Can you prove that your comp decisions are the right ones?
We surveyed 202 US management, HR, and compensation decision-makers to find out what happens after a pay decision is made. The leaders we heard from trust their data and feel confident in their forecasts. Yet 45% still finished the year over budget, and 58% rarely check whether their biggest pay exceptions paid off.
We call this the pay proof gap: the disconnect between making a comp decision and having the evidence to show why it was made, what it cost, and what it delivered. The Pay Intelligence Report shows where the gap opens up and gives HR and finance leaders practical steps to close it.
What’s inside the report:
Every section pairs a finding with clear actions for your team and a view of what it means for the budget:
- The CFO reality check: How a few percentage points of misallocated spend can cost millions of dollars.
- Pay decisions aren’t sticking: 51% say approved decisions are often or very often reopened, corrected, or adjusted because of data or process issues.
- AI is everywhere, and so is the friction: 79% of leaders use AI in compensation, and those users are more likely to see decisions reopened often.
- The hiring experiment: In a controlled test, a competing offer or a hard-to-fill market each moved salary recommendations by roughly $3,000.
- A closing checklist: Six questions to test whether you can explain a material pay decision six months after it was made.
Close the pay proof gap with data from the leaders living it.
Submit the form to access your free copy.
