Inside
Use it in the next meeting.
Price the approved level
Map the calibration result to a band and keep the performance decision closed.
Test the whole proposal
See the position in band, annual increase, remaining-year cash cost and any exception still waiting for a policy decision.
Approve the cycle
Run the budget and equity checks, record Finance and People sign-off and prepare the manager’s explanation.
Editable templates included
Band table, compensation records, equity checks, budget planning and approvals, plus market references, salary history, market decisions and a worked budget example.
Where to start
Agree the policy and budget assumptions with People and Finance. Review the dated geographic references, approve your base-pay inputs and work through the budget example before entering live proposals.
“Renn’s model puts evidence, judgment and decision in the same conversation, where research and design can change an outcome instead of decorating one.”
Jenny Lo · Head of User Research, Harvey AI
Across the three workbooks
Run the cycle with People and Finance teams.
Functional leaders
Write the roles, bring the evidence and make room for the next assignment.
People
Keep the standard consistent and give disputed evidence somewhere to go.
Finance
Set the limits, check the cost and approve the final numbers.
One case through all three books
Follow a fictional team through calibration, an over-budget pay proposal, an approved timing change and a development plan with protected time.
The evidence stays put
If a pay proposal exceeds the budget, change the amount or its timing. Do not rewrite the assessment.
“Renn understands that clarity and humanity are not opposites. This system makes scope, pay and growth discussable without reducing creative people—or their ambition—to boxes on a ladder.”
Li-Anne Dias · Executive Creative Director, Brex
Written by Renato Valdés-Olmos
Built from running the cycle.
I have run leveling, compensation and development cycles at companies of 25, 250 and 2500 people. These workbooks turn those mechanics into documents you can use with your team. The shared six-level framework is new in v1.
More about my work
One complete chapter · No email required
Read section two.
02Build the pay system, then test the decision
To make one pay decision, you need a calibrated level, an approved policy, dated market evidence, current pay and a budget. The spreadsheet can calculate with an empty or weak input. The company should not approve the result until each input has an owner and a source.
| Input | Who settles it | What leaves the cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Role and calibrated level | EPD and Marketing leadership with People, before compensation begins. | The band to use. Compensation does not reopen the level. |
| Pay policy and market cut | Finance and People, with a source date, role match, geography and target percentile. | Six bands and a recorded reason for any differential. |
| Current pay and proposal | The manager proposes; People checks consistency. | Position in band, annual increase and any exception. |
| Budget and effective date | Finance. | The remaining-year cost, including employer on-cost. |
| Release decision | A named People approver and a named Finance approver. | Approved, held, or returned with the unresolved policy question. |
The useful output is a set of decisions the company can afford, approve and explain without changing somebody's level to make the arithmetic work.
Six bands, one visible policy
Use one band per level. Width gives somebody room to progress without being promoted; overlap lets a strong person at one level earn more than a new arrival at the next. Treat the values below as working inputs for the model. Replace them with your own approved evidence and hold the method steady through the cycle.
| Level | Starting width | Question to test |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.25 | Will people move through the band before most of its range is used? |
| 2 | 1.30 | Is there room for two or three increases while the level is held? |
| 3 | 1.35 | Can the largest population progress without promotion pressure? |
| 4 | 1.40 | Can a long, healthy tenure at this level be paid fairly? |
| 5 | 1.45 | Does the band contain the real variation in senior scope? |
| 6 | 1.50 | Does the top remain a boundary even when individual packages vary? |
Six overlapping bands
A promotion can land inside the next band. Pay and level can then be discussed as separate decisions.
Northline: one proposal all the way through
Maya is calibrated at level 3. Her current base pay is €84,000. The approved level-3 band is €78,000 to €105,000 with a €91,000 midpoint. Her manager proposes €90,000, effective for the final six months of the year. Employer on-cost is 20 percent and Finance has €4,800 left for this decision.
| Check | Calculation | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Band | €90,000 is inside €78,000–€105,000; compa-ratio is 0.99. | The proposal does not need a level change or an out-of-band exception. |
| Annual increase | €90,000 − €84,000 = €6,000. | This is the employee-facing annual change. |
| Remaining-year cost | €6,000 × 6/12 × 1.20 = €3,600. | The proposal fits the €4,800 remaining-year budget. |
| Release | Level settled; band, budget and pay-protection checks pass. | People and Finance can approve it and record the effective date. |
Three cases where the number alone gives the wrong answer
| Pressure case | What the workbook forces into view | Defensible next move |
|---|---|---|
| Promotion, modest raise A level-3 employee is already near the top of the band. | The level-4 band overlaps. A small increase may still place them appropriately in the new band. | Explain the new level and pay position separately. Do not invent a large raise solely to make the promotion feel real. |
| Bay Area AI offer above level 4 | The candidate's scarce capability, the role match, internal equity, cash cost and expiry of the market pressure. | Use a dated, approved exception or change the hiring plan. Do not call the role level 5 just to reach the offer. |
| The proposal fits annually, not this year | The annual increase and remaining-period cost are different controls. | Change the amount, effective date or budget. Record which lever moved and who approved it. |
The first year, for a company with no bands
Publish the bands without cutting anyone's salary. Put people below the band on a funded correction plan; hold people above it while the band catches up or the role changes. Say what will happen before the table appears. The difficult first-year output is the cost of the corrections, not the elegance of the ranges.
