94 We'll be at WorldAtWork!

[00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome to Comp & Coffee. I'm Ruth Thomas, Chief Evangelist here at

[00:00:19] Payscale and current custodian of the podcast where we aim to bring you insightful discussions

[00:00:24] and expert insights to keep you informed and empowered in the ever evolving landscape of

[00:00:30] reward and compensation. So whether you're a seasoned compensation professional or new to

[00:00:35] the topic, our podcast is your go-to resource for staying ahead of the curve. So grab your

[00:00:41] favourite beverage, coffee or not, tune in and let's get started. So today's topic is all about

[00:00:49] World at Work. As we recall this, we are a week out from reward and compensation's biggest event

[00:00:55] of the year and that's the World at Work Total Reward 2024 Conference. This year, the Payscale

[00:01:01] team will be heading out to Cincinnati and we're showing up in force again. We've got a new stand

[00:01:07] in the exhibition hall. We're hosting the after party at the Cincinnati Red Stadium and we'll be

[00:01:13] delivering some new and exciting thought leadership in the form of one breakfast event and three

[00:01:18] panels. So four news thought leadership sessions. So we thought we'd spend a little time today just

[00:01:25] talking through what we're looking forward to seeing at World at Work, talk about the sessions

[00:01:30] that we're going to be leading and hopefully you may be listening to this podcast on the way to

[00:01:36] Cincinnati, however you're getting there. So to help me today, I'm joined by two of my favourite

[00:01:42] Payscalers who will be leading panels themselves. So welcome Lexi Clark, who is Chief People Officer

[00:01:48] here at Payscale and welcome James Atkinson, who is VP of Data. Hand over to you two first. Lexi,

[00:01:55] do you want to start? Do you want to just do a brief introduction of who you are to your audience

[00:01:59] and tell them what you do? Yes, absolutely. So I'm Lexi Clark. I'm the Chief People Officer

[00:02:04] at Payscale. Coming up on four years at Payscale, time flies when you are having fun and all things

[00:02:09] compensation. So I have the pleasure of leading the people function that is taking care of all

[00:02:15] of our internal Payscalers as well as speaking with folks like you who are listening in to the

[00:02:21] podcast around everything from your compensation philosophy to your strategies and how you're

[00:02:25] thinking about them, especially as the industry continues to evolve. Previous to Payscale,

[00:02:31] I spent most of my time in early to mid-stage startups in the Seattle area. I am located in

[00:02:37] Seattle, which is normally grey and rainy, but we are breaking through with sun as we head into

[00:02:42] the spring and summer, and I could not be happier. James, do you want to introduce yourself? Yes,

[00:02:47] absolutely. Hello everyone. James Atkinson, excited to be here again. I oversee our data products here

[00:02:55] at Payscale. I've been here for just under a year, but I have the opportunity to really help our

[00:03:02] customers think about how they leverage data and providing the data that can help them in making

[00:03:07] the right pay decisions moving forward. I've been here, like I said, for just under a year,

[00:03:13] but been in the HR industry for right out of decade, having worked at Gartner prior to this.

[00:03:19] So very happy to be here today and talk about what's coming up at World at Work. Great, thank you both.

[00:03:27] So we said World at Work is in Cincinnati this year. I've not been there, the US city I haven't

[00:03:33] had the pleasure of going to yet. Have either of you been and what should I expect as I'm about

[00:03:38] to start packing in about probably 48 hours, I think. Okay, you and I will experience this city

[00:03:45] together for the first time. So it is in Cincinnati as well. And James, maybe you can verify this,

[00:03:51] since I think that you have spent some time there before. Skyline Chili is the only thing

[00:03:55] that I keep hearing about as we get ready to head to Cincinnati. Absolutely. Well, you're

[00:04:04] correct. I actually lived in Ohio for about four years. I was there in Columbus, Ohio, and I went to

[00:04:10] the Ohio State University. The B is important for those in Ohio. So just know that heading there.

