Comp and Coffee is a podcast by Payscale where we explore the art and science of compensation management. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and join us for conversations on pay and performance—packed with insights, practical tips, and strategies to help you stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world of work.
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You don't have to be on a compensation island all by yourself
Monday, July 13, 2026 • Duration 31:57
Compensation has never been more visible, more complex, or more
connected to business outcomes.
Yet many HR and compensation teams are expected to manage pay
transparency, market movement, budget planning, manager enablement,
and executive expectations with limited resources and little specialized
support.
In this episode, we explore why compensation expertise has become one of
the most valuable resources organizations can access and how strategic
partnerships can help HR leaders move beyond administration and become
more influential business advisors.
Guests:
• Jenny Walling – Senior Manager, Comp services and benchmarking
• Kim O’Grady – Compensation Supervisor at Designer Brands
Learn more about Payscale Services: https://www.payscale.com/products/services
Why your top performers may be a flight risk
Monday, July 13, 2026 • Duration 57:46
Flight risk is rarely loud. Most of the time, it shows up quietly in compensation data long before it shows up in resignation letters.
Across organizations, roles, and levels, the same pattern is emerging: the market is moving faster than internal pay structures. New hires are coming in at higher rates than tenured employees in similar roles. Certain jobs are consistently priced higher externally than they are internally. And top performers are paying attention.
This creates a different kind of retention challenge. Employees don’t need to be disengaged to start looking elsewhere. They just need to recognize that the market value of their role has already lifted off.
Amy Stewart from Payscale and Kelly Voss from Korn Ferry explore what compensation data is revealing about where organizations are most exposed, and how those signals show up before talent leaves.
You will learn:
Where pay gaps between new hires and tenured employees are creating hidden flight risk
Which roles and levels are most exposed to external market pressure
How compensation leaders can spot early warning signals in their own structure
Check out the full report here: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/flight-risk-report
Compensation in the age of AI: Innovation, governance, and trust
Monday, June 22, 2026 • Duration 46:53
Compensation professionals are no longer asking whether AI will change their work—they're asking how, where, and how fast.
Teams are experimenting with tools like Claude, Copilot, and ChatGPT to help analyze data, draft communications, support pay decisions, and streamline compensation processes.
Vendors are rolling out AI features and workflows in their products.
At the same time, leaders are navigating legitimate questions about data privacy, governance, accuracy, and trust.
Some see AI as the next major transformation in compensation management. Others worry we're moving faster than our ability to validate the outputs these tools produce.
The reality is probably somewhere in between.
In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas is joined by Paul Reiman, Founder and Managing Partner at Novo Insights, and Giac Soliman, Founder of Range and former Head of Compensation, to explore how AI is reshaping compensation—and what leaders should do next.
Resources:
The comp pro’s definitive guide to AI - https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/ai-compensation-management-guide
Connect with Giac on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsman/?skipRedirect=true
Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulreiman/
Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruththomas1/
Email: coffee@payscale.com for listener questions and suggestions
EU pay transparency directive debrief: The deadline has passed. Now what?
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 • Duration 39:11
For the last three years, organizations across Europe have been preparing for the biggest shift in pay transparency and pay equity regulation in a generation. The EU Pay Transparency Directive promised to reshape how employers think about compensation — from pay structures and job architecture to reporting obligations and how employees access pay information.
Now, the transposition deadline has arrived. And the picture is... complicated.
Some countries met the deadline. Many didn't. What's emerged is a patchwork of requirements across member states — some with finalized legislation, others still working through it. Employers are left interpreting new guidance, confronting practical challenges around job evaluation, data governance, and pay reporting, and figuring out how to communicate all of this to their workforce.
So what should employers actually be doing right now?
We've brought together an expert panel today to cut through the noise. In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas is joined by pay transparency experts Vicky Peakman, Founder of Fair Pay Partners, David Lorimer – Partner, Lewis Silkin, and Tom Heys, Pay Reporting Lead at Lewis Silkin.
Resources:
Pay transparency tracker: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/pay-transparency-legislation
EU pay transparency directive FAQ's: https://www.payscale.com/compensation-trends/eu-pay-transparency-directive-faqs
What your ELT really wants to know about pay. A CPO and CFO conversation
Friday, May 22, 2026 • Duration 01:02:45
Compensation is no longer just an HR process. It is a business decision that executive teams are paying close attention to.
In this special podcast episode, adapted from a recent Payscale webinar, Chief Product Officer Lexi Clarke and Chief Financial Officer Philip Watson discuss how organizations can rethink compensation reporting to better align with business goals and executive expectations.
Drawing from insights in Payscale’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report, they explore the questions leadership teams are asking after recent merit and pay cycles, including how compensation impacts retention, performance, and financial outcomes. The conversation also covers why traditional HR metrics often fall short and what compensation leaders should bring into strategic business discussions instead.
In this episode, you will learn:
• The compensation questions executive teams are asking right now and why they matter • Where traditional HR metrics fall short and what to bring into the conversation instead • How to connect pay decisions to outcomes like retention, performance, and cost
Want the full experience? Watch the webinar recording and access the presentation slides to dive deeper into the discussion: https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/what-your-elt-really-wants-to-know-about-pay
Why skills-based pay is finally within reach
Friday, May 8, 2026 • Duration 33:11
For decades, organizations have talked about paying for skills instead of jobs.
The idea is simple. Reward people based on what they can do, not just the role they hold.
But in practice, it has always been difficult to execute.
Skills are hard to define, harder to measure, and nearly impossible to track consistently across a workforce.
At the same time, the market is shifting fast.
AI-related skills are in high demand, showing up in job postings across industries. But new data shows those skills don’t always translate into higher pay.
So organizations are facing a disconnect.
