Author: mykkahherner

Mykkah Herner, M.A., CCP, is a Compensation and Human Resources Professional with ten+ years of HR experience. He has designed compensation strategies for over 400 organizations, poising compensation to drive business results. Mykkah specializes in linking performance with compensation, enabling effective conversations about compensation, and creating organizational change. He is passionate about driving the evolution of companies through bringing compensation into the modern age.

pay transparency

pay transparency

7 Tips to Increase Pay Transparency in Your Organization

Pay transparency has increased in prevalence over the past few years, and with good reason. Transparent pay practices lead to higher satisfaction and lower intent to leave, according to a 2015 PayScale study. Transparency also improves performance, according to this study in a restaurant setting. With so many compensation data sources available...

pay transparency

pay transparency

7 Tips to Increase Pay Transparency in Your Organization

Pay transparency has increased in prevalence over the past few years, and with good reason. Transparent pay practices lead to higher satisfaction and lower intent to leave, according to a 2015 PayScale study. Transparency also improves performance, according to this study in a restaurant setting. With so many compensation data sources available...

Readiness Checklist: How Do You Know the Right Level of Pay Transparency for Your Org?

With companies like Buffer and Gravity Payments raising the bar on radical pay transparency and employees expecting more information about pay and pay decisions, more companies are exploring what it means to be transparent about pay. PayScale data suggest that about half of all organizations are aiming for pay transparency in 2017....

Readiness Checklist: How Do You Know the Right Level of Pay Transparency for Your Org?

With companies like Buffer and Gravity Payments raising the bar on radical pay transparency and employees expecting more information about pay and pay decisions, more companies are exploring what it means to be transparent about pay. PayScale data suggest that about half of all organizations are aiming for pay transparency in 2017....

Readiness Checklist: How Do You Know the Right Level of Pay Transparency for Your Org?

With companies like Buffer and Gravity Payments raising the bar on radical pay transparency and employees expecting more information about pay and pay decisions, more companies are exploring what it means to be transparent about pay. PayScale data suggest that about half of all organizations are aiming for pay transparency in 2017....

7 Tips for Moving to a Pay-for-Performance Culture

Companies have seen a bit of a revolution in performance-based pay in the past few years. Most have removed the rank-and-yank style of performance management. Some are removing performance ratings altogether to emphasize the future-looking, coaching-based conversations managers should be having with employees. If the intent of performance management is truly to...

7 Tips for Moving to a Pay-for-Performance Culture

Companies have seen a bit of a revolution in performance-based pay in the past few years. Most have removed the rank-and-yank style of performance management. Some are removing performance ratings altogether to emphasize the future-looking, coaching-based conversations managers should be having with employees. If the intent of performance management is truly to...

merit matrix

merit matrix

The Merit Matrix: Useful Tool or Relic of a Budget-Rich Past?

There are a few interesting conversations going around HR and compensation conferences this year. One has to do with performance management, going “ratingless,” and the best ways to link performance with pay. One of the underlying questions seems to be whether merit matrices are still the way to go when it comes...

merit matrix

merit matrix

The Merit Matrix: Useful Tool or Relic of a Budget-Rich Past?

There are a few interesting conversations going around HR and compensation conferences this year. One has to do with performance management, going “ratingless,” and the best ways to link performance with pay. One of the underlying questions seems to be whether merit matrices are still the way to go when it comes...

variable pay

variable pay

Variable Pay: Is There a Difference Between a Bonus and an Incentive?

PayScale’s 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report (CBPR) revealed that nearly three-quarters of organizations give some type of variable pay. At a time when increase budgets are tight, organizations are starting to shift their rewards towards variable pay over fixed costs (salary). Doing so allows them to really shell out the cash for...

WorkHuman Conference Recap

WorkHuman Conference Recap

Recognizing People: A Recap of the WorkHuman Conference

Sometimes you come home from an industry conference having learned a new thing or two, sometimes you meet new connections in the industry, sometimes you come back with a to-do list of ways to improve your organization. Usually you come home to a full inbox of emails and, if you’re lucky, you...

Flight Risks

Flight Risks

Two Ways to Improve Retention: From Flight Risk Jobs to Business Goals

We talk a lot about uncertainty, especially when it comes to keeping, motivating, rewarding, and attracting an increasingly mobile workforce. PayScale’s 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report found that 56 percent of employers consider retention a major concern. With such a mobile workforce, organizations are exploring many options to keep their best people,...

Building a Compensation Plan: An Exercise in Collaboration

Building a compensation plan from scratch can be intimidating if you don’t know where to start. In fact, even if you do know where to start, the process can be pretty daunting. At PayScale, we’ve been talking with companies for years, helping them develop their compensation strategies, build their pay ranges, and...

Building a Compensation Plan: An Exercise in Collaboration

Building a compensation plan from scratch can be intimidating if you don’t know where to start. In fact, even if you do know where to start, the process can be pretty daunting. At PayScale, we’ve been talking with companies for years, helping them develop their compensation strategies, build their pay ranges, and...

Compensation Structure: What it is and Models to Consider

Today, a company’s compensation structure, also known as pay structure, is critical to pay equity, workforce planning, and attracting and retaining the best talent. Having a consistent, formalized structure in place provides a clear picture of what each job is worth, and determines how employees are compensated for increased responsibilities or tenure....

Which Compensation Structure Is Right for Your Company?

Compensation structures continue to evolve, and they usually do so to help organizations keep current with both market and workforce trends. Some may wonder what compensation structures are. Loosely, “compensation structure” refers to the various ways that companies can organize their pay practices. They provide guidelines for pay that help organizations identify...

Healthcare Happenings: 2017 Compensation Best Practices

A few years back, I consulted for a hospital in a somewhat rural area that really needed their nurses to increase their level of certification. As a result, someone had decided that they would add $500 in base pay for every certification obtained by each nurse. It was a valid idea in...

Tech Industry Trends

Tech Industry Trends

Tech Industry Trends and Treats

PayScale has a work-hard, live-well culture. The first time we tapped our kegs on a Friday, I wondered how it came to be that having beer at work was a perk of the job. My closet is bursting with PayScale t-shirt and sweatshirt pride. And our 10-year veterans get sent on a...

College Costs Are Still Rising: What’s That Mean for Businesses?

My nephew is in the final throes of deciding where he will matriculate. I remember, vaguely, being 17 and deciding on colleges, and it was a much different process back then. I loosely decided where I wanted to go geographically. I had a very vague idea of what I might want to...

The State of Manufacturing

Early in my career at PayScale, I worked with a manufacturing company that had recently done some merging. In fact, they had four different regions in the U.S. and another three in Canada, each on their own HRIS systems and even worse, each on their own payroll systems. Identifying the current pay...

Pay Equity Action Plan

Pay Equity Action Plan

Develop Your Pay Equity Action Plan

Happy Equal Pay Day? Typically not. Equal Pay Day is the day in the year when women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the prior year. When looking at the median wage for all women when compared with the median wage for all men, it takes more than three months for...

Pay Equity Action Plan

Pay Equity Action Plan

Develop Your Pay Equity Action Plan

Happy Equal Pay Day? Typically not. Equal Pay Day is the day in the year when women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the prior year. When looking at the median wage for all women when compared with the median wage for all men, it takes more than three months for...

How Much Will Your Bartender Make This St. Paddy’s Day?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As we prepare to celebrate another great American holiday, I started wondering which cities have the best St. Paddy’s days. I’ve learned a lot along the way: We pinch people who aren’t wearing green as a reminder to wear green so that the leprechauns won’t find them. Chicago...

We’re Training Our Managers Wrong

“I don’t know why, HR wouldn’t let me.” Anyone who’s heard me talk about manager communication knows that I’m passionate about getting rid of the above sentence and the sentiment that managers are neither able to understand nor be accountable for employee pay. Managers play this dual role in organizations: They are...

Want a Better Culture? Set Compensation Strategy Accordingly

Organizational culture matters more now than ever. It is the unique and varied personality that is associated with each organization. It is the set of values and rules that unite those in the organization, guiding them toward a similar business goal. With five generations in the workforce, we’re seeing more diverse needs...

Top 5 Reasons Why Focal Reviews Are Better for Your Company

We often get asked whether focal reviews or anniversary compensation reviews are better. Sometimes, smaller businesses start by reviewing comp annually on the anniversary date of the employee. Then, there comes a tipping point where the reviews are scattered throughout the year and it’s a challenge to coordinate the review process. That’s...

PayScale’s 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report Is Here

Today we release the eighth annual installment of PayScale’s Compensation Best Practices Report. A strong theme emerged this year showcasing the connection between compensation and organizational culture. There is evidence that some organizations have discovered this connection, linked compensation with culture and – as a result – are thriving. But, for most,...

PayScale’s 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report Is Here

Today we release the eighth annual installment of PayScale’s Compensation Best Practices Report. A strong theme emerged this year showcasing the connection between compensation and organizational culture. There is evidence that some organizations have discovered this connection, linked compensation with culture and – as a result – are thriving. But, for most,...

PayScale’s 2017 Compensation Best Practices Report Is Here

Today we release the eighth annual installment of PayScale’s Compensation Best Practices Report. A strong theme emerged this year showcasing the connection between compensation and organizational culture. There is evidence that some organizations have discovered this connection, linked compensation with culture and – as a result – are thriving. But, for most,...

Dress Code Killing Your Culture

Dress Code Killing Your Culture

Is Your Dress Code Killing Your Culture?

