Companies and Employers

New Role in Compensation? Here’s Your 30-60-90 Day Plan Starting a new compensation role, especially at the leadership level, comes with a unique opportunity: to assess, connect, and drive impact. But where should you begin? Here's a framework to structure your first 90 days: First 30 Days: Listen, Learn, Build Trust (1)   Meet with key stakeholders like the CHRO, CFO, business unit leaders, HRBPs, Total Rewards peers, and your comp team members. (2)   Understand company strategy, financial drivers, and how value is created. (3)   Review current employee demographics, work locations, compensation structures, pay ranges, incentive plans, equity programs, and regulatory alignment (FLSA, pay transparency, pay equity, etc.). (4)   Ask for recent salary survey sources, pay equity analyses, and performance management and feedback processes. (5)   Build relationships with Finance and the C-suite early. Next 30 Days (Days 31–60): Analyze, Prioritize, Align (1)   Define the current state of compensation. What’s working, what’s not, and where the gaps are. (2)   Benchmark jobs against external market data to assess competitiveness and assess internal equity. (3)   Evaluate comp technology use and processes. Is comp design and administration efficient, compliant, and scalable? (4)   Start developing a compensation philosophy if one doesn’t exist. Or validate the existing one with leadership. (5)   Talk with business leaders to understand near-term talent priorities: attraction, retention, M&A integration, reskilling, and improved productivity? Final 30 Days (Days 61–90): Strategize, Influence, Act (1)   Present early insights and recommendations in plain language that connects compensation to business goals. (2)   Draft a roadmap for evolving compensation strategy: base pay, incentives, equity, analytics, and governance. (3)   Identify early wins (e.g., updating base pay ranges, refreshing sales comp plans, revising job architecture) that demonstrate progress and business impact. (4)   Begin stakeholder education by bringing business leaders on the journey to build buy-in. Your goal? Become a trusted advisor who aligns pay data, external market and economic insights, and business strategy. You aren’t just someone who manages base pay ranges, employee pay changes, and new hire offers. Compensation professionals are no longer just “the numbers people.” You are instrumental in shaping workplace culture and employee performance. If you’ve recently stepped into a new compensation role, or are mentoring someone who has, what would you add to this 30-60-90-day plan? #Compensation #TotalRewards #HR #Leadership #PayEquity #PayTransparency #CompensationConsultant #WorldatWork #FairPay #SHRM #NewHire #incentives

When it comes to compensation, one size definitely doesn’t fit all. Your pay practices should reflect who you are as a company - your culture, values, and business priorities. This is Step 4 in building a strong compensation philosophy: Connect Pay Practices to Your Culture and Goals. Here’s how you can make it actionable: 1️⃣ Align Pay with Your Company Culture Think about what makes your company unique. Are you: -Innovation-Focused? Reward creativity with equity or performance bonuses tied to groundbreaking ideas. -Customer-Obsessed? Incentivize roles that directly drive customer satisfaction or success. -Stability-Oriented? Offer structured salary bands and predictable raises to foster long-term employee retention. Your pay strategy should reflect what your company values most. 2️⃣ Link Pay to Business Goals Compensation is a powerful tool to reinforce behaviors and outcomes that matter. Ask yourself: -What are our most critical business objectives right now? -How can we align pay to drive those outcomes? Examples: Bonuses for hitting sales or revenue growth targets. Incentives tied to customer retention or satisfaction scores. Pay increases for mastering skills that drive innovation or efficiency. 3️⃣ Ensure Consistency While Staying Flexible While aligning pay to culture and goals, maintain fairness across the organization: -Apply your compensation philosophy consistently across departments and roles. -Adapt for specific needs (e.g., critical roles may require above-market pay). Example: “Our philosophy balances equity and consistency by rewarding roles critical to our growth while ensuring fairness for all employees.” Key Takeaways: 🔑 Your pay practices should tell a story. They’re a reflection of what your company values and where it’s headed. 🔑 Think beyond numbers. Tie pay to behaviors, skills, and outcomes that drive your business forward. 🔑 Be transparent. Employees should see how your pay practices align with your culture and goals. 👉🏽 What’s one way your company connects pay to its culture? Share in the comments!

