Something that will hold back your credibility as a Head of People: using bad compensation data. Let me show you how to get it right.
When your data is fragile, every offer turns into a debate:
Is your sample size big enough?
Are you comparing apples to apples on location and company stage?
Can you show your work when someone asks for the source?
Getting the right benchmark dataset isn’t glamorous.
It’s about defining your non-negotiables — roles, regions, company size — and mapping vendors against them.
It’s scoring coverage, integration features, and price.
And yes, it means creating an audit trail you can defend.
I’ve boiled that process down into a step-by-step cheat sheet.
Follow it to shortlist vendors, validate their data overlap with your needs, and walk into every negotiation with confidence.
Have you ever been caught off guard by bad comp data? Tell me what happened.
And here's a (free) playbook I made with my friends at Pave to help you work through the right way to buy: https://explore.pave.com/Comp-Data-Upgrade.html?utm_source=FNDN&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=data-guide&utm_term=partner