Mid-Market Compensation Essentials: 9 Priorities for 2026 Posted on August 21, 2026 (August 20, 2026) by Austin Schleeter Mid-market compensation essentials give growing companies a practical foundation for making pay decisions that are competitive, internally consistent, financially sustainable, and easier for managers to explain. In 2026, that foundation matters even more because salary budgets are measured, employees have greater visibility into pay, and organizations must decide where limited compensation dollars will create the […] Read More… from Mid-Market Compensation Essentials: 9 Priorities for 2026
Mid-Market Compensation Strategy: 13 Steps | MorganHR Posted on August 20, 2026 by Austin Schleeter A mid-market compensation strategy gives growing companies a practical framework for valuing jobs, competing for talent, managing internal equity, and making consistent pay decisions as the organization scales. A mid-market compensation strategy gives growing companies a practical framework for valuing jobs, competing for talent, managing internal equity, and making consistent pay decisions as the organization […] Read More… from Mid-Market Compensation Strategy: 13 Steps | MorganHR
Game Theory Compensation Strategy: Reward the Win Posted on August 17, 2026 (August 24, 2026) by Laura Morgan Estimated reading time: 13 minutes A Yale economics lecture changed how I price executive judgment. I did not expect a classroom exercise about a duel to reshape my pay work, yet one closing section did exactly that. Years later, it still anchors how I approach game theory compensation strategy heading into 2027. My handwritten notes […] Read More… from Game Theory Compensation Strategy: Reward the Win
8 Executive Pay Challenges for Startup HR Teams Posted on August 13, 2026 (August 12, 2026) by Michelle Henderson Startups get executive pay wrong quietly, and usually for good reasons. The founder took below-market pay to conserve runway. The first VP hire got a big equity grant because there was no cash to spare. None of it was reckless, but none of it was governed, either. By the time a board asks for a […] Read More… from 8 Executive Pay Challenges for Startup HR Teams
9 Reasons HR Teams Fall Behind on Compensation Strategy Posted on August 12, 2026 (August 11, 2026) by Michelle Henderson Most mid-market HR teams aren’t careless about pay. They’re just outrunning their own processes. Job levels multiply and market data goes stale. Meanwhile, a spreadsheet built two years ago quietly becomes the system of record for every raise decision. The result is a compensation strategy that looks fine on paper but drifts further from market […] Read More… from 9 Reasons HR Teams Fall Behind on Compensation Strategy
How to Build HR AI Training for Compensation Teams Posted on August 11, 2026 by Michelle Henderson Estimated reading time: 8 minutes Every compensation team now works alongside intelligent software. Most leaders didn’t plan for it, but it happened anyway. For example, merit cycles run through algorithm-assisted market data. Pay equity models lean on machine-generated recommendations. Comp analysts now defend automated outputs to auditors and employees alike. The real gap isn’t a […] Read More… from How to Build HR AI Training for Compensation Teams
Compensation Consulting: 10 Signs You Need Help | MorganHR Posted on August 7, 2026 (August 7, 2026) by Austin Schleeter Compensation consulting for growing and mid market companies: how to recognize when pay decisions have outgrown spreadsheets, informal rules, and one off market checks. Compensation consulting often becomes necessary long before a company formally decides it needs a compensation study. The warning signs tend to appear in everyday decisions: recruiting exceptions increase, managers interpret salary […] Read More… from Compensation Consulting: 10 Signs You Need Help | MorganHR
How to Fix Salary Benchmarking Gaps in Mid-Sized HR Posted on August 6, 2026 (August 14, 2026) by Laura Morgan Estimated reading time: 11 minutes Your strongest systems engineer resigned in April for an offer you could have matched. Meanwhile, the survey that priced that role correctly had been sitting on a shared drive since January. Salary benchmarking gaps in mid-sized organizations rarely start with missing data. Instead, they start with data nobody owns, job […] Read More… from How to Fix Salary Benchmarking Gaps in Mid-Sized HR
Pay Equity Audits After the Nike Verdict: Managing Litigation Risk You Cannot See on a Spreadsheet Posted on August 3, 2026 (July 31, 2026) by Alex Morgan HR leaders face a hard truth the Nike verdict just made concrete. A company can run privileged pay studies, act on the results, and defend individualized manager decisions, yet still lose in front of a jury. In July 2026, a federal jury in Portland found that Nike violated federal and state equal pay laws and […] Read More… from Pay Equity Audits After the Nike Verdict: Managing Litigation Risk You Cannot See on a Spreadsheet
7 Things to Know Before Buying Merit Planning Software Posted on August 1, 2026 (August 10, 2026) by Michelle Henderson Reading time: 8 minutes Every spring, someone on your team loses three days untangling a compensation spreadsheet that broke overnight. A formula reference shifted. A manager’s numbers stopped tying to budget. Now the whole compensation committee meeting sits on hold while someone hunts for the error. If that scene sounds familiar, you already know why […] Read More… from 7 Things to Know Before Buying Merit Planning Software