Skip to content
Compensation Strategy

It's Time to Pay Differently

New market realities require a different approach to compensation.

Strategy Brand
What We See

The Talent Market Is Demanding A New Approach to Pay

We've been paying the same way for decades, based on "best practices" that no one can prove actually work. It is time for compensation structures to evolve and reflect a changing talent market.

Legacy Practices

What We've Been Doing


  • Reliance on salary ranges - by office - centered around market medians
  • Focus on pay as the primary lever for talent attraction and retention
  • Using consultant-driven pay surveys as the only trusted source of data
  • Design incentives assuming "coin operated" employees

New Realities

What Challenges These Practices


  • Office locations become less prominent as workplaces virtualize
  • Pay exists in a greater context of meaning, balance, and impact
  • Proliferation of publicly available data shaping talent expectations
  • Human behaviors often invalidate incentive "best practices"


Our Compensation Insights

ADP Acquires Pequity: Proof of the Pattern and a Test of What Comes Next

October 29, 2025
We’ve predicted that the cycle management space would consolidate rapidly. Today’s announcement that ADP has acquired...

Nobody Cares When You Say Compensation Is “An Art and a Science” (and that’s not true anyway)

October 28, 2025
Let’s start with a confession: we’ve all said it. You know the line — “Compensation is both an art and a science.”

Intelligent Pay Gets a New Name: Syndi

October 27, 2025
The latest from Syndio is one we’ve been expecting — and welcoming. The company has officially rebranded its...

Nobody Cares About Cost of Living vs Cost of Labor

October 23, 2025
Let’s start with a simple truth: the cost of labor is “right”. That’s how the market works. It’s how we price work, how...

Sales Compensation is a Team Sport: Define Team Roles to Maximize Impact

October 7, 2025
Every organization wants its sales compensation program to be motivating, fair, and aligned with business priorities....