326 - Never let an LLM do the math on comp. Do this instead.

Clare Bonham (Chief Product Officer) and Sébastien Baehni (CTO) from beqom joined us on The Modern People Leader.

We talked about how managers can make better pay and performance decisions, why AI should support but not replace human judgment, and what intentional AI looks like in compensation.

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Downloadable PDF with top takeaways: https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode326

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(10:45) Why Managers Need Context for Pay and Performance Decisions

(11:35) Pay History, Pay Range, Budget and Talent Data

(14:40) The Evolving Role of Managers in Compensation Decisions

(16:05) The Difference Between Owning the Decision and Just Delivering the Message

(17:45) How Managers Should Talk About Pay Constraints With Employees

(23:05) Hiding Complexity While Letting Managers Drill Down

(25:05) Why People Do Not Want AI Fully Deciding Their Compensation

(26:15) Why AI Should Help but Humans Should Stay in Control

(29:25) The Three Principles of Intentional AI: Explainable, Collaborative and Controllable

(31:45) Why Compensation and Performance Decisions Must Stay Human-Centered

(34:10) Auditing the Data, Rules and Models Behind a Pay Decision

(36:10) The Three Types of AI in Compensation and Performance

(38:45) Why LLMs Should Not Make Compensation Calculations

(39:30) Why Compensation Needs Correctness, Not Plausibility

(40:35) Moving Comp Teams Away From Spreadsheet-Heavy Work

(41:20) Refocusing Comp Professionals on Strategy, Fairness and Incentives

(48:05) The Rise of the High-Impact Individual Contributor

(50:05) Why Automating Easy Tasks Could Increase Burnout

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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.