[00:04:18] Skyline Chili, definitely a place to stop. The other place I will mention, my absolute favorite

[00:04:25] ice cream shop, Graders. The headquarters of Graders is in Cincinnati and I've already checked

[00:04:32] and there's a Graders ice cream about one block from my hotel. So I will be frequenting there

[00:04:38] a few times while we're there. Right. Okay. Well, so that's two spots I've got to try and find time

[00:04:46] to go to around the busy schedule that we know we have at World at Work. So let's dive in here

[00:04:53] and talk about the sessions that we're all going to be leading. So each of us is leading a panel

[00:05:00] all talking about different things. So we're just going to spend a bit of time talking about that.

[00:05:03] So let's start with you, Lexi. Your session is called Where the Rubber Meets the Road,

[00:05:08] equipping people managers to have effective pay conversations. Without giving too much away,

[00:05:14] can you tell me what you're going to be talking about on your panel? Yes, I sure can. So super

[00:05:19] exciting panel just with the group of us, I think talking about effective pay communications at every

[00:05:26] scale and in different industries. And so lots to learn, please make sure that you attend. But we'll

[00:05:31] be focusing our time talking about something you can do the best work in the world as it relates

[00:05:36] to your compensation strategies. But if you're not equipping your people managers and you're not

[00:05:40] talking about it in an effective way, you lose some of the magic of what you've worked really

[00:05:45] hard to create. And so we'll be talking about all of our own personal experiences,

[00:05:51] implementing different versions of pay transparency and parts of our compensation strategy

[00:05:57] in our conversation. And we'll have folks from all different scales, all different industries

[00:06:02] weighing in. So super excited. Hopefully you can join us. And who've you got joining you on stage,

[00:06:09] Lexi, this year? Yes, I've got Shirley Zhang from DraftKings, Erin Sheehan from ArginX and then

[00:06:16] Kathy White from Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia. So in addition to them, I'll be providing a little

[00:06:22] bit of color on our own internal journey as well within pay scale. So super excited to jump right

[00:06:29] in. And so your session is on Wednesday, May the 22nd, it's 10.15 in the morning. So if you want

[00:06:36] to hear that session and hear Lexi speaking, then make sure you head that way. It sounds great. I

[00:06:41] think especially as pay comms, for me, when I'm speaking to our audiences or hearing from our

[00:06:47] customers seems to be kind of one of the challenges of 2024. So we've been thinking about pay

[00:06:53] transparency for a while. We've been doing work thinking about how transparent we want to be.

[00:06:58] We've been doing work building pay structures. But we still seem to have a lot of work to do on

[00:07:05] pay communications. And that's where people seem to be struggling at the moment. And if I think

[00:07:09] back to some of our CBPR, compensation best practice report data that we always refer to as

[00:07:15] our kind of reference point, we saw still only 51% of organizations were training managers on pay

[00:07:23] comms. And a new question we asked this year was, do you provide always accessible information to

[00:07:29] employers on pay and the why and the how behind pay? And that came out at 45%. So there's obviously

[00:07:35] still a lot of work to do here. How's this playing out for you in your role as chief people officer

[00:07:42] here at PayScale, Lexi? Yeah, I think it's been, you know, for folks who have maybe heard us talk

[00:07:47] about our internal journey, and we'll expand more on this in the session next week. But

[00:07:53] we've started the journey, I think, even as we knew that the transparency legislation was coming,

[00:07:59] but we had really, it was urgent for us because we'd come together as so many different

[00:08:02] organizations. And we also were doing a lot of that work in a very hot labor market.

[00:08:09] And so I think if I had to like, boil it down to something that's been really interesting,

[00:08:13] I think, as we've gotten into this year, and as we think about kind of future years,

[00:08:17] is that that very hot market very quickly changed. And you know, for us, it was about pivoting.

