The modern workplace demands transparency and equity at every level, particularly when it comes to compensation.
As companies implement best practices for pay transparency, they often find themselves reevaluating their entire approach to compensation management.
For HR leaders, this isn’t just about setting competitive salaries—it’s about building pay frameworks that align with company values while supporting both business growth and people’s development.
In a recent HiBob webinar hosted by Naomi Goldberg from our product marketing team, we heard from two HR leaders who’ve tackled compensation consistency head-on: Rony Reich, Director of Compensation, Benefits, HRIS, and People Analytics at Yotpo; and Roza Tapini, Head of People Operations at Skroutz.
Read on as we explore the webinar’s key insights on building fair and transparent compensation practices that empower both businesses and their team members.
<<Watch the full webinar to get all the key takeaways.>>
The fundamental challenges of pay transparency
Creating consistent compensation practices is a rewarding journey that encourages thoughtful strategy and planning.
In the webinar, Roza and Rony shared insights on some common obstacles they overcame while striving to develop fairer and more transparent compensation strategies:
1. Balancing transparency with performance
Striking the right balance between transparency and performance recognition is a leading challenge in compensation. HR teams strive to establish pay structures that are both fair and transparent while effectively rewarding individual performance.
As Rony explains in the webinar, “The most important thing for the company is to really understand and find the balance between pay transparency and consistency and pay for performance.
“Eventually, we want to make sure that we put our money where it matters, where it really serves the business need, but on the other hand, making sure that we are consistent and we do pay equally.”
2. Standardizing across teams
Another key challenge discussed in the webinar is achieving compensation consistency across every part of the organization.
How do you create relevant compensation structures for every department, role, and level, without introducing friction and complexity?
3. Managing growth and complexity
Ensuring fair and consistent compensation across the organization becomes all the more important as the company expands.
Just ask the team at Skroutz, which doubled their headcount in three years. Creating new roles and departments required a structured approach to compensation that could scale with the company while ensuring fairness and competitiveness.
“Pay equity isn’t just about ensuring people with the same roles are paid equally,” explains Roza. “It’s about establishing frameworks that scale with your organization while remaining fair and competitive.”
4. Supporting new and existing team members
Our speakers discuss the challenge of balancing competitive pay offers for new hires with maintaining internal pay equity across the organization.
Attracting top talent often requires offering market-rate compensation, but this can create tension if those offers don’t align with the pay of existing team members.
Building pay transparency goals around new legislation
Regulations surrounding pay transparency continue to evolve globally. As of 2024, 19 US states and municipalities have enacted pay range disclosure laws, requiring employers to provide salary information in job postings.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has implemented new pay transparency directives aimed at reducing the gender pay gap, which currently stands at 13 percent. These regulations require organizations to:
- Provide clear frameworks for compensation decisions
- Ensure equity across different demographics
- Maintain transparent communication about pay practices
Businesses are embracing these changes. Take Yotpo’s experience with New York’s Pay Transparency Act, “We gladly embraced the new legislation,” shares Rony in the webinar.
However, Rony went on to discuss how this presented a tricky balance in managing competitiveness for new hires versus maintaining internal pay equity.
“It brought along significant challenges that might impact our competitiveness. We’re exposing our salary ranges to companies we compete against for talent, while also facing questions from existing team members who rightfully compare themselves to the published ranges.”
As transparency becomes a compliance requirement, organizations face a choice. Do you treat it as a box-ticking exercise or use it as a catalyst to build better compensation practices?
Evidently from our webinar, the most successful teams are choosing the latter, using these requirements as a springboard for meaningful change in how they approach, discuss, and manage pay.
Designing fair compensation strategies that drive business success
Modern compensation involves more than setting salaries. It’s about understanding how pay decisions impact team members and the business itself.
Effective compensation mapping brings together internal factors—like performance, experience, and skill development—with external factors, such as market rates and regional differences, to build a fair and competitive pay structure.
When organizations back compensation conversations with solid data and clear communication, they transform the subject into a powerful tool for both retaining and attracting great people.
As Rony explains, “When we’re coming to a compensation decision, we need to feel comfortable that we’re paying fair and attractive rates while serving our business needs.”
Using compensation bands for growth and transparency
Transparent compensation frameworks create clear pathways for growth while offering the flexibility to recognize and reward performance—something both our webinar speakers have witnessed firsthand.
“People have been asking for this transparency,” shares Roza from Skroutz. “They’ve been asking to know what their bands are, how they can progress to the next compensation band, how proposal reviews take place, how decisions are made.”
When teams understand more about their compensation, they can focus their energy on growth rather than wondering about pay.
Both Roza and Rony highlighted that salary banding strategies aren’t meant to be static.
They function as living frameworks, evolving with the business while staying grounded in core principles of fairness and transparency.
Unlocking new opportunities with open compensation
Organizations embracing transparent compensation are discovering benefits that extend far beyond compliance. Roza and Rony share some of the exciting benefits that teams experience when they’re open about pay:
- Trust grows between managers and teams
- Hiring and promotions become smoother
- Pay-related questions and confusion drop
- Top talent is easier to attract and keep
- The link between performance and rewards becomes clearer
“Transparency has always been one of our core values,” explains Roza. “We’ve been using compensation bands for quite some time, and we’re evolving toward making all our compensation bands public. When people know where they stand and how they can grow, it creates trust and motivation.”
What used to be tricky conversations about pay have become productive discussions about growth and performance. “It really allows us to bring very professional and data-driven discussion,” notes Rony.
When pay transparency is correctly executed, compensation transitions from a source of tension to a powerful tool for engagement and development. Teams spend less time questioning pay and more time focusing on growth opportunities and long-term goals.
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Creating a framework for pay consistency
Building a culture of compensation consistency requires a systematic approach. Here’s a practical framework for organizations starting their journey toward pay transparency based on insights from the webinar:
- Start with benchmarking by leveraging both external and internal data to understand your competitive position. Building this foundation helps ensure your compensation strategy aligns with market realities while maintaining internal equity.
- Next, develop your compensation philosophy. This should reflect your organization’s values and goals while considering factors like performance recognition and growth opportunities. Your philosophy becomes the North Star guiding all compensation decisions.
With this groundwork in place, focus on implementation:
- Map existing roles to appropriate compensation bands
- Identify and address any outliers
- Create clear guidelines that align with your philosophy
- Train managers on using the new framework
- Develop communication plans for rolling out changes
“You have to make sure that any corrections are taken care of before you go live,” advises Roza, reflecting on Skroutz’s two-year journey to compensation transparency. Being methodical prevents issues from emerging down the line when your plans are operational.
Consistency doesn’t mean rigidity, however. The best frameworks are flexible enough to progress with your organization while maintaining its core principles of fairness and transparency.
Building your path to compensation transparency
Ultimately, the journey toward compensation transparency varies for every organization.
While some adopt radical transparency, others may opt for a gradual approach. There are merits to both strategies.
One thing is clear, though: The push for greater transparency is here to stay. With expanding legislation and rising expectations at all levels, organizations that proactively develop strong compensation frameworks set themselves up for long-term success.
As discussed in the webinar, adopting pay transparency best practices isn’t just about sharing numbers—it’s about building trust, fueling growth, and creating an environment where people understand how their contributions connect to their compensation.
Be methodical, and focus on building frameworks that serve your organization and your people. Compensation benchmarking tools like Bob play a key role in this process, helping organizations build fair and competitive frameworks.
Want to learn more? Watch our full webinar to learn how leading organizations are transforming their pay transparency strategies.
