232: The Modern Compensation Playbook: Matt McFarlane (Director, FNDN) & Haris Ikram (Co-Founder & CEO, CandorIQ)

Matt McFarlane and Haris Ikram joined us for a live session to break down everything modern HR leaders need to know about compensation—from philosophy and strategy to pay transparency and AI tools. Together, they shared a forward-thinking playbook for tackling merit cycles, aligning job architecture, and driving better employee experiences through data and design.---- Sponsor Links:🔗 Sign up for ChartHop’s 2-Minute Talk on June 4th.🔗 Go book your next offsite with Marco Experiences.🔗 Get in contact with the Career Sandwich team.MPL Links:🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live San Francisco.🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.---- (04:00) Why Compensation Now? – The narrative HR leaders are sharing(06:30) Comp is Still Broken – Transparency, tech, and rising expectations(08:30) Gen Z and the Value Prop Shift – Employment has changed(10:00) Making Pay Make Sense – Linking compensation to performance(13:00) Real-World Comp Challenges – From spreadsheets to strategy(15:30) Global Comp Complexity – APAC, logistics, high- and low-tech roles(17:00) Job Architecture's Role – Why it’s foundational to HR today(20:30) Rapid Fire: The Comp Playbook – Philosophy, strategy, equity, benchmarking(32:00) Tech for Comp Teams – Centralized data, manager enablement, and AI insights(42:00) Rethinking Merit Cycles – What modern comp reviews should look like(47:00) Manager Training & Transparency – Empowering leaders with the right tools(53:00) Total Rewards Experience – From offer letters to ongoing employee clarity(58:30) Final Thoughts & One-Word Close – Key takeaways from the session---- 📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn---- Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.