Bunny Studio 2021 Pay Analysis

Since 2019, Bunny Studio has come a long way in establishing effective systems that reflect our fundamental principles. When it comes to matters of equality, we hold ourselves accountable. We publish our compensation details and how we approach assessments. This 2021 Pay Analysis furthers our commitment to complete transparency for all stakeholders.

Bunny Studio is home to some of the best freelancers worldwide, offering quality services that range from professional voice-over to video services. We are a company composed of team members working full-time across 18 countries, and our staff includes writers, translators, transcribers, voice talents, video editors, and sound engineers, among many other types of professionals.

Bunny Studio is committed to creating a better work environment for all stakeholders. To this end, our efforts focus on accountability and transparency. We are passionate about our diversity, and we strive for fairness and excellence in all that we do.

2021 Pay Analysis – Our Compensation Principles

We follow a clear set of compensation principles in all that we do. This ensures that every employee is treated fairly and creates the right corporate culture.

Attract and retain talent

Bunny Studio believes that talent attraction and retention are fundamental to the long-term success of our company. Internal factors that affect compensation for new hires include the following:

• Job role
• Level benchmarks
• Location
• Expertise in the market

We also offer competitive rates using the 10th percentile of the San Francisco (SF) benchmarks established for a functional area and job role.

For promotions, we follow the professional development model of Bunny Studio and match the new compensation with the job level of that functional area and role.

Directly align staff compensation with company performance

The company’s performance determines whether levels of compensation are changed during the annual review cycle.

Ensure consistent and transparent compensation

Our compensation framework sets standards that allow for global hiring. However, we are not location agnostic. Timezone, location factor of a region, and the proximity to users, clients, partners, and team members can all be factors that affect new hires. For example, we may approve one candidate over another because they live in a region with a lower location factor or need someone in a particular timezone.

We use a compensation calculator to ensure transparent and consistent compensation determinations to ensure equal pay for all team members and to guarantee that the same roles and job levels feature the same remuneration.

Using this system reduces the influence of any potential biases when setting compensation for roles and promotions.

Evaluate compensations annually

We review our compensation system annually to ensure they fit the SF benchmark. As needed, it is adjusted based on data found on open-sourced salary platforms such as Glassdoor and PayScale.

Note that compensation for the C-office (level 8) is determined by the Board of Directors and falls outside of the compensation calculator.

Transparency

Bunny Studio acknowledges the valuable benefits of pay transparency in the workplace. We aim to take pay transparency to the next level through our compensation calculator. In building a fully transparent company, we endeavor to build trust, respect, and fairness for our stakeholders.

We created our compensation calculator to serve many valuable functions, including:

We want to do what is right

Bunny Studio strives to be fair and unbiased and intends to eliminate pay inequalities by standardizing our compensation system for our team of diverse employees working across 18 countries. This ensures that people within the same job area, role, level, and location band earn the same.

We want to build respect and trust

Team members are more likely to call for help from the right people if there’s pay transparency. It also leads to more collaborative and productive people.

Having a compensation calculator makes it easy and transparent for all team members to determine their compensation level.

Our Compensation Calculator

In the pursuit of complete transparency, we make available the data we use to develop our compensation calculator.

The compensation formula we use is:

Your compensation = “SF benchmark of your role” x “Your job level” x “Your location factor”

We sourced information from the San Francisco benchmark, location factors, and third-party sources, such as Buffer and Github. Then, we adopted a simplified approach that meets the needs of our staff and organization.

Here is a quick breakdown of each variable:

• SF benchmark of your role – The role refers to the function in the company. As mentioned, we use the 10th percentile of the San Francisco benchmarked salaries for a functional area and job role.
• Job level – After determining the role base, we then use the job level multiplier. This multiplier refers to the job classification of an employee for a functional area. The job level is between one and seven. The multipliers linked to our job levels are as follows:
  • At level 1: 0.65
  • Level 2: 0.78
  • For level 3: 1
  • Level 4: 1.2
  • At level 5: 1.45
  • Level 6: 1.90
  • Level 7: 2.45

For each vertical jump, an employee receives a 20-30 percent pay increase, which is consistent with industry standards.

• Location factor – This multiplier is calculated using NUMBEO as our primary data source to analyze the cost of living plus the rent index of the city where our team member is based and compared to that of San Francisco.

Location Multiplier

The location multiplier depends on where the team member is located. We use these multipliers to adjust the SF benchmark to a specific geographical area.

To avoid substantial wage disparities due to these differences, Bunny Studio uses three location bands that serve as indicators of our location multipliers. We consider the cost of living and rent indexes to compare the expenses from one geographic region to another.

For example, if your region has a cost of living index of 90 percent or 0.9, that means it is 10 percent below the region it’s being compared to.

Table 1. Location Bands and Location Multipliers for Compensation Calculator Used in the 2021 Pay Analysis

It’s important to note that Bunny Studio is not location agnostic. We use several factors, such as timezone, location multiplier in your region, the vicinity to our users, customers, and partners. For example, we may approve one candidate over another because they live in a region with a lower location factor, or we need someone in that timezone.

Our Compensation Review Cycle

Bunny Studio has two main compensation reviews in which we go through all the elements of your remuneration, such as salary, benefits, equity, and incentives, to check if they accurately and fairly reflect your work performance and current market conditions.

Annual compensation review

Annual compensation review happens in Q4 of each year. It involves reviewing the inputs to our compensation calculator and assuring that you are fairly compensated in line with your expertise. Any necessary changes are processed with an effective date of January 1st.

Catch-up compensation review

For those hired between November and December, a catch-up compensation review occurs in August with an effective date of September 1^st.

For those who have promotion recommendations from their team leaders, the review starts in Q2 with an effective date of September 1^st.

Additionally, giving promotions to deserving employees with unscheduled bonuses or pay raises can go a long way in boosting morale and retaining talent. Changes in roles with the corresponding change in compensation can happen throughout the year. We do this to motivate our staff and reward the top-performing workers.

Stock Options

Bunny Studio believes that receiving stock options is a significant job benefit for our workers. It serves to motivate workers, encourage loyalty, and help provide financial security to our staff and their families.

In the first and second quarters of 2021, we designed our stock options system by taking multiple market references into account, such as Github, Buffer, and WithOtis.

All job roles are eligible for stock options after completing a 90-day trial, with the starting date being the date a staff member joined the company.

Options calculator

Options are a combination of two elements:

• Employee compensation – The calculator considers the compensation of each team member in determining the value of the options.
• Expertise level – Depending on their expertise, we use a multiplier that compounds with the compensation. Specifically, these are the expertise levels and their corresponding multipliers:
• At level 7 – 2.5
• Level 6 – 2
• For level 5 – 1.5
• Level 4 – 1
• At level 3 – 0.66
• Level 2 – 0.5
• Level 1 – 0.33

Location multiplier

Bunny Studio’s compensation model uses a location multiplier factor, representing the cost of living multiplier according to a team member’s physical location. We want to correct this location factor with the stock options to ensure everyone has the same compensation package (salary + stock options).

Cliff and vesting

We use Silicon Valley’s standards to define cliff and vesting. We employ a one-year Cliff and 5-year vesting standard.

A one-year cliff means you need to work at Bunny studio for at least a year to exercise any options. Five-year vesting means you get 100 percent of your promised benefits only if you leave the company after five years or more.

Moving Forward

This 2021 Pay Analysis was a considerable step for Bunny Studio. As we move forward, we’re inspired to support a more inclusive culture in the company.

While equality continues to be a critical part of our strategy, we acknowledge that equal pay alone isn’t enough. We also want to look for new programs, benefits, and policies to make our employees feel more empowered and valued for the sustained success of our company.