Why Buffer Has Transparent Salaries and How The Open Salary Formula Works

Jun 3, 2014 1 min readOpen
Photo of Courtney Seiter
Courtney Seiter

Former Director of People @ Buffer

We’ve updated our transparent salary formula since this post originally was published. Learn more about the latest formula and see all the team’s current salaries here.


Joel and Leo discuss one of the best-known elements of Buffer’s culture—transparent salaries—in this Founder Chat.

Here are a few more resources for additional information on Buffer’s transparent salaries:

• Take a look at our open salaries spreadsheet to see the formula in action.

• For more information about Buffer’s open salaries, read our full post here.

• Read about Buffer’s transparent equity here.

• And here’s a look at what happened in our recruitment efforts after we announced transparent salaries.

See more Founder Chat videos on our YouTube playlist—be sure to subscribe if you like what you see!

Do you have a question for Joel and Leo, or an idea for a topic you’d like to see them address in a future chat? Share it with us in the comments!

Brought to you by

Try Buffer for free

140,000+ small businesses like yours use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month

Get started now

Related Articles

OpenApr 4, 2025
We Paid A Candidate To Spend A Day Working With Us, Here’s How It Went

It can feel incredibly challenging to hire, and hire well. For one thing, hiring is usually a significant time investment for our small team — we once had 1,500 applications in just over a week for a content role (!!) — but beyond that, we are so intentional about the ways that we collaborate. Buffer is a fully remote, global, and culturally diverse company operating with a four-day work week. Finding someone who will thrive in our work environment, and is also highly skilled in the areas we’r

35 Side Projects From the Buffer Team

We’ve always had teammates who have side projects in addition to working at Buffer. Working on new projects, building, experimenting, and self-improvement are built into our DNA as a company. So it's quite common to be speaking with someone only to find out they own a small business outside of Buffer that started as a side project. We also have several published authors and many apps built by Buffer teammates. We believe this entrepreneurial spirit and creative drive not only enhances our indiv

OpenFeb 28, 2025
We Added a $250 AI Tools Stipend for the Buffer Team: Here’s Why

Here's why we're introducing a $250 stipend for AI tools and how we expect it to impact our work.

140,000+ people like you use Buffer to build their brand on social media every month