When I hear a leader say, 'I want my team to take more ownership,' I look for misalignment in how total compensation is linked to company growth. 🔍 Exercise to Realign Your Total Compensation: 1. List and Map Compensation Elements: Start by mapping out each component of your total compensation. Use the matrix below to align each piece with both individual and company growth, in the short and long term. Include both variable and fixed elements. 2. Justify Each Component: For every item on your list, clarify why it's part of your compensation strategy. For example, why does your company offer profit-sharing bonuses? This helps ensure each component supports your overall objectives. 3. Draft or Update Your Compensation Policy: The explicit and specific document on how your company wants to balance revenue growth with team member growth and the unique talent required to achieve your specific core business objectives. The above exercise sets the foundation for your Compensation Policy, beginning with the crucial first pillar: 🧩 Compensation Matrix: Define the elements of compensation that will attract and motivate your team. Continue on to the other pillars of a Compensation Philosophy: 📐 Market Position: Identify the specific talent types (e.g., highly specialized, generalists) your business needs. 🌎 Location Strategy: Decide on the market data to use for setting pay percentiles. 💪 Performance Review Frequency: Determine how often performance evaluations and compensation adjustments should occur. 🪟 Transparency Level: Decide how much compensation data you will share with your team and why.

ICYMI, the CFPB warned employers that FCRA can apply when using AI or software generated scores for employees. Here's what to know and check ⬇️ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a circular addressing how the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) applies in the employment context, including when employers make employment decisions using #AI or algorithmic generated scores, background "dossiers", or other third-party consumer reports. In general, the circular indicates that these practices are all potentially subject to FCRA when an employer obtains the scores, dossiers, or reports from a third-party source. It shares a number of examples of data types that may be subject to FCRA when used by employers, including reports or insights from third parties, or third-party algorithm-produced scores or assessments about employees where those services use data from sources other than the employer to generate the scores or assessments. To identify whether your organization has unidentified HR or #recruitment related FCRA obligations based on this guidance, consider:   🔹Checking in with HR and Recruitment teams to understand what third-party software, services, and data sources they obtain and how they use them; 🔹Assessing whether the software or services include any scoring or assessment capabilities or external data sources; 🔹Determining if third-party data providers share data used for #employment or #hiring purposes; 🔹Confirming existing contracts with third-party software and service providers have helpful provisions (like representations and warranties that third-party data isn't used to help score or assess employees/candidates if de-scoping FCRA is the objective); 🔹Sharing this circular and doing targeted training to stakeholders like HR, employment legal, and procurement so they're aware of the issue when evaluating and contracting for third-party solutions in this space; and 🔹Validating that existing #privacy assessment processes would identify this issue when assessing employee and candidate related software, services, and data sources. If FCRA applies, it includes a number of processes and employee rights that will need to be honored, such as potentially obtaining consent to obtain the information, notices and transparency requirements including before adverse actions are taken, and dispute processes related to the information used.   See the CFPB circular (https://lnkd.in/gmTuipXe) and press release (https://lnkd.in/gbYiDCBs) for more details.

Want 38.8 million reasons to care about Wage & Hour laws? In a significant legal ruling, a federal court in Pennsylvania ordered the operators of 15 senior care facilities to pay $38.8 million in overtime back wages and damages to 6,000 current and former employees. This case, one of the largest wage-recovery judgments in the nation, highlights the serious consequences of violating the Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act. The ruling followed an investigation by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division which uncovered several violations, including: 💲 Failing to Pay for All Hours Worked 💲 Incorrect Overtime Calculations 💲 Misclassifying Employees as Salaried, Exempt 💲 Inaccurate Record-Keeping Here are five tips I've got for you so your organization can avoid the costly consequences of wage violations: 1. First and foremost, never be "willful" about paying your employees less than they have legally earned.  Companies who make honest mistakes but cooperate fully with the DOL to rectify any underpayments will still be ordered to pay back employees, but the damages will be way less severe than this multi-million dollar judgment. 2.  Stay Informed on Labor Laws: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) – which is the complex, multi-part law that applies to paying employees accurately – is a necessary piece of HR that all business owners should be familiar with. 3.  Conduct Regular Audits: Periodically review your payroll practices to ensure compliance with the FLSA and other relevant regulations. Audits can help identify and correct potential issues before they lead to legal trouble. 4.  Train Management and HR Staff: Ensure that your managers and anyone handling the Human Resources function for your organization are well-trained in labor law compliance. This includes understanding how to properly classify employees and calculate overtime pay. 5.  Implement Accurate Record-Keeping: Maintain precise records of hours worked, wages paid, and any other compensation. Accurate documentation is essential in demonstrating compliance during any investigation.   If you’ve got any doubts about your labor law compliance and want to run something by me so you don't make a mistake, just DM me! This is one of my favorite HR compliance topics.  #hrcompliance #management #humanresources #departmentoflabor #wageandhour

