Coinbase argues these negotiations can disproportionately leave women and underrepresented minorities behind, and a disparity created early in someone’s career can follow them for decades.
“We want to do everything we can to ensure that’s not the experience at Coinbase. All employees in the same position, in the same location, receive the same salary and equity offer. No exceptions”, the firm stated.
“Eliminating negotiations doesn’t mean all employees are paid the same after they begin working. In fact, we want compensation differentiation, but it should be solely driven by demonstrated performance and outsized impact on our company and for our customers.
“We will continue to apply multipliers to our equity and cash rewards for high performers identified through our rigorous performance management process. This way, our high performers receive compensation commensurate with their impact, in addition to accelerated career development and a front row seat to building the cryptoeconomy”, Coinbase added.
Coinbase’s share reached $328 on listing day after the exchange went public via a direct listing, which enables insiders to sell shares right away without the usual post IPO lockup period that limits the initial supply of shares. Shares are currently priced at $283.