They know skills matter more than ever. But they don’t yet have the systems or structures to consistently pay for them.
In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas is joined by Sara Hillenmeyer, VP of AI and Data Science at Payscale, to explore why skills-based pay has remained out of reach and why that may finally be changing.
Together they unpack how AI is reshaping demand for skills, why the market isn’t consistently rewarding them yet, and what needs to happen for skills-based pay to become a reality at scale.
This conversation looks at the data, the technology gap, and the structural shifts required for organizations to move from jobs-based to skills-based compensation.
We have an announcement...
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 • Duration 19:13
Recorded live from WorldatWork Total Rewards 2026 in San Antonio, this special episode of Comp and Coffee gives you an inside look at the launch of Payscale Intelligence Cloud.
Host Ruth Thomas is joined by Chief People Officer Lexi Clarke to share what they are hearing on the ground, including a key insight that 54% of practitioners are struggling with disconnected tools, systems, and processes, and what that means for the future of compensation.
They explore how compensation is evolving from a behind the scenes function into a strategic, always on business lever. You will hear how Payscale Intelligence Cloud is built to support that shift with a unified experience across stakeholders, richer data including skills and demand insights, solutions that scale with your maturity journey, and contextual intelligence to help you make better pay decisions in real time.
The conversation also covers the growing importance of pay transparency, the expanding role of HR teams in compensation, and why stronger alignment with finance is becoming essential to driving business impact.
If you are navigating complexity, data overload, or the pressure to make faster and more defensible pay decisions, this episode is for you.
Grab a coffee and tune in.
Pay equity isn't dead
Wednesday, March 25, 2026 • Duration 39:42
The gender pay gap has widened.
New data from the 2026 Gender Pay Gap Report shows the uncontrolled gender pay gap increased from $0.83 to $0.82, meaning women earn 18% less than men on average. That difference translates to $14,300 per year in lost earnings, and over $1 million across a career.
At the same time, organizations are navigating a new era of pay transparency legislation, tighter compensation budgets, and growing scrutiny around fairness in pay practices.
So what does pay equity actually look like in 2026?
In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas is joined by Vicky Peakman, Founder of Fair Pay Partners, and Lulu Seikaly, Senior Corporate Attorney, to unpack what the latest gender pay gap data really means and why transparency and equity are now inseparable.
Together they explore why the uncontrolled gap still persists, where inequities show up most clearly across careers and industries, and how organizations can move beyond compliance to build compensation strategies that are both equitable and sustainable.
This conversation looks at the legal landscape, the operational realities inside organizations, and the strategic choices leaders must make if they want pay transparency to strengthen trust rather than expose gaps.
Episode resources:
2026 Gender Pay Gap Report: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/gender-pay-gap
HR’s 2026 Guide to Pay Equity: https://www.payscale.com/research-and-insights/hr-2026-guide-to-pay-equity
Email: coffee@payscale.com for listener questions and suggestions
The hidden cost of peanut butter pay
Sunday, March 15, 2026 • Duration 32:45
When budgets shrink, performance pay is put to the test.
The 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report tells a clear story: budgets are tighter, bonuses are shrinking, and organizations are reaching for simpler pay strategies to get through the year.
Today we're exploring what happens when compensation decisions prioritize administrative ease over strategic intent — and what leaders can do about it.
In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas is joined by Founder of Payformance Partners Marc Mullis and People Operations leader at Leapfrog, Brittany Vogel to explore how organizations can maintain performance differentiation, employee trust, and retention in an era of tiny budgets.
This conversation goes beyond theory. It examines how leaders are creatively rethinking frequency versus size of rewards, leveraging non-base pay tools, strengthening communication, and avoiding the long-term consequences of oversimplified pay strategies.
Episode Resources:
2026 Compensation Best Practices Report: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/cbpr
Your insights matter and shape the future of work. Participate in the 2027 Compensation Best Practices Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/cbprsignup
Email: coffee@payscale.com for listener questions and suggestions
When pay research speaks: What HR and compensation leaders need to know now
Tuesday, February 24, 2026 • Duration 37:54
In this episode of Comp and Coffee, Ruth Thomas sits down with Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer at Sapient Insights Group, and Amy Stewart, Payscale’s Manager of Content & Research, to unpack how HR and compensation leaders can turn data into strategic, defensible decisions.
We explore the latest research on HR systems, compensation trends, and the growing role of AI in pay and talent management. Stacey shares insights from the 28th annual HR Systems Survey, highlighting the tension HR leaders face between driving growth and managing costs, navigating workforce shifts, and understanding mid-market versus enterprise trends. Amy provides a sneak peek at Payscale’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report, including pay increase trends, “peanut butter” pay practices, and strategies for retaining top talent while controlling costs.
Key takeaways include:
Data-driven decision making: Use multiple validated data sources to interpret trends and avoid overreacting to headlines.
Strategic compensation: Confidence in pay offers and total rewards is critical, especially in uncertain markets.
Technology & AI: AI is transforming compensation strategy, enabling smarter market pricing and strategic insights—but trust and validated data remain essential.
HR as a business partner: Compensation isn’t just an HR function; it’s a strategic lever that should inform enterprise-level decisions and connect to business outcomes.
Whether you’re evaluating HR tech, managing tight budgets, or planning for AI integration, this episode provides practical guidance for leaders who want to leverage research to make smarter, more strategic decisions in 2026.
Episode resources:
Sapient Insights Group HR Systems Survey Report: https://bit.ly/4rB1zos
Payscale 2026 Salary Increase Preview Report: https://bit.ly/3NWIQ8a
Payscale Salary Budget Survey: https://bit.ly/4qYwlaD
Payscale Pay Trends and Market Pricing Research: https://bit.ly/4kj5hk4
Email: coffee@payscale.com for listener questions and suggestions
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