We call them “benefits" - but if your team doesn’t value them, they’re just really expensive line items you’re constantly trying to justify. Open enrollment is coming. Budgets are tighter. Expectations are high. This isn’t the time to roll out perks based on industry buzz or what your competitor is doing. It’s time to lead strategically. Use your data. Look at what’s actually being used. Ask what your people actually want. Not in theory. Not in an anecdotal, “Sam said he’ll leave if we don’t offer pet insurance” kind of way. Gather input that reflects your whole workforce and aligns with your reality. A few open enrollment pre-work must-have’s: Pull usage data from your current plans to see what’s actually being used and what might not be worth the cost. Survey employees, but limit options to what’s financially feasible (this helps avoid wishlist inflation). Don’t wait until Q4. Start cross-functional planning now. Keep an eye out for quick wins: low cost/low time, high impact changes. You don’t need the trendiest benefits. You need the right ones. Ones built on what your team actually values and what your business can sustain, with a plan that didn’t start the week before open enrollment. ---------------------------------------------------------     If this got you thinking differently about HR, you’re in the right place. Follow along.

🎯 Your compensation plan is probably killing business growth, not driving it. "Show me the incentive, I'll show you the result." But here's the brutal truth: Most leaders create incentive structures that actually limit their company's potential. I've watched countless organizations throw money at the wrong positions – giving everyone bonuses, implementing broad KPI targets, spreading equity too thin. The outcome? A culture of mediocrity where real growth drivers get lost in the noise. The real problem runs deeper: ➡️ Traditional incentives reward the wrong positions (hint: not everyone should get variable comp) ➡️ They focus on individual metrics instead of business leverage points ➡️ They dilute motivation for your true strategic players Here's what actually works: 1. Identify positions with true business leverage (sales leadership, key strategists, market makers) 2. Create asymmetric rewards that match their impact potential 3. Link incentives to business-critical outcomes, not vanity metrics 4. Structure long-term equity for retention of key players 5. Keep base compensation competitive for support roles The leaders who get this right don't just hit targets – they build unstoppable growth machines where every incentive dollar drives exponential returns. Remember: Strategic incentives aren't about being fair. They're about driving business outcomes. ♻️ Share this with a leader who needs to rethink their compensation strategy. Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights.

Employers, let's talk about how you are accommodating #pregnant workers. Because the EEOC is not playing. The EEOC, which enforces the federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the #PWFA, sent a clear message to U.S. employers last week: Learn your legal obligations toward pregnant workers under the PWFA and comply with the law’s requirements. In Lawsuit # 1, the EEOC claims that an Alabama employer refused to accommodate a pregnant employee's medical restrictions, such as limiting her work hours and excusing her absences in violation of the PWFA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When the company threatened to terminate her due to absences, the employee resigned. In Case # 2 filed against an Oklahoma-based employer, the EEOC alleged that the company forced a pregnant employee to take unpaid leave instead of allowing her requested accommodations, such as sitting and taking breaks during her high-risk pregnancy. The company also failed to provide her with breastfeeding breaks and ultimately terminated her. If you are not yet up to speed on the PWFA's requirements, this post provides some education. Generally, and as of June 2023, the PWFA requires employers to engage in the interactive process to accommodate workers who are pregnant or have recently given birth. Specifically, the PWFA prohibits forcing a pregnant employee to take unpaid leave (like in case #2) or penalizing a pregnant worker for using leave as an accommodation. Rather, an employer must allow a pregnant worker to choose whether to use paid leave (accrued or as part of a short-term disability program or other paid benefit) or unpaid leave in the same way an employer allows an employee to choose between these types of leave when they are using leave for other reasons - like a bad back or jury duty leave or leave under USERRA. The PWFA also requires employers to ensure that their ordinary workplace policies or practices—including, but not limited to, attendance policies (like case #1), productivity quotas, and requirements for mandatory overtime—do not operate to penalize pregnant employees for accepting and using accommodations. Specific details about the PWFA and some #funfacts are in the post. Employers, be aware. The EEOC is prioritizing enforcement of the PWFA. #emplaw #HR https://lnkd.in/euFmvth5