[00:08:23] How are we talking about all of those core pieces to our comp transparency and our just

[00:08:29] general compensation, total rewards journey? But also how are we talking about them in the light

[00:08:34] of employees asking about inflation and how they should think about their compensation as it relates

[00:08:39] to a really challenging economic labor market? How do things like our financial performance

[00:08:44] weigh into those budgetary decisions? So I think what's been interesting overall is that you have

[00:08:50] to keep talking about it. Once you start talking about it, you can't stop talking about it. But you

[00:08:55] have to, I think, be really intentional in how you're bringing your managers and your leaders

[00:08:58] along for that journey and include employees as a part of that audience. And so James and Ruth,

[00:09:05] you've heard me say this a million times, both in smaller sessions, but also to our employees,

[00:09:09] like it is a journey and not a destination. And I think we have really embraced that internally,

[00:09:14] that like we are in a different stage of our journey now and will continue to be as we continue

[00:09:19] to iterate moving forward. Great, thank you. And your job was made doubly hard because

[00:09:24] obviously everyone at PayScale thinks they know everything about compensation or they probably do

[00:09:28] know everything about compensation because that's what we do every day. So I know you have quite a

[00:09:33] demanding audience. So it's been great to see how pay transparency and pay coms has been rolling out

[00:09:38] here. Okay, so let's look forward to another session. James, you're covering another topic

[00:09:45] that you've been keeping because I think this is probably maybe your third podcast, fourth podcast

[00:09:49] this year. You've been keeping our listeners up to date on the topic of AI, which like pay coms is

[00:09:55] hot to trot at the moment. So without giving too much away, can you talk about your session

[00:10:03] and what to expect? Yeah, absolutely. Well, obviously AI, super hot topic, just generally

[00:10:10] across society, you can't turn a corner without somebody talking about AI in some way, shape or

[00:10:16] form. And that's very true in HR broadly and certainly across compensation. So really excited

[00:10:21] to share a bit about how AI is both already impacting and will continue to impact compensation

[00:10:30] moving forward. And so for our session, we're actually going to start because there's so much

[00:10:36] noise and conversation and the things in the market. We'll start a little bit by just

[00:10:43] doing some level setting about understanding what that AI landscape is. We're going to dig into some

[00:10:49] new data on how compensation professionals are thinking about AI and how they're using it

[00:10:54] currently. We'll talk a little bit about why it's urgent to be thinking about this now and not

[00:11:02] kind of playing a wait and see game or strategy as well. So really thinking about why it's important

[00:11:09] to be thinking about this in 2024 and starting to do something with it. We'll spend some time

[00:11:15] thinking through how AI is currently being used again across BayJar and specifically in compensation.

[00:11:23] But also what does the future look like? What are some things that we see coming down,

[00:11:30] kind of coming down the pipeline in terms of how we might be leveraging AI in the compensation space?

[00:11:37] And I think really importantly is thinking about how can we prepare for that, like I said,

[00:11:42] not necessarily taking that wait and see approach. So I'm really excited to share

[00:11:48] on this topic. It's very important, very timely and to really have that conversation

[00:11:53] with all of those attending World at Work. Great. And are we going to be surprised by anything?

[00:12:00] Any big surprises you're going to pull on stage? Well, I'm doing a song and dance number. No,

[00:12:06] I'm kidding. I'm not doing a song and dance number. Although if I do, it will now be a surprise.

[00:12:13] But without giving too much away, I think attendees might be surprised by how much AI

[00:12:19] powered innovation is already happening across HR and in compensation. It's not as new or as future

[00:12:27] oriented as people might think. And so we'll talk about that a little bit, but excited to

[00:12:31] share some of the things that are already happening across the compensation space.

[00:12:37] Great. And who've you got joining you, James? I know you've got some exciting thought leaders

[00:12:41] in this space with you. Who've you got joining? Absolutely. It's a really fun panel. It's going

[00:12:47] to be moderated by Ben Eubanks, who's the chief of research there at Lighthouse. And so we got

[00:12:53] together a few times to talk through what this panel will look like and really excited to talk

[00:12:59] through this next week. We also have Jason Avervook from Mercer. He's a senior partner,

[00:13:06] a global leader of digital HR strategy. And we have Elizabeth Crowfoot from Lightcast,

[00:13:11] who's a senior economist and principal research analyst there too. So just really a great panel

[00:13:16] with lots of experience across the HR industry and lots of experience thinking about how we

[00:13:22] leverage data and can leverage AI in compensation. So that sounds like one not to be missed. So yours

[00:13:29] is actually a feature session, James. Its official title is revolutionizing compensation,

[00:13:35] unleashing AI powered innovation. And that's on Monday, May the 20th at 3.30 PM. So if you want

