How Pay Works at GitHub
Pay at GitHub can be broken down into four main categories:
- Salary
- Performance Bonus
- Performance Stock Awards / Initial Stock Grant RSUs
- Benefits
Salary
-----
Your Salary is paid out semi-monthly* (on the 15th and the 31st) - if one of those dates falls on a weekend or holiday, you are paid the closest weekday before your pay date (ex. if 15th is a Saturday, you will be paid on Friday the 14th).
The biggest caveat with your salary is that it is subject to change in “Pay Zone” (ex: moving away from the location/zone you were previously hired in).
X-Ref: Pay Zones: https://www.teamblind.com/post/Github-Pay-Zones-DBq5fJca
Performance Bonus
-----
This is a cash bonus award awarded yearly. Starting August 15, your manager will have performance conversations with you and you will be told the amount you will be getting for your performance in the past year (typically 10% of your base salary, maybe up to 20% for higher performers). Your performance bonus will be paid out on September 15th, and is subjected to taxes / 401k / ESPP if you do not adjust anything beforehand. If August/September rolls around but you haven’t worked a full year at GitHub yet, your performance bonus will be prorated based on join date - paying out basically the % of the year you worked * your bonus percentage * your base salary.
Performance Stock / Initial Stock Grant RSUs
------
Similar to the Performance Bonus, this is available during your performance conversation, and awarded a few days / weeks after September 15th. The price point of this award depends on what the price of Microsoft Stock is during this time. For example if you were awarded 10,000$ of performance stock, and Microsoft’s stock cost 250$ on September 15th. You would be awarded 40 shares. These shares are vested quarterly, with you receiving 6.25% of the grant every 3 months (4 year period). This is not subject to the same 1 year cliff that your initial stock grant RSUs have, and will start vesting immediately. The initial stock grant is also vested over 4 years, with you receiving 25% at the end of your first year and 6.25% every quarter thereafter.
Benefits
-----
ESPP
---
At GitHub, you are able to enroll in Microsoft’s Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) program to buy Microsoft shares at a 10% discount. The percentage can be anywhere from 0-15% of your base salary (with a 25k annual limit). The big caveat here is that when you put money into the plan, you don’t receive any shares until the end of the quarter. For example, if you enroll in the June - September ESPP time frame you will not receive any shares until the end of the month of September. The end of September will also be the price point for your discounted shares, for better or worse.
401k Matching
---
GitHub will match 50% of your salary up to the IRS limit (currently around 20k). An After Tax 401k plan is also available to enroll in. This is vested immediately.
X-Ref: https://www.teamblind.com/post/xBodd6Ua