This is what I look for to find an SVP, Total Rewards Who Will Drive Performance Through Pay ⬇️ Unpopular truth: It isn't compensation expertise, benefits knowledge, or even analytics skills. ⬇️ I evaluate how they fundamentally think about total rewards strategy. Many believe a TR Leader's job is to manage pay programs and ensure equity. GREAT SVPs of Total Rewards think their job is to drive business performance through strategic reward optimization. It's an entirely different operating system. 💡The SVPs who thrive don't start with salary surveys. They start with business strategy and then design rewards that accelerate outcomes. Here's what I look for specifically: They speak ROI before they speak compensation: → They understand how pay impacts productivity, retention, and performance → They can model total rewards spend against business results → They connect compensation philosophy to customer satisfaction and revenue growth → They translate benefits utilization into employee engagement and business outcomes They're behavioral economists, not pay administrators: → They understand what truly motivates different talent segments → They design rewards that drive the behaviors the business needs most → They can predict how compensation changes will impact workforce decisions → They know the difference between paying for presence vs. paying for performance They're strategic investment advisors, not benefits brokers: → They treat total rewards like a portfolio that needs optimization → They understand market dynamics and their impact on talent attraction and retention → They can model scenarios showing ROI of different reward strategies → They turn compensation data into competitive advantage insights The patterns I look for: They don't wait for pay equity audits to drive change. They proactively optimize rewards for business impact. They don't ask, "What's market rate?" They ask, "What reward strategy will drive the performance we need?" The uncomfortable truth: Most organizations hire SVP, Total Rewards to manage compensation programs and control costs. The best organizations... well, they call me, then hire someone who will optimize human capital investment for maximum business return!!! There's a massive difference. One manages pay. One drives performance. 💡When leaders ask me what to look for in an SVP, Total Rewards, I tell them: ⬇️ "Find someone who sees total rewards as a strategic business lever, not an HR program. Someone who can connect rewards philosophy to business outcomes. Someone who makes you think about compensation as an investment in performance, not just a cost of doing business." Because at the end of the day, great SVPs of Total Rewards don't just manage pay programs. They architect reward strategies that drive business results. **#TotalRewards #ExecutiveSearch #CompensationStrategy #PerformanceManagement**

WHAT LAWS APPLY TO YOUR COMPANY? 🤔It can be tricky figuring out what laws apply to your company. 🔢Here's a strategy I use as an employment lawyer when I am determining what laws apply to my clients. 🛑But first! 🙋♀️A quick re-intro: ⚖️Hi, I'm Katie Lipp. ⚖️I am an employment lawyer licensed in Washington, DC, and Virginia, and my 100% woman-owned small law firm, Lipp Law, advises employers, executives, and educators in the DMV area (DC-Maryland-Virginia). 💺STRAP IN... ⚖️Let's begin our strategy for determining what employment laws apply to your company. 1️⃣ Where are employees performing work? 🌍In what states are the company's employees performing the majority of their work in? 🌍Determine what state employment laws apply based on where employees are physically working. 🌍So, if a remote employee is being assigned work from Washington, DC, but physically performs most of their work in Virginia, then Virginia employment law applies. 2️⃣ How many employees does the company have? ➡️The number of employees will dictate what employment laws apply to a company. ---- 😀CHEAT SHEET TIME! 💡For common federal employment laws, here's a breakdown by number of employees: ⭐15+ employees: Title VII and ADA 📘Title VII: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on multiple protected classes (including race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy/childbirth, color, and national origin) 📘ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination based on disability status and allows employees to seek reasonable accommodations for their disabilities in the workplace. ⭐20+ employees: ADEA 📗ADEA: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination against employees aged 40+ ⭐50+ employees: FMLA and ACA 📕FMLA: The Family Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid job protected leave for family or medical leave for qualified employees working for covered employers. 📕ACA: The Affordable Care Act requires employers to provide health insurance options for employees that are ACA compliant. ⭐100+ employees: WARN and EEO-1 📙WARN: The WARN Act requires employers to provide advance notice of large layoffs (60 days notice of a layoff involving 50+ employees at a single jobsite) 📙EEO-1 reporting: Requires an employer to provide demographic workplace data to the federal government. This also applies to certain government contractors with 50+ employees. 💗LIKE this post if it was helpful to you, and 📩SIGN UP for my employment law newsletter for more legal updates and tips for employers, executives, and educators in the DMV area. The sign up link is in my bio if you are interested. #lipplaw #employmentlaw #employmentlawyer #employmentlawyers #virginialawyer #lawpracticequeen