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When pay transparency laws started going into effect about five years ago, employers had to decide what level of transparency was right for their organizations.
A common fear was that disclosing too much information—beyond the stated requirements of publishing expected salary ranges for open roles—could prompt employees to become dissatisfied with their pay, and lose motivation in their jobs. READ MORE
Many Americans who work overtime will get a break on their taxes for the next few years — but it may not be as hefty as they think.
Congressional Republicans sought to fulfill President Donald Trump’s “no tax on overtime” campaign promise in their One Big, Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed into law in July. But the measure doesn’t actually exempt all overtime pay from federal income taxes. READ MORE
Why do wages for some jobs go up while others go down? Why do some jobs pay a lot more than others?
The barstool answers you get to those questions tend to emphasize factors such as how difficult, dangerous, or important a job is, how much education is necessary, etc. You tend to get moralistic answers in a lot of cases, answers that attempt to explain why highly paid people deserve to be highly paid.
But none of those answers is true. READ MORE
The CEO of McDonald's says restaurants that rely on tips are letting diners pick up the bill when it comes to paying their employees.
Speaking on CNBC Tuesday morning, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski was asked how the fast-food chain would be affected by the "no tax on tips" provision of the Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law in July. READ MORE
Many Americans assume a bachelor’s degree is the only way to reach a six-figure salary, but that is no longer true.
According to a LendingTree analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, 5.7 million full-time, year-round workers without a four-year degree earned $100,000 or more in 2023. That equals 9.1% of all non-degree workers. READ MORE
For a business that sells a lot of lumber, paint, and other building supplies, Home Depot is increasingly focused on tech.
In addition to being the largest home improvement chain in the world, the orange-aproned retailer relies on a large and growing tech workforce to power its effort to put more digital tools in the hands of employees and its DIY and pro customers. READ MORE
How is the rate of pay for CEOs determined? That is the complex and multimillion-dollar question—and one that WMU Assistant Professor of Finance Dr. Edward Kim researches.
“Corporations invest significant resources in structuring CEO compensation to ensure executives act in ways that maximize shareholder value,” says Kim. “A well-designed compensation package can incentivize performance and long-term value creation. While CEO pay is formally determined by the board of directors, it results from nuanced negotiations between the executive and the board. Whether CEOs ultimately set their own pay or if competitive market forces drive compensation levels remains an open question in research.” READ MORE
A non-qualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan allows a service provider to earn wages, bonuses, or other compensation in one year but receive the earnings—and defer the income tax on them—in a later year. Doing this provides income in the future (often after they've left the workforce), and may reduce the tax payable on the income if the person is in a lower tax bracket when the deferred compensation is received. READ MORE
One month ago, I was a communications executive with a six-figure salary. Today, I deliver sandwiches for DoorDash, sometimes for nearly minimum wage.
The first time I accepted a DoorDash order, I nearly cried. Just weeks earlier, I had been managing crisis communications for an entire industry. READ MORE
In response to investor demand for clear and consistent pay-for-performance analysis as executive compensation plans become increasingly complex, Glass Lewis recently announced a new pay-for-performance methodology (here). To provide greater transparency and more meaningful and predictable analysis in its reports, Glass Lewis will now provide a quantitative score based on five key tests and a qualitative assessment. The new methodology and scoring will be applicable starting January 1, 2026. The Glass Lewis announcement comes shortly after the launch of its annual benchmark policy survey READ MORE
This month, the global organizational consultancy firm Korn Ferry declared that we’ve entered a nationwide era of “job hugging,” a term to describe the trend of workers increasingly holding onto their positions for dear life amid economic uncertainty, layoffs, and AI disruption.
Now, a new report from the Bank of America Institute is shedding fresh light on the trend, showing that workers may be choosing to cling onto their current jobs because “job hopping” is no longer profitable. READ MORE
Organizations and their total rewards professionals make compensation decisions on a daily basis — whether it’s toward extending an external offer, shifting salaries tied to promotions, enacting off-cycle adjustments, addressing market rates or various other reasons.
Most organizations define their desired market position and pay approach, but that philosophy often fails to translate into consistent day-to-day practices — especially when decisions extend beyond the compensation team. READ MORE
Workers who have the right artificial intelligence (AI) skills or training — and apply them in the right place, at the right moment — may earn a pretty penny in today’s hiring landscape.
Some organizations are paying a premium to lure such workers. The nine-figure bonusesOpen in a new tab pledged to top AI engineers certainly catch the eye, but there’s plenty more of this trend across roles and industries beyond those outliers. For example, compensation data firm J. Thelander Consulting found technology companies — especially startups — are paying premiums of up to $200,000Open in a new tab for data scientists and analysts trained in machine learning. READ MORE
Americans are routinely living paycheck to paycheck, and for many, home ownership has become a pipe dream. We also all know that young people have inherited this economy from generations that, in many ways, had it much easier. But if you had to guess, what would you think the minimum wage would have to be to have the same home-buying power as it would have in the 1970s for baby boomers? READ MORE
Elon Musk's younger brother Kimbal Musk has alleged that Elon Musk has not been paid for the last six to eight years by Tesla and that the world's richest man “deserves to be paid.”
While speaking on CNBC's “Squawk Box” last week, Kimbal Musk said, “I think my brother deserves to be paid.” READ MORE
In the high-stakes race to dominate artificial intelligence, stock-based compensation (SBC) has emerged as both a weapon and a vulnerability. For tech companies,
SBC is a critical lever to attract and retain elite AI talent, yet its dilutive impact on shareholder value raises urgent questions about long-term sustainability. As the industry grapples with this paradox, investors must weigh the strategic necessity of SBC against its financial costs. READ MORE
The controversy over the various compensation packages awarded to Elon Musk by the Tesla board since 2018 took a new turn this week. A shareholder organization called SOC Investment Group has asked NASDAQ — not the Securities and Exchange Commission — to invalidate the latest proposed compensation package on the grounds that it violates the trading platform’s rules designed to protect shareholders of publicly traded companies. READ MORE
In today’s world, time has become a form of currency, perhaps the most valuable of all. We trade it like a commodity. We spend it, we lose it, we chase it. But what if we’ve been playing the wrong game all along? We weren’t born to hustle. We were born to live.
Our current system rewards exhaustion. It applauds overwork. The message is clear: if you want to “make it,” you must sacrifice rest, presence, and sometimes even your sanity. But I refuse to accept that equation. In the Science Economy, we flip the script. We stop asking, “How can I get more done?” and start asking, “How can I live more fully?” READ MORE
Blake from Lincoln, Nebraska, recently called into Dave Ramsey‘s “EntreLeadership” podcast with a problem many managers face: employees who are frustrated with their raises.
Blake, the controller of a physical security company with about 100 employees, explained their current compensation system: a 2% cost-of-living raise every year, plus up to 3% more based on merit. But the merit side was getting messy. READ MORE
A majority of U.S. employers are using non-qualified deferred compensation plans for executive retention (68 per cent) and to support broader financial planning goals such as remaining competitive with peers (53 per cent) and helping participants save for retirement (52 per cent), according to a new survey by NFP Corp.
The survey, which polled more than 250 employers, found nearly nine in ten (87 per cent) said plan members are satisfied with the impact of deferred compensation plans on their retirement preparedness. READ MORE