As a compensation leader, you’re likely no stranger to the persistent challenges of balancing strategic initiatives with limited resources. While it’s easy to identify being overworked, that narrative alone doesn’t drive change or secure additional investment.
Saying you are overworked, never works.
Instead, reframing your resource needs strategically can help secure the tools and support your team requires. Here are three actionable strategies to guide your approach.
1. Be Clear on What You Can Accomplish
The broad lament of "we're overworked" rarely gains traction with decision-makers. Instead, you need to articulate specific outcomes tied to your resource requests.
- Paint a Vision of New Deliverables: Leaders and stakeholders respond to clear, compelling outcomes. Highlight how additional resources will enable your team to tackle initiatives such as refining pay equity analysis, expanding market benchmarking, or optimizing incentive design. Tie these deliverables to the broader organizational or People strategy to underscore their importance.
- Frame the Stakes of Not Acting: Detail the risks of maintaining the status quo, such as outdated pay structures, compliance concerns, or disengaged employees. Show how these issues could undermine organizational goals if not addressed.
2. Put the Spend in Context
When advocating for more resources, it’s essential to position your request as a sound investment rather than an expense.
- Frame it as an Investment in Optimization: Compensation spend is one of the largest line items for most organizations. Small investments in additional resources can yield significant returns in ensuring that spend is allocated effectively.
- Calculate the Payback Impact: Use metrics to show the potential return on investment (ROI). For instance, quantify how improving retention rates can reduce new hire costs or how better benchmarking processes can decrease turnover due to uncompetitive pay. Decision-makers are more likely to support your requests when they see a clear financial justification.
3. Consider Alternatives to Headcount
While adding full-time roles may be the traditional approach, it’s not always the most practical or impactful solution.
- Leverage Compensation Technology (CompTech): Modern compensation technology can automate routine tasks, freeing your team to focus on higher-impact programs and strategic priorities. Platforms that streamline job evaluation, salary planning, or pay equity analysis can amplify your team’s efficiency without adding headcount.
- Explore Fractional Expertise: Bringing in niche expertise on a fractional basis can bridge skill gaps, provide temporary capacity during peak workload periods, or allow you to scale without the big spikes in cost of a full headcount. This approach ensures you get the specialized support you need without committing to a full-time hire.
Final Thoughts
If you want to know where the size of your Compensation team stands relative to other companies like you, check out our Resourcing the Compensation Function benchmarking research. In our report, you'll learn more about typical team sizes, what drives team sizes, and how resources are commonly structured.
We can help close your gap in resourcing. Whether that's providing you support through our Compensation-as-a-Service offering, or helping you frame your functional maturity and identifying next best investments, we're here to support you.