What College Basketball Teaches Us About Merit Allocation Posted on March 16, 2026 (March 16, 2026) by Neil Morgan Every January, several hundred Duke University students pitch tents outside Cameron Indoor Stadium and begin a weeks-long vigil for basketball tickets. They study for a trivia exam. Midnight air-horn checks by student enforcers punctuate their sleep. All of it is governed by a 50-page constitution covering everything from tent dimensions to what qualifies as a […] Read More… from What College Basketball Teaches Us About Merit Allocation
Why HR Professionals Struggle to Build Real Networks: And What to Do About It Posted on March 10, 2026 by Stacy Fenner Our founder, Laura Morgan, told me a story a while ago. She once walked into a leadership meeting and did something most HR professionals would consider completely natural. She had seen a leader’s birthday on his record while working in the system, and when she saw him that morning, she wished him a happy birthday. […] Read More… from Why HR Professionals Struggle to Build Real Networks: And What to Do About It
Communicating Compensation Data Without Losing Your Audience Posted on March 6, 2026 by Alex Morgan You built the model and ran the regression. You cross-referenced three salary surveys, validated the compa-ratio distribution, and color-coded the outliers. But when it comes to communicating compensation data effectively, you watched the room glaze over somewhere around slide four. Here is a hard truth for every compensation professional: your audience does not want to […] Read More… from Communicating Compensation Data Without Losing Your Audience
Pay Transparency Is Exposing Internal Pay Problems Faster Than Ever Posted on March 4, 2026 (March 6, 2026) by Austin Schleeter Picture this: your organization just posted salary ranges on every open requisition because your legal team said you had to. Within 48 hours, a high-performing engineer in your Chicago office discovers that the posted range for her job title starts $18,000 above her current salary. She is not angry yet. But she will be. Pay […] Read More… from Pay Transparency Is Exposing Internal Pay Problems Faster Than Ever
Labor Market Intelligence: What HR Leaders Must Track in 2026 Posted on February 27, 2026 (February 27, 2026) by Laura Morgan Your workforce is staying put. On the surface, 2026 looks like a gift — unemployment sits at 4.3%, voluntary quit rates have hit post-pandemic lows, and the frantic wage competition of 2022 has cooled. So why are so many HR leaders walking into compensation conversations feeling like they have nothing to show? The answer is […] Read More… from Labor Market Intelligence: What HR Leaders Must Track in 2026
Job Evaluation AI Agents: Why Hay and Mercer Need an Overhaul Posted on February 10, 2026 (February 12, 2026) by Michelle Henderson Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes Your marketing director manages a team of twelve people. Every traditional job rating system on the market says that leadership span drives big job value. Now picture a different marketing director across town who manages zero people but runs fifteen AI agents. Those agents handle prospecting, content creation, market analysis, […] Read More… from Job Evaluation AI Agents: Why Hay and Mercer Need an Overhaul
AI-Driven Layoffs: Rethinking Job Design and Workforce Philosophy Before the Next RIF Posted on February 5, 2026 (February 5, 2026) by Laura Morgan The Brutal Math Behind Corporate AI Optimism Amazon cut 16,000 corporate roles, citing AI investments and efficiency. Salesforce eliminated 4,000 customer service positions because “I need less heads with AI,” according to their CEO. Nestle announced 16,000 job cuts to automate processes. These aren’t outliers—they represent a coordinated shift across industries where AI workforce restructuring […] Read More… from AI-Driven Layoffs: Rethinking Job Design and Workforce Philosophy Before the Next RIF
The Shakespeare Compensation Paradox: When ‘They Love It Here’ Becomes Your Retention Liability Posted on February 2, 2026 (February 6, 2026) by Alex Morgan “Our employees like the mission—we can’t afford to pay more. They appreciate what we do here.” If you’ve said this to yourself, your board, or your finance team, you’re implementing a retention strategy with a predictable expiration date. Understanding that timeline helps you decide whether to course-correct before or after losing your strongest performers. Shakespeare […] Read More… from The Shakespeare Compensation Paradox: When ‘They Love It Here’ Becomes Your Retention Liability
Performance-Based Pay Models: Aligning Rewards with Business Goals to Boost Employee Engagement Posted on January 30, 2026 (January 27, 2026) by Austin Schleeter Organizations often introduce performance-based pay models as a way to motivate employees and reinforce accountability. Employees, however, experience it far more personally—through performance reviews, merit increases, bonus payouts, and compensation conversations that shape how they interpret fairness, opportunity, and trust. When HR leaders align performance-based pay with business goals and implement it with discipline, these […] Read More… from Performance-Based Pay Models: Aligning Rewards with Business Goals to Boost Employee Engagement
Merit Cycle Errors: HR Horror Stories When Spreadsheets Become Crises Posted on January 28, 2026 (January 30, 2026) by Laura Morgan When Spreadsheet Errors Become Career-Defining Moments You’re staring at your screen at 11 PM, three days before board approval, when you notice it: a single grade classification error that just cost your top performer $18,000 in equity. Your stomach drops. Tomorrow morning, you’ll stand in front of the C-suite and explain how merit cycle errors […] Read More… from Merit Cycle Errors: HR Horror Stories When Spreadsheets Become Crises