In this episode of Comp & Coffee, Ruth Thomas hosts a lively discussion on favorite summer reads that offer both professional insights and personal growth. Joined by Jennifer Ferris, Principal Solutions Consultant at Payscale, and Liz Sheffield, Manager of Content Marketing, they dive into books that range from leadership strategies to pay equity. …

This episode of Comp & Coffee, hosted by Ruth Thomas, covers Payscale's latest innovations and updates in compensation management. Key themes include surfacing actionable insights, growing data, and incorporating user-led feedback. The discussion features Brooke Grimes, Senior Director of Product Marketing, and Brittany Innes, Senior Director of Pr…

Join Ruth Thomas, Chief Evangelist at Payscale, on this episode of Comp and Coffee as she delves into the world of salary surveys with Gerard Smith, Amy Bredemus, and Matt Chalek. Learn about the importance of participation in third-party salary surveys, how Payscale integrates and manages multiple survey data sources, and the impact of AI in impro…

Join Ruth Thomas, Chief Evangelist at PayScale, and her co-host Liz Sheffield as they recap their experience at the WorldatWork Total Rewards 2024 conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. This episode features in-depth discussions on the latest trends in reward and compensation, key takeaways from various sessions on AI, pay transparency, and personal refle…

In this episode of Comp & Coffee, Ruth Thomas discusses the upcoming WorldatWork Total Reward 2024 Conference. She is joined by Lexi Clarke, Chief People Officer at Payscale, and James Atkinson, VP of Data Products. They talk about the sessions they will be leading at the conference, including topics such as equipping people managers for effective …

In this episode of Comp & Coffee, hosted by Ruth Thomas, Chief Evangelist at Payscale, the podcast dives into the findings of Payscale’s 2024 Compensation Best Practice Report (CBPR). Guests Amy Stewart, Associate Director of Content Marketing and author of the CBPR, alongside Lulu Seikaly, Payscale’s Senior Corporate Attorney, share their insights…

In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas and her Payscale colleagues, Brooke Grimes, James Atkinson, and Brittany Innes, discuss the latest innovations at Payscale in response to market demands and key compensation trends. They cover how Payscale is leveraging AI to enhance product and data offerings, particularly in job description manageme…

We are again discussing Gender Pay Gaps and the findings from our recently released GPGR. In our last episode, we introduced you to this year’s report and the overall outcomes. Today we are going to build on that and delve into more of the reports insights and discuss some of the potential drivers of pay gaps. Picking up from our last episode, we'l…

Our discussions this month are all aimed at raising awareness and encouraging action to eliminate bias and discrimination entirely from our workplaces and society at large. This year’s Women’s History Month theme “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion" which is very appropriate for this conversation. Today, host Ruth Thomas welcome…

In January, we saw 22 U.S. states boosting their minimum wage rates with effect from the 1st of the month and three more planned later this year. So now there will soon be 30 states with minimum wages higher than the federal standard, which is $7.25 per hour for non-exempt workers. In this episode, we're talking about the impact this is having and …

Curious about job market trends in 2024? Join us in this episode as we delve into market predictions and the evolving compensation landscape for this calendar year. Our thought leaders at Payscale will discuss the fate of talent acquisition and share insights to help you navigate the changing world of work. Tune in with our guests, James and Lulu, …

As we close out the year, this discussion centers the state of the labor market as we pivot into 2024 as well as hot jobs and this year. What are the predictions from our thought leaders here at Payscale? Listen to find out! Let's dive into Payscale’s 2023 End-of-Year Report! In this episode, guests Amy Stewart and Lexi Clarke provide insights into…

Vicki, Liz, and Ruth discuss the gender pay gap -- what it is and how it's looking for next year. Is your organization taking necessary action to close the gap? In this episode, we're peering into the future—2024, to be exact—to predict what changes lie ahead for the gender pay gap. Our guests, Vicky Peakman and Liz Sheffield, will be breaking down…

Amy, Ruth, and Russ discuss remote work, RTO mandates, and the impact this is having on the workplace. How will new policies and expectations impact your workforce? In this episode, we delve into the dynamic landscape of remote work and the evolving scenarios surrounding return-to-office mandates. Explore the latest trends, challenges, and opportun…

Anna Papalia gives us a sneak preview of her book, Interviewology, the New Science of Interviewing, published by Harper Collins and out this coming January. Anna is a career influencer with over 1.5 million followers across social media platforms and has coached over 10,000 clients to interview better. She discusses why conventional interviewing ad…

Dr. Mark Attridge is President of Attridge Consulting, Inc., which focuses on workplace mental health and employee assistance programs. He joins us to discuss four studies he led that measured EAP outcomes based on over 50,000 users of EAP over five years. The studies focused on: EAP-driven clinical and work outcomes; EAP and coaching; EAP and its …

