Download the HR Leader’s Guide to Pay Communication

Are your managers prepared to handle every pay conversation with confidence?

Getting pay communication right builds trust and rapport. Getting it wrong can cost you top talent. Review cycles, promotion rounds, and pay transparency laws can be challenging if your managers aren’t prepared to communicate in the right way. But there are steps you can take to get your organization ready for every pay conversation.

Read our two-part Guide to Pay Communication, designed to help HR business partners and comp & benefits teams prepare managers for both sides of pay communication. Part 1 covers what managers initiate: delivering pay increases, bonuses, promotions, and the decisions that come with each. Part 2 covers what employees initiate: questions about pay transparency, peer comparisons, regional pay differences, and more.

Part 1 includes:

• What to brief managers on: The terms and structure behind every comp decision cycle, so managers can explain a decision instead of defending it.
• A pre-conversation checklist: A 7-step framework covering the numbers, the why, the whole package, and how to close the conversation well.
• Scripts for 8 common scenarios: Word-for-word templates for communicating a strong increase, a below-expectation increase, a top-of-range performer, a bonus payout, a promotion, a denied promotion, an off-cycle adjustment, and a no-change cycle.
• Ground rules for when it goes off script: How managers can validate a reaction without reopening the decision, and when to pause rather than push through.

Part 2 includes:

• What HR leaders need to know: The pay transparency laws and policies shaping today's conversations, and the shared vocabulary that keeps every manager's answer consistent.
• Defining the manager's role: Why managers are the messengers of pay policy, not the authors, and how to make that boundary explicit before questions come up.
• Scripts for 8 scenarios employees raise the most: Peer comparisons, raise or promotion differences, expectations around promotion pay, outside offers, requests for full transparency, pay compression, external salary data, and regional pay differences.
• A 7-step manager toolkit: A practical checklist for arming managers with the numbers, the scripts, and the escalation triggers they need before a question puts them on the spot.

Help prepare your managers to handle every aspect of pay communication with confidence.