What is a Values-First Approach to Conscious Work?

Compensation and Promotion

Our Philosophy

Overview

We believe in 100% transparency when it comes to compensation and promotion. Everyone should know the range of salary they fall under. They should also know when they can be promoted, how to be promoted and what kind of salary increase they are eligible for during review time.

We believe that a formalized, transparent approach sets clear expectations and ensures that each person is fairly compensated for their work. It eliminates potential bias and so much of the confusion, uncertainty, and misaligned expectations that typically come with getting raises, bonuses and promotions.

As stated below, we view everything from base salary to Ditto's bonus structure to company-paid health care when we formulate overall compensation.

How

Our specific salary numbers are tied to cost of living, job experience and performance. Each candidate or team member has a unique skill set and varying professional background that falls within a market range. Salary is then calculated based on experience/skills and a particular market e.g. New York, Bay Area, Northeast, South/Southwest, Midwest, and internationally.

Factors that we take into consideration when calculating compensation:

1. Years of experience in agency relevant industries

2. Proficiency in current level

3. Market range

4. Regional cost of living

We believe that team members who consistently perform above expectations and are proficient in their current role should be rewarded with a higher base pay. Similarly, those who are new to their role and/or not meeting all expectations that come with that role would be paid closer to the early range of their years of experience in their position.

As Ditto continues to operate with a remote team in the U.S. and beyond, our calculations for market salaries and cost of living are done by referencing The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and querying regions and titles for annual means, as well as consulting professional resources such as the Economic Research Institute, Glassdoor, Payscale, and Job Search Intelligence.

Typical salary range

National base salary range:

• Junior (Associate Account Executive - Account Executive): $40-$57k

• Midlevel (Senior Account Executive - Account Director): $60-$90k

• Senior (Associate Vice President - Vice President) : $100k-$150k

• Executive (Vice President - Senior Vice President - Managing Director ($150k - $250k)

Our complete compensation package

• Base salary: A team member's stated annual salary

• Annual raise: Performance based annual raise (August annual review cycle)

• Performance Bonuses:

  • Monthly Bonus Opportunities: Three Super Bonus accounts per month with $1,000 going to the top performer on each account that hits its goals.

  • Tier One Feature: Team members are eligible for a $1,000 bonus when they get a client a Tier One feature or national TV interview.

  • Quarterly Bonus Opportunities: Team members are eligible for a $1500 bonus for being the MVP of the quarter. The top performing account each quarter earns a team experience Example: Experiences can be location based or virtual depending on levels of comfort and health advisories (The entire account team can celebrate with a Michelin dinner, a creative day out at a museum, in-home barista classes, fitness memberships/classes, cooking school, wine tasting.)

• New business commission: 10% of a client monthly retainer for the first 6 months of their relationship with Ditto.

• MVP of the Year: Each year, we celebrate the team member that leads on overall results with a trip anywhere in the world.

• Employee referrals: $500 per candidate after the first 6 months of employment.

• Indirect compensation: Health benefits with option for 80-100% company paid premiums for primary, 50% for premium paid for dental coverage, unlimited PTO (valued at base salary rate x additional number of days taken after 2 weeks), 12 weeks fully paid parental leave.

How we approach compensation changes

Performance-based raise

Salary increases throughout the year are based on performance. If a team member is performing at the next level of seniority or if they are performing at the higher end of their current position range, they will have earned an increase in base pay.

August review cycle and salary increase by percentages

Ditto has an August review cycle. We conduct formal reviews over a period of two weeks. The process includes a discussion and evaluation from management (Trey and the executive team) as well as 360- degree peer feedback.

Salaries increases:

• 5%-10% raise if the team member had consistent results throughout the year and net positive peer feedback.

• Additional 5%-10% raise if the team member exceeded goals and mastered their job title expectations, putting them into the next job title and pay grade.

Salary increases begin the next payroll cycle without deferment.

Guidelines for promotion

Our promotion process presents our guidelines for advancing and promoting employees from within. We want to invest in our people and reward those who excel as early as possible. The executive team and Trey measure performance through monthly tracking and quarterly assessments and schedule promotional reviews once a team member shows the motivation and responsibilities of the next level of seniority.

Promotion policy elements

Ditto promotes team members based on their performance and workplace conduct. These criteria reflect the bigger picture of an employee’s work. Office leads keep logs with important incidents that they might want to consider when it’s time to promote a team member.

Acceptable criteria for promotion are:

• Proficiency of current role.

• High performance level in two recent review cycles.

• Skill set that matches the minimum requirements of the new role.

• Personal motivation and desire for growth in responsibilities
  Individual skill based aspirations and interests (business development, video production, social/digital).

Promotions may occur when:

• A job opening is advertised externally.

• A team member has consistently good performance evaluations and their manager deems them ready for the next step in their career.

• A team member acquires additional development tools (marketing certificate, writing workshop, mastering a platform/tool etc..) that allows them to advance in responsibilities.

Managers’ process:

1. Meet with the team member to talk about their career goals and/or aspirations for a promotion and create actionable plans to achieve those goals.

2. Identify opportunities to promote one or more team members, if applicable (by either filling vacancies creating new jobs or enhancing job titles).

3. Discuss the promotion with your direct manager and Trey to receive approval. Managers receive specs from the executive team about the new position’s salary range and any new benefits they should present.

4. Arrange a meeting with the team member to determine whether they’d be happy with this move.

5. Managers keep records of the process to support their decisions to promote.

Career development outside of promotion

Managers may choose to expand team members' duties and authority without promoting them directly. These changes may not always come with a formal title change, but with a higher salary or bonuses. The new benefits depend on the position and are at the discretion of the CEO and executive team.