Liz, Lulu, Ruth, & Russ discuss Pay Transparency from the employees perspective. Is this your company's opportunity to build a better brand? Assets: Payscale Comp Quick Guide: Understanding Employee Reaction to Pay Transparency

Our conversation focuses on WorkatWork’s just published 2023-2024 Salary Budget Survey, which organizations have come to rely on to design competitive compensation plans that attract and retain high-performing employees. Joining us are Liz Supinski, Director, Research & Insights at WorldatWork, and Michaela Leo, Head, Compensation & Benefits for Ip…

Lulu Seikaly, in-house employment counsel for Payscale, joins us to discuss pay transparency: the law recently passed in Hawaii and how it’s different, varying levels of stringency by state, benefits to employers, unintended consequences and trends employers need to be on the watch for.

Rich Fuerstenberg, a Senior Partner with Mercer, works with clients on their healthcare and group benefit programs, connecting dots for employers and employees helping them reduce cost and risk while improving the benefits experience. The focus of our conversation is employer-sponsored sabbaticals – the different types, why they’re offered, ways th…

We’re joined by the two co-founders of Zayla Partners, an executive compensation and corporate governance consulting company: CEO Chris Crawford and Managing Partner Ian Keas. Our conversation focuses on solving the challenge of executive retiree incentive compensation: why more older employees are working past age 65 than the prior generation, the…

Steven Brink is President and Chief Revenue Officer of uFlexReward, providers of a digital total reward platform to improve the employee experience and enhance the organization’s global understanding of the total reward spend. He joins us to discuss total rewards optimization: the challenges/benefits of consolidating the various benefits silos, how…

Sara Hillenmeyer, Payscale's Director of Data Science, and Lulu Seikaly, Senior Corporate Attorney @ Payscale, join Ruth & Russ to discuss a recent article about two brothers who both drive for Uber. The brothers recently conducted an experiment. They opened their Uber apps while sitting in the same room, and tested which brother could earn more mo…

Sunil Vatave is the U.S. product advisor to DarwinBox, an HCM platform that helps build better workplaces. He brings a broad perspective to the topic of compensation, having been an employment lawyer, Vice President of HR, and HR technology provider. He joins us to discuss how to make compensation management a strategic advantage.…

Jon Hyman is a nationally recognized employment and labor attorney, author, speaker, blogger, and most importantly, a friend of the Workspan pod. He joins us to discuss the three landmark decisions recently handed down by the Supreme Court on religious accommodations, affirmative action, and LGBTQ rights. He is just the guy to tell us what it means…

Mario Ceron, Managing Partner & CEO, Zereon Associates, gives us a global perspective on total rewards, workforce mobility, digital transformation, leadership and team development, and executive compensation. He also discusses emerging compensation trends, the impact of AI on total rewards, and how leadership must evolve to meet the challenges in t…

Joe DiMisa, Senior Client Partner and Korn Ferry’s Global Sales Force Effectiveness Leader joins us to talk about designing and implementing sales compensation solutions that increase sales and profits. We discuss how to set pay levels for sales roles, where to get reliable data, and how often you should benchmark, among a host of timely topics.…

We discuss the growing number iniatives, such as those lead by 4dayweek.com, around the 4 day work week and the concept of 100:80:100. 100% pay for 80% time worked with 100% productivity targets. Is this working smarter, harder, both, or neither? Related links: https://worldatwork.org/resources/publications/workspan-magazine/the-power-of-four https…

Brett Christie, WorldatWork's Digital Content Manager and Strategist joins us to discuss an exciting new development – the eagerly awaited unveiling of a newly updated and expanded online resource for anyone in the total rewards and comp fields. Members (and non-members) now have easy access to every pay equity law, salary history ban law and pay t…

Amy joins Ruth and Russ to share insights from our newest research report! It's a first-of-its-kind look at the top reasons employees consider quitting their jobs, and specially looks at does pay transparency help to retain workers — or is pay transparency a retention risk? Report Overview: https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/retention-r…

Julie Lammers is Senior VP, Advocacy and Corporate Social Responsibility, American Student Assistance (ASA). Julie has broad and extensive public sector experience (from the House of Commons to the US Senate) and was recently widely quoted in a #evolve article titled, “Apprenticeships are a Growing, Attractive Solution for U.S. Employers” - the top…

Arthur Woods is co-founder of Mathison, a technology platform equipping employers with everything they need to manage their diversity hiring, analytics and training. He is also partner at Plenty Search, an executive search firm for venture-backed startups with a strong track record on diversity. Over a year ago he joined us to discuss the latest in…