[00:13:43] to see James and his panel live, please head there. And then I'm the third one leading a session. So

[00:13:49] I am leading a panel called leading through change, how practitioners can meet the new expectations

[00:13:56] of modern compensation. I've got three wonderful practitioners joining me. We've had great fun

[00:14:01] really putting this session together and I've really enjoyed hearing their stories about how

[00:14:07] they've been evolving professionally against the landscape of kind of the changing landscape

[00:14:14] of compensation where we're seeing much more strategic intent now as you set your compensation

[00:14:20] philosophies. So I've got Sonia Uddin from Stitch Fits joining me, Micah Herner from McKinstry

[00:14:26] and Justin Sun from Expedia. It's quite a personal one this session. We start with some thought

[00:14:33] leadership about how compensation has escalated as a strategic lever and how that's changed the

[00:14:39] way that you're doing your jobs as comp pros. And then the panelists are going to share their

[00:14:45] personal stories of professional growth. So what they've had to do to equip themselves to

[00:14:53] cope with this changing landscape and keep up to date. And we're also going to hear it from

[00:14:58] them about how they've managed the dichotomy of being a strategic advisor while also

[00:15:03] making employees feel heard. So if you're looking for sort of stories about how you can

[00:15:11] grow yourself in your career, how you can meet the new challenges of managing compensation.

[00:15:16] And these guys are going to be sharing kind of their tricks and tricks and tips.

[00:15:23] There we go. It's a Monday. Okay. Their tips and tricks on how they've been surviving

[00:15:30] professionally. Lexi, what is it that you... I also find when I'm there as a comp pro,

[00:15:38] it's a great personal development learning opportunity. I always make the time to go

[00:15:42] to all the sessions because I learn so much. So as a sort of HR practitioner,

[00:15:48] how do you find world at work from that perspective? Yeah. I got to go for the first

[00:15:53] time last year in sunny San Diego. And it's really fun. I think like to your point,

[00:16:00] just soaking up, I think everything from attending the sessions and getting a chance to learn from

[00:16:04] those folks on stage, but even the like chance to have informal conversations, I think on

[00:16:09] the floor and walking past people and making connections. I know I learned from a lot of

[00:16:14] our customers last year. So that was really fun. Just being at the booth and talking about the

[00:16:18] different ways that they use our software, our data. But I think I've got our senior director

[00:16:24] for rewards and our senior compensation analysts from my team also attending this year. And I'm

[00:16:29] super excited. It's a good chance, I think, for all of the three of us to soak in a different kind

[00:16:33] of that personal development and just soak in the learning. I just think there's, especially

[00:16:39] in a world where we're a mix of remote hybrid and in office, this is a really great time, I think,

[00:16:44] to focus in on honing craft and learning kind of what's upcoming and learning from those around

[00:16:49] you and just like build a community. I think any role within HR sometimes once in a while,

[00:16:55] you have a day where you might feel a little bit one late. And this is a great opportunity,

[00:16:59] I think, to meet those folks when you need a connection or someone to reach out to,

[00:17:04] really kind of chat all things what's going on or just make that personal connection for yourself.

[00:17:09] Yeah, definitely. Community is a great word. I think that's one of the takeaways I've felt.

[00:17:14] I've been going for a few years now and it's that coming together. And there's been a lot going on

[00:17:21] over the last four to five years. And we've had to deal with a lot. And I think coming together

[00:17:29] about once a year and sharing those kind of stories about how you've been responding to

[00:17:34] the challenges has been really helpful. So, James, I don't think you've been before to

[00:17:39] World of Work. No, I have not. This will be my first time. So, I'm looking forward to it.

[00:17:44] You know, a lot of the same reasons that Lexi just shared. I love being able to just meet all

[00:17:50] of the different people there, learning from our customers, learning from the different sessions.

[00:17:57] Having scrolled through the agenda, there's some other exciting sessions that I want to make sure

[00:18:02] that I'm able to attend just to learn about what are new and interesting things happening across the

[00:18:07] compensation space and across total rewards in general. So, I'm really looking forward to that.

