YOUR FIRST 3 MONTHS AT VISUAL EDGE - WHAT TO EXPECT//
Welcome to being a part of Visual Edge, truly something incredible! We at Visual Edge know we are doing world changing work every day we get to show up. By the first 3 months of working with us and really beginning your career here with us, you too should start to feel that. You’ll get up and running, doing real work. It’s your manager’s responsibility to give you proper opportunities to demonstrate your skills and fit for the job. This includes your technical expertise, your engagement with coworkers, and your ability to take feedback and adapt to the Visual Edge culture. Similarly, it’s on you to take advantage of those opportunities and to show that you’re capable of meeting the team standards.
When you start, you’ll receive an outline of expected performance metrics for your first 3 months. Those standards will be clear and attainable, and your manager will give you frequent, candid feedback. On occasion, despite our collective best efforts, it’s not a fit. We don’t do full-scale performance improvement plans during the first three months. So if during that time it starts looking like your long-term employment won’t work out, your manager will let you know early and why.
We hope, and fully expect, that your first 90 days will confirm what we learned in the hiring phase — you’re well suited for this job, and you’re invigorated by the work to be done. Just put in your best effort, make sure you reach out if things aren’t feeling right, embrace the feedback you get from your manager, and openly share your feedback with them!
MASTERY AND TITLES//
Advancing your career at Visual Edge doesn’t mean giving up on your craft. No matter your role, you can become better at the work itself and level up that way. This is especially important since we’re a relatively small company with few layers of managerial cake.
Within each of our job functions, we’ve mapped our trajectory of mastery to four different levels. That title structure is shared amongst all departments, but the particulars of what characterizes one level from another will of course be different. Here’s an example of the titles for Lighting Designer:
Junior Lighting Designer
Lighting Designer
Lead Lighting Designer
Director Of Lighting Design
While this is how we recognize mastery, it’s by no means an expectation that everyone will start as a junior and end up as a director. Visual edge needs people and perspectives from all skill levels. And for those who do progress all the way through this path, it may well be a journey of many, many years, but commitment is always rewarded.
PAY AND PROMOTIONS//
We pay at the top 25% of wage estimates per title level, per department. This statistic is backed up by the Glassdoor reference to people in our industry living in Austin, Texas. You are compensated for the output expected to produce subtracted by the output you actually produce. Simply said, we pay our people well so we produce well. You are expected to produce more if you want to be payed more. If you want to be payed more, then set your bar higher and produce more.
Some job levels and departments, we believe, do not have a very good reference like the example used above. For these job levels and departments, we at Visual Edge have an across-the-board salary floor of $55,000.00 per year, including tax for all full time levels and departments. Meaning if you are a full time employee of Visual Edge. You can at least expect to make that amount or something north of that amount depending on your department and skill level within that department.
The Glassdoor data as well as other resources are reviewed once per year at the end of November. If it’s warranted, that is if the market rates in the top 10% have gone up, we’ll increase pay on January 1st to follow suit. We don’t decrease pay, even if the market rates may have dropped. If that happens, we’ll hold them steady until they come up again.
Everyone in the same role at the same level is paid the same at Visual Edge.
When you get a promotion, that is you move from one level to another, you’ll get a corresponding pay raise effective on your next pay cycle.
PERFORMANCE REVIEWS//
You’ll meet with your manager for formal performance reviews. When you’re new to Visual Edge, you’ll meet at the 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year marks. Then you’ll meet once a year, around your anniversary with the company. Your manager will share performance expectations for your role when you start, and they’ll keep you apprised of any changes to expectations should they evolve.
Managers are expected to document performance review outcomes and any action items or deadlines that come out of the meetings.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLANS//