Compference®26 is almost here. So is a new era of compensation intelligence.
Compensation has moved from a back-office function to a strategic business priority. In Payscale's 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report, 68% of organizations say their executive leaders view compensation as strategic to business success.
Making compensation more strategic is one thing. But making sure everyone involved in pay decisions has the same actionable insights? That's a whole different ballgame.
Recruiting, finance, compensation teams, and managers are often working from different data at different times. Meanwhile, the labor market doesn't wait for an annual survey to catch up. Roles are changing, new skills are commanding different premiums, and pay expectations can shift before a candidate ever talks to a recruiter.
When compensation data and workflows don't keep pace, the effects show up across the organization: slower offers, harder pay conversations, more manual work, and less confidence when the market changes.
That's the conversation we're bringing to the 10th annual Compference26, giving HR, talent acquisition, and compensation professionals the insights, advice, and trends they need to stay ahead.
And new this year, attendees can earn up to nine HRCI or SHRM recertification credits for approved sessions.
Why this moment matters
AI has changed — and is continuing to change — the work landscape. Compensation intelligence, however, hasn't fully caught up.
The Compensation Best Practices Report also found that 61% of organizations have updated existing roles to include AI-related skills or competencies, yet 55% haven't adjusted compensation for AI skills.
At the same time, compensation teams are being asked to do more with competing priorities, while pay transparency requirements continue to expand.
The stakes are rising, but the systems behind many compensation decisions haven't kept up. Recent Payscale research found that 78% of customers surveyed said their previous compensation approaches required too much manual work, while 50% struggled to compare data across multiple sources.
Bad compensation data doesn't just lead to poor decisions; its effects reverberate across the organization. But when compensation teams have fresh, defensible data and connected workflows, they can move faster, explain decisions with confidence, and spend more time on the work that actually requires their expertise.
And that's exactly why Compference26 exists.
Three days to rethink how your organization makes pay decisions
Compference26 is a free virtual event running September 15–17, built around the compensation questions organizations are facing right now.
You'll hear from Payscale compensation strategists and product leaders, along with outside voices like award-winning economist Katica Roy, who'll unpack findings from more than 1 billion data points across 6,250 organizations to explore how AI is reshaping talent and pay strategy.
You'll also get:
- practical, data-backed strategies for navigating a cooling labor market
- ways to align CFOs and CHROs on compensation investment
- a framework for building a defensible compensation review process
- strategies for turning pay transparency into a competitive advantage
- and much more. Check out our full agenda here.
Compference26 brings the compensation community together to talk about what's next, but this year, we're also introducing something built for that future: Payscale Ascent.
A first look at Payscale Ascent
The market moves faster than most traditional compensation processes can keep up with. Salary data gets stale, roles evolve — and compensation teams still juggle separate systems and spreadsheets to price jobs, understand market competitiveness, and plan pay.
Ascent brings those workflows together on one foundation, with fresh market intelligence built into the decisions compensation teams make every day.
Instead of jumping between disconnected tools, teams can price jobs, evaluate market competitiveness, and plan compensation using consistent intelligence. One platform replaces the spreadsheet shuffle.
And the point isn't simply to make compensation work faster. It's to give compensation professionals more time and better context for the decisions that require their expertise. With Ascent, compensation professionals can spend less time chasing information and more time understanding what it means: where the organization is competitive, where it's exposed, and where compensation investment can make the greatest impact.
"Too many organizations are still clinging to legacy job architectures and finding themselves out of sync with market reality," said Lexi Clarke, Payscale chief business operations and HR officer. "Ascent is built to fix this. It brings your compensation intelligence, workflows, and market data into one platform so every salary decision is grounded in current reality, and every compensation professional has the context they need to act strategically."
At Compference26, Payscale's product team will give attendees a first look at Ascent and show how it fits into the broader shift toward compensation intelligence: connected data, connected workflows, and better context for the people making pay decisions across the organization.
Save your seat
Compference26 is your front-row seat to where compensation is headed, how other leaders are tackling it, and a sneak peek at the tech Payscale is building for what's next.