I grew up outside of New York in the eighties. I got my first tattoo as I was graduating from college in the mid nineties. It was a tiny little tattoo just above my ankle bone. My mom freaked out. She made me promise then and there that I would never get...

federal hiring freeze

federal hiring freeze

Top 3 Trump Actions and Their Business Impact

Trump came into the Oval Office with pen blazing. In his first week and a half in office he has signed seven executive orders, so far, in addition to 11 memoranda. He’s also fleshed out his cabinet nominees, many of whom have already been confirmed. Some of these actions have clear business...

Compensation Resolutions

Compensation Resolutions

7 Compensation Resolutions for 2017

Admittedly I don’t typically make resolutions. I like goals, plans, and measurable actions. Over time, the process of making resolutions has come to feel like empty promises to myself. That said, 2016 was a challenging year for me, so to start 2017 off right I thought I’d get back into the practice...

Compensation Resolutions

Compensation Resolutions

7 Compensation Resolutions for 2017

Admittedly I don’t typically make resolutions. I like goals, plans, and measurable actions. Over time, the process of making resolutions has come to feel like empty promises to myself. That said, 2016 was a challenging year for me, so to start 2017 off right I thought I’d get back into the practice...

Pitfalls Talking about Increases

Pitfalls Talking about Increases

Merit Talks: Tis the Season

It’s nearing the holiday season; spirits are bright and you have to tell your star employee that they’re getting an increase that is lower than what they want. If you’re being honest with yourself, it’s lower than what you want it to be too. “Is there any way I can get a...

Pitfalls Talking about Increases

Pitfalls Talking about Increases

Merit Talks: Tis the Season

It’s nearing the holiday season; spirits are bright and you have to tell your star employee that they’re getting an increase that is lower than what they want. If you’re being honest with yourself, it’s lower than what you want it to be too. “Is there any way I can get a...

Modern Pay for Performance

Modern Pay for Performance

Modern Pay for Performance

Performance management is definitely undergoing a midlife crisis; it’s time for it to reinvent itself. For the past few HR and compensation conferences I’ve attended, the question has been heavy in the air: what are you doing about your performance process? Most agree that the processes are slow and cumbersome, out of date, ineffective,...

Tim Low discusses modern compensation on WorkTrends Podcast

Tim Low discusses modern compensation on WorkTrends Podcast

Tune In: PayScale Senior Vice President of Marketing Tim Low to Discuss “The Pay Business is the People Business”

Tune in Wednesday, July 20th, for a live podcast event! PayScale Senior Vice President of Marketing Tim Low will be chatting with Meghan M. Biro, CEO of Talent Culture about PayScale’s new thought leadership framework “The Modern Compensation Manifesto: Why The Pay Business is the People Business.” Tim and Meghan will be...

Managing Comp during High Growth Phases

Mykkah Herner, MA, CCP, Modern Compensation Evangelist, PayScaleWhen organizations get into high growth phase, everything starts moving faster. Recruiting speeds up. Finding people desks to sit in rapidly becomes an unsolvable puzzle.Making sure every incoming person has a set-up complete with computer becomes a greater challenge.All the moving pieces that are...

3 Common Types of Pay Compression

This piece was updated in November 2018. In the most basic terms, pay compression refers to a situation where pay isn’t differentiated enough (i.e. “compressed”) where it should be and for a very compelling reason. When pay compression is present, you may find that your employee morale or engagement takes a dip,...

How does the changing minimum wage affect your compensation strategy?

Mykkah Herner, M.A., CCP, PayScale There has been a lot of talk about increasing the minimum wage, at the federal, state, and city levels. In Seattle, headquarters of PayScale, we just passed an ordinance increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour within 3-7 years depending on employer size. Of course there has...

23 answers about compensation analytics and the ROI of turnover

Mykkah Herner, M.A., CCP, PayScale PayScale recently hosted a wildly popular webinar entitled Compensation Analytics: The ROI of Turnover, presented by me, Mykkah Herner. If you missed the webinar, you are welcome to view the slides from the presentation. Since this is a topic of interest to so many of our...

Do I mean percentage or percentile?

Mykkah Herner, MA, CCP Compensation Consultant at PayScale When benchmarking positions, it’s easy to get tongue-tied over the terms percentage and percentile. Percentiles are admittedly confusing. People generally understand that market pay breaks out at the 10th through 90th percentiles, but what does that even mean? And how can I use that information to manage employee pay? When are...

Building a Better Incentive Plan

Blending the World at Work and Brad Hams Approaches By Mykkah Herner, PayScale.com Last month, I read and reviewed Brad Hams’ Ownership Thinking, and promised to write more on his sense of having the right incentives. While I thought he has some useful suggestions, I found his incentive plan to be both too...