ESG is a very hot, not to mention, controversial topic – you’d think it just emerged on the scene, but it’s been around for a while. Dr. Hermann J. Stern, managing owner of the financial research company Obermatt, is an ESG expert who works primarily with Swiss and German companies. Few are better equipped to discuss the origins of ESG, how compani…

We’ve had guests on the pod who’ve spoken about empathetic leadership and the need for more empathy in the workplace, but none who brings the perspective and rigor to the topic as Katharine Manning. She spent close to 16 years as a senior attorney in the US Department of Justice specializing in victim’s rights and services, and is President of Blac…

Nu Yang, editor of #evolve, WorldatWork’s digital-only publication, discusses the stories she and her staff are working on, her vision for #evolve going forward, and a recent story that she wrote that’s stirred up a lot of conversation, titled“Retaining and Developing Women Leaders in the Workplace."…

Patrick Dalin, Of Counsel with Fisher Phillips, represents employers in a full range of employment law matters. Patrick breaks down a recent 6-3 Supreme Court decision (involving rare agreement between liberal and conservative factions of the court) that delineated between exempt and non-exempt employment. We discuss tests to determine salaried and…

We’re joined by Sheetal Raut, Managing Director at WorldatWork India and Rahul Puri, Director of Business Development with WorldatWork India, to discuss the location’s growth from its inception in 2021 and what’s been driving it. We also discuss the adoption of total rewards in India, the impact of technology on benefits delivery and utilization, p…

Ruth, Bill, & Russ are joined by Amy to review the 2023 Payscale Compensation Best Practices Report (CBPR) and share their insightes. How are things changing as we move into Q2 of 2023?

We’re joined by the perfect person to demystify AI, machine learning and people analytics: Margret Bjarnadottir, Associate Professor of Management Science and Statistics, at the University of Maryland. Margret gives us a sneak preview of her forthcoming session at WorldatWork’s Total Rewards show in San Diego this coming June: from the explosive gr…

WorldatWork’s Liz Supinski joins us to discuss the just-published 2022 Year in Review: Inventory of Total Rewards Programs and Practices. Liz shares the most significant changes from last year, findings that most surprised her, among other fascinating tidbits, trends and insights she and her crack team unearthed. Bonus chat on Liz’s latest ambitiou…

Gregory Milano, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Fortuna, and his colleague Riley Whately, who leads Fortuna's research and advisory work, join us to discuss the growth of intangible investments and the challenges/opportunities for human resource managers trying to drive value in their organizations.…

Kathleen Schulz, Gallagher’s Global Innovation Leader for Organizational Wellbeing, makes her third appearance on the pod. Kathleen discusses Gallagher’s 2022 Benefit Strategy and Benchmarking Survey, and touches on an array of timely topics: what organizations can do to alleviate the issues that can compromise an employee’s ability to perform, sur…

Ruth, Bill, & Russ have each selected a recent news story related to compensation to discuss. Do you share their take on these topics? Ruth's Pick: Netflix stepped back on open salary policiy for execs Bill's Pick: FTC announced changes to outlaw non-compete clauses Russ's Pick: Disney's annnouncement that 'hybrid work' now means in office 4 days a…

We are joined by Dr. Atul Mitra, Department Head & Professor of Management, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company at the University of Northern Iowa - College of Business. Professor Mitra discusses his fascinating and insightful article (membership required) in the Journal of Total Rewards that compares the multiple drivers (digital infrastructure, c…

John Bremen, managing director and chief innovation and acceleration officer at Willis Towers Watson, talks about companies making a public stand on social and political matters: how to successfully navigate the various competing interests while creating more loyal employees and customers.

We kick off the new year in podcasting with Bobbi Kloss, director of human capital management services at Benefit Advisors Network, the premier international, credentialed network of independent employee benefit advisory & consulting firms. Bobbi joins us to discuss strategies for investing in employee well-being in 2023.…

Amy Stewart, one of the minds behind the annual Payscale CBPR report, joins Bill, Ruth, & Russ to discuss what jobs are hot and what are not going into 2023.

We close out the year with one of our all-time favorite guests: John Zissimos, the Chief Marketing Officer at Okta, the leading independent identity provider, who joins the prestigious three-timers club. He previously spoke with us about his experiences with Google and Salesforce, and in this conversation discusses his role with Okta, his influence…

Ruth, Bill, & Russ each made 3 predictions about what they each think will happen in the compensation space in 2023 without conferring with each other. Join us as we share our predictions with each other and see if you agree on what we agree on.

A timely conversation with Cheryl Brown Merriwether, Co-Founder, Vice President, Executive Director, International Center for Addiction & Recovery Education™ (ICARE). Many people struggle during the holiday season as it can give rise to – or heighten - addictions and mental health issues. Cheryl discusses how you, and/or those close to you, can pre…