Replace the example inputs before use
The workbook uses sample widths, midpoint steps, overlap ranges, lane differentials and geographic multipliers to show how the model behaves. Before setting pay, People and Finance should enter dated evidence for the relevant roles and locations, record the chosen market position and approve the assumptions. Treat an unusual overlap as a prompt to inspect the level structure.
Try it
Build the bands. Test one pay decision.
Start with a market scenario, then enter one proposed increase. The tool draws six bands and tells you whether the proposal fits the band, the remaining-year budget and the basic release rules.
Test one proposal
This separates the annual raise from the cash that lands in this financial year.
Use approved, dated market evidence before making a pay decision. Your entries stay in this browser.
Choose a volume
Start with the decision in front of you.
Leveling
For EPD leaders who need Engineering, Product, Research, Design and Marketing to use the same level structure. People gets a standard it can run and audit.
Compensation
For CFOs and Finance teams setting pay across Engineering, Product, Research, Design and Marketing. Functional leaders bring the role and market evidence.
Development
For EPD and Marketing leaders working with People. Turn review evidence into live work, protected time and a manager commitment for the next 90 days.
The new standard
Leveling, compensation and development in the age of AI.
One standard for levels, pay and growth. The set includes three printable workbooks, 24 editable templates and reference sheets, and three worked examples. Save $18 compared with buying separately.
$117$99
Team license
All three workbooks and their templates for one leadership team or function at one company. Already bought a single copy? Its price is credited toward the team license. License details.
Enterprise license
Company-wide, multi-division or portfolio-company use, with the licensed entities and rollout scope agreed before purchase. Suitable when procurement, legal, security or implementation support needs to be part of the work. License details.
From $2,500
Contact about enterpriseThe thinking behind the tools
Read the related essays.
Before you buy
A few practical questions.
What do I receive?
You can read the workbook on this site and download a printable PDF and editable .xlsx templates. The set includes all three. No physical book is shipped.
Do I need the other workbooks?
This workbook applies the six-level standard defined in Leveling. Start with Leveling, or get the set, if your team has not adopted that standard.
Will this work with our HRIS and AI tools?
Yes. Map the spreadsheet fields into your HR system and use a stable employee ID. Keep private notes out of the approved record. An AI client or MCP connection can read the exported JSON through your own file or drive connector, check for missing fields and prepare drafts. A person still approves every level, pay decision and development commitment.
Why not use the framework built into our HR package?
You may be able to. HR software handles forms, permissions, workflow and storage well. This set helps the leadership team decide what the fields mean, which evidence counts and who may make an exception. If the package can preserve those choices and keep assessment, pay and development separate, configure the process there.
What if someone regularly does work from another discipline?
First decide whether the work is an occasional contribution, a temporary acting assignment, a sustained hybrid role or a role transfer. The shared level records decision authority; it does not force identical pay across disciplines. Price the actual sustained role with matched market evidence, check the required craft with the relevant functional leader, and document any temporary or permanent differential. A title should not be used to discount work the company has made part of the job.
Does Compensation include salary guidance by geography?
Yes. The September 2026 reference includes 71 public salary and total-compensation ranges across 33 selected geographies, with dedicated coverage for Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as the Bay Area, New York, the US and Europe. Coverage varies by role. It also explains how to handle frontier-AI offers that break an existing band. Every range carries a source and date. Total compensation, advertised salaries and wages are kept separate; matched base-pay inputs still need approval before budgeting.
What does the budget model cover?
Base-pay increases for existing employees in one currency, plus an explicit employer on-cost rate. Compare annualized and remaining-period costs with separate limits. Bonus, benefit changes, hiring, departures, foreign exchange and equity need separate costing. The workbook explains how to record the scope and approvals.
How do I get access?
After checkout, an email goes to the address you paid with. Its private reader link opens the complete workbook. You can also open the reader from this page and enter the access key from the email. The sample remains a separate public chapter.
Can I use it with my team?
A single purchase covers one person, with sharing permitted with your own manager and managers who report to you while running a cycle. The $499 team license covers one leadership team or function at one company. Company-wide, multi-division or portfolio-company use needs an enterprise license. A single purchase can be credited toward the team license. Read the license.
What if we need an enterprise rollout?
Enterprise licenses start at $2,500 for company-wide, multi-division or portfolio-company use, procurement requirements and an agreed rollout scope. Contact me with the organizations, approximate audience, countries and timing for a quote.
Can I get a refund?
Read the complete sample chapter before buying. Because the workbook, PDF and editable files are delivered immediately, checkout asks you to acknowledge that the purchase becomes final when digital access begins. Duplicate charges, persistent access failures, material differences from the description and mandatory legal remedies remain covered. Read the access and refund terms.
Are updates included?
Every revision of v1 is included and sent to the address you paid with. Your purchase does not subscribe you to the essay newsletter.
Can I get a company invoice?
Stripe sends a receipt after purchase. Reply to it with your company name and tax number if you need a company invoice. Any applicable tax is shown at checkout.
Build pay bands and make decisions you can explain.
Finance owns the envelope and release controls. Functional leaders own the role and scarce-capability evidence. The resulting pay decision has a cost, an approver and an explanation.
One payment · Immediate digital access · v1 updates included
Read the sample before buying · Access and refund terms
© 2026 Renato Valdés-Olmos