[00:18:14] In addition to the chili and the ice cream, which will be fantastic, I'm really looking forward to

[00:18:20] just kind of the people, the learning and just the chance to be together.

[00:18:25] Yeah, and I think I also enjoy walking the expo floor just to see what new kind of

[00:18:33] vendors are out there, not just from a tech perspective, but like from a benefit provision

[00:18:37] perspective, from a total reward perspective. There's always some really cool new ideas out

[00:18:41] there and I find that quite interesting as well, just kind of seeing, doing what's going on.

[00:18:47] So, we are at Payscale. We're going to be in the connection zone. Our booth number this year is 514.

[00:18:54] We have a bigger booth this year. We have coffee. So, come and join us for coffee and a chat about

[00:19:01] compensation. Our experts will be on site, will be on the stand. Come and join either James or Lexi

[00:19:07] for a cup of coffee if you've got questions about data or you've got questions about how Lexi's

[00:19:13] managing HR here in Payscale. We also have our experts on site to show you our market-leading

[00:19:20] data and tech. So, all of that will be available for you. If you are a Payscale customer,

[00:19:26] make sure you come and connect with us on the stand on Monday because we have a special VIP

[00:19:31] opportunity for you that day in advance of the after party. On Tuesday, Lulu, SightKli and I

[00:19:40] will be running a breakfast roundtable on pay transparency. I know some of you listeners are

[00:19:45] also followers of our popular webinar series. So, in that we normally cover all developments

[00:19:52] and legislation and pay transparency best practice. So, Lulu and I will be leading a

[00:19:57] couple of breakfast tables there. You can sign up for that, I think, through the World at Work app.

[00:20:02] Have you both downloaded the World at Work app yet?

[00:20:05] I have not yet. But I feel like…

[00:20:07] Want it James? You already…

[00:20:08] I have downloaded. I get a gold star.

[00:20:11] Okay. Right. Download the app because if you want to attend a breakfast session or some of

[00:20:16] the sessions, sign up. So, if you want to guarantee getting into some of these amazing thought

[00:20:20] leadership sessions, then make sure you do that there. And I'll also be recording Cump and Coffee

[00:20:25] live, which we will broadcast in a follow-up episode post the event. So, I'm going to be

[00:20:31] mic'd up apparently. I'm not quite sure how that's all working. So, if you see me, please come and

[00:20:37] talk to me. And you may even find yourself featured on the next episode of Cump and Coffee,

[00:20:42] where we can spend some time kind of talking about the key challenges that you've been facing

[00:20:46] this year. So, if you want to find out more, if you head to payscale.com under our events section,

[00:20:53] you can find a whole page there dedicated to how we'll be showing up at World at Work.

[00:20:59] Any final thoughts, Lexi and James, on what to expect next week?

[00:21:03] I am just super, super excited for this year's and not just for the Skyline Chili and the ice

[00:21:09] cream, although James has me convinced that maybe I need those back to back. But

[00:21:14] I'm excited for this another great session and seeing all of you there.

[00:21:18] Weather, James, tell me about the weather because I'm British. I always talk about the weather.

[00:21:22] Tell me what the weather is going to be because I am going to go and pack soon.

[00:21:25] Well, I have not worked at the weather forecast for next week, but May and September,

[00:21:30] I imagine, will be quite nice and lovely. So, it's a good time generally to visit. So,

[00:21:35] you've gotten through the winter time and certainly should be some nice weather is my hope.

[00:21:43] Great. Thank you. Okay. Well, thank you both for giving this sneak preview of what to expect from

[00:21:49] PayScale next week at World at Work. If you're coming, make sure you come and say hello to

[00:21:53] any of us. We're really looking forward to touching base and spending some time with you.

[00:21:59] And if you've got any feedback on today's episode, just let us know. You can email us always

[00:22:05] at coffee at payscale.com. And if not, listen out for the follow up episode where we'll be

[00:22:10] hopefully summarizing what our key takeaways were from World at Work and hearing some of those

[00:22:17] snips, hopefully from you as I meet you as we wander around World at Work.

[00:22:21] Thank you very much, everybody. Goodbye. Thanks, everyone.

[00:22:25] Thank you.