Don Otvos
You always want to compensate your reps based on what they can actually control. You want to tie as much of people’s compensation as you can to things like “meetings set” or “demos given” — actual activities. When you’re at a startup, it’s hard to figure out what your quotas should be — there’s usually no precedent, so you throw a number out there, and … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Author: Don Otvos | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Marketing / Sales
How to Identify — and Fix — Pay Inequality at Your Company
Companies who say they care about inclusion and belonging can start by paying employees fairly. To start, initiate a pay equity audit in which you compare the pay of employees doing “like for like” work (accounting for reasonable differentials, such as work experience, credentials and job performance) and investigate the causes of any pay differences that cannot be justified. Next, determine how you’ll remediate … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Amii Barnard-Bahn | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Compensation, Diversity, Human Resources
What if You Knew All Your Co-Workers’ Salaries?
Here’s how to do salary transparency right.
Content: Quotation | Author: Etelka Lehoczky | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior
Adam Bryant, David Reimer
A company’s most powerful cultural signals aren’t communicated by talking points. They’re determined by who gets promoted and who receives outsized rewards. Yet compensation and bonus frameworks in most organizations are still based almost solely upon financial results. In an effort to rule out subjectivity, such plans emphasize — and often focus exclusively on — achieving numerical targets. This oversimplified focus on the what of … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Authors: Adam Bryant, David Reimer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior
Incentives for a Strong Leadership Culture
Three key pay and performance metrics can help define and influence an organization’s values.
Content: Article | Authors: Adam Bryant, David Reimer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Bethanye McKinney Blount
Compensation is culture, period. It’s how you pay your people and it’s where the rubber hits the road. It’s the metric you can’t cheat. It’s naive to think that you’re just going to give people money and they’re not going to feel everything that’s attached to it. Pay is incredibly personal and emotionally charged. It directly affects how we live our lives and how we … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Culture, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior
Bethanye McKinney Blount
When you start talking about pay transparency, the first thing everyone thinks is “I’m going to know how much everybody makes.” I think a better way to frame it is “I’m going to understand why I’m paid what I’m paid and how I can increase my comp.” It’s about making sure employees understand their current reality and see a career development path in front of … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Research: Better-Managed Companies Pay Employees More Equally
Companies that implement more structured management practices pay their employees more equally. We found that companies that reported more structured management practices according to the Management and Organizational Practices Survey (MOPS) paid their employees more equally, as measured by the difference between pay for workers at the 90th (top) and 10th (bottom) percentiles within each firm.
Content: Article | Authors: Cristina Tello-Trillo, Melanie Wallskog, Nicholas Bloom, Scott Ohlmacher | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Opening Up About Comp Isn’t Easy — Here’s How to Get More Transparent
As a two-time founder and a seasoned engineering leader, Bethanye McKinney Blount has seen misunderstanding around comp rear its head time and time again. And in her experience, this hesitation to pull back the curtain on paychecks and think more deliberately about a compensation philosophy tends to cause problems down the line as startups scale. In this exclusive interview, Blount tackles the thorny questions startups … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Forget Cash. Here are Better Ways to Motivate Employees
In today’s tight job market, employers must focus on how to attract and keep top talent. Giving away stacks of money may not always be the best incentive.
Content: Article | Authors: Ashley V. Whillans, Dina Gerdeman | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Motivation
Josh Bersin
Much research shows that pay is a “hygiene factor,” not an “engagement factor.” In other words, in most cases if compensation is not high enough, people will leave—but increasing compensation does not directly increase engagement (with certain exceptions).
Content: Quotation | Author: Josh Bersin | Source: Deloitte Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Motivation
Unfair — and Unfixable? The Simple Truth About Salaries
Pay differences among workers can hinge on objective matters like experience. But salary disparity is often a function of more arbitrary factors — raising the question of why establishing compensation hasn’t evolved into a more fair, equitable and objective system. How do qualities as intangible and unpredictable as work ethic, creativity and esprit de corps get translated into compensation? Still, there is good reason to … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: [email protected] | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Bethanye Blount
When somebody knows that their review is going to directly affect their comp, they are just waiting for you to stop talking and tell them what it says on that piece of paper you’re holding. Simply tell your report from the outset that they won’t be getting their comp change then and there. Then you can open the door for vastly more productive conversations around … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Management
Bethanye Blount
One of the greatest sources of compensation inequity is that question every candidate dreads: What are you making now? It’s a really common practice, and it compounds a lot of biases. If someone is not a great negotiator, for example, or took a lower salary to work in the nonprofit sector, they’re set up to under-earn for their whole career. The truth is, the last … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Counterintuitive Comp Tips for the Unwary and Uninitiated
After two decades leading engineering teams for giants like Facebook and EMI to Linden Lab and Reddit, Bethanye Blount realized that the most meaningful, even existential, problems she’d encountered were not in code but in comp — and that there are data-driven best practices for solving them. Now, as co-founder of Compaas, Blount is on a mission to help startups ensure that the story their … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Bethanye McKinney Blount | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Are Sales Incentives Becoming Obsolete?
To motivate, manage, and reward B2B salespeople, many companies use sales incentive plans that link large commissions or bonuses to individual results metrics, such as territory quota achievement. As digital channels continue to reduce and redefine salespeople’s role in customer buying, these traditional sales incentive plans are becoming less effective at driving sales outcomes.
The right sales incentive plan creates a double win. Salespeople win because … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Andris A. Zoltners | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Management, Marketing / Sales
Top Execs Eschew Performance-Based Pay
Professor David Lewin says incentives make sense for all employees.
Content: Multimedia Content | Author: David Lewin | Source: UCLA | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior
Boris Ewenstein, Bryan Hancock, Asmus Komm
Since only a few employees are standouts, it makes little sense to risk demotivating the broad majority by linking pay and performance. More and more technology companies, for instance, have done away with performance-related bonuses. Instead, they offer a competitive base salary and peg bonuses (sometimes paid in shares or share options) to the company’s overall performance. Employees are free to focus on doing great … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Authors: Asmus Komm, Boris Ewenstein, Bryan Hancock | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources
Compensation at Startups
In the beginning stages of hiring key talent for an early stage company, an engaged founder may spend anywhere from 40-50% of his or her time recruiting key hires. Having a clear philosophy around compensation and rewards is essential to do this effectively. Additionally, you can benefit from access to up-to-date compensation tools and resources to help hire and retain the best talent.
Homebrew has put … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Homebrew | Subjects: Compensation, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources
re:Work Pay Equity Guide
Designing and auditing fair pay practices are steps organizations everywhere can take to create more equitable workplaces. Check out the re:Work guide on pay equity to learn what you can be doing now.
Content: Article | Source: re:Work | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources