Friends,

Thanks to all the kind people who replied to last weeks “I’m taking a break note”. Hope you found that small way to take a break yourself.

I’m back in the saddle this week, and it’s that time of year when companies are starting to think about their annual compensation cycle (I know because a few of you have reached out for help!).

So I wanted to talk about a tactic I’ve used for comp reviews that (in my view) have one of the best impacts on a traditionally pretty underwhelming experience: the pre-brief/debrief.

When it comes down to it, a lot of what makes good comp practices work is actually just good communication, so today we’re exploring one of the best tactics I’ve helped companies adopt for the upcoming review season.

Enjoy this week’s edition ✌️

Matt

P.S. Know a startup Head of People looking for answers 🙋 why not forward this to them for some instant karma? ✨

In case you’re new here (or just missed it) here’s the past three editions of the FNDN Series:

AI, remote work, and global hiring are reshaping HR. This report from Oyster breaks down the biggest trends shaping teams in 2026.

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It's that time of year when companies are getting ready for their annual comp cycle. And if there's one thing all of them are thinking about, it's how much they dread it.

And I understand why.

A lot rides on it.

Every group comes out of it a little more miserable than it went in.

Employees get a letter with a new number on it and no context. They can't tell why it's that number, or how it compares to anyone else's.

So the ones who expected more come to negotiate. ("I got 3%, I was expecting 4 or 5.")

Managers find out what their role is when a deadline lands on them, then have to defend numbers they can't fully explain.

The People team fields "where's it up to?" messages during the cycle, and a queue of pay disputes after it.

Then we all go back to focusing on the rest of the year, until it comes round again.

And yet, year in and year out, it runs the same way.

All of it comes back to the same problem: the process happens in a black box.

But there's a better way.

One that takes only a bit more effort, and that I’ve seen work effectively at companies (that I’ve worked with) that have 60 people all the way up to 600 (and I’m sure the principle holds at even larger ones, too).

Because people will live with a smaller increase than they hoped for. 

What wears them down is not being able to see how it was decided.

If you give your comp review a public start and a public finish, people will respect the outcome even when they don't love it.

When CPOs hear "transparency", most picture a spreadsheet of everyone's salary on the company knowledge base.

But that's pay transparency, and it's a bigger decision with its own deep considerations.

Process transparency is smaller and easier to start with. You explain how decisions get made and how people can move within the system.

Here’s an example of what I’ve shared, or kept private, at companies that wanted to drastically improve their metrics around their compensation cycles.

You can show people how the machine works without showing them anyone's payslip.

Run a town hall before the performance stage kicks off.

It sets up everything that follows, and covers four things:

The timeline does more work than you'd expect.

If someone is hoping for a promotion, the brief is their cue to raise it with their manager before the performance stage, while there's still time to influence it.

By the end of the brief, everyone knows what the cycle is for and what their part in it is.

A brief only works if the following weeks don't go quiet.

Post a company-wide update every time a stage closes, and whenever something slips. 

(A delay you announce lands far better than one people discover, or have to ask about.)

Then give people somewhere to look things up, so they don't have to ask:

Managers get their own version of each, plus four answers across every step:

Before letters go out, give managers talking points for the pay conversation, so they can explain how the outcome was reached, and how it fits in the broader exercise.

The test for this stage: nobody should have to ask where the review is up to.

Once letters are out, bring everyone back together and report against the goals you set in the brief.

Use the same data you showed going in:

This works for two reasons.

The first is that people can see you did what you said you'd do. Their own increase now has context, against the average for their performance level and against what the cycle set out to fix.

The second is accountability. When leaders know the aggregate results will be shown to the whole company, they're far less likely to go off-piste with increases that aren't warranted. If pay equity didn't improve in their team, they'd have to answer for it (not the People team).

Sometimes the data does something you don't expect.

At one company, the debrief showed the People team sat further behind on compa-ratio than any other department. 

The team running the process was doing it in spite of themselves, and a lot of pay queries went quiet after that.

Running the debrief turns the pay letter from a verdict they don’t understand, into an explanation they can trust.

This can look like a lot of extra work. Most of it isn't.

You've already defined the process; the comms plan is that process written down for the people going through it.

It also takes work off your plate: fewer "where is it up to?" messages, and less of your time spent chasing managers on deadlines.

In my experience, four things change:

The numbers will look different at every company, so set your own targets before the brief. They become the scorecard for the debrief.

Most companies will spend the next few months dreading their cycle.

The ones that brief and debrief their people end up with a pay review people understand and respect, even in a year when the increases are small.

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A roundup of the most interesting stuff from the week:

When you’re ready, here’s three ways I can help you:

1. Tools & resources
Resources and tools that give you what you need to build your own startup compensation practices.

2. Comp consulting
Building startup compensation practices that are clear, fair and competitive.

3. Startup People Summit
A 1-day annual event for People professionals in scaling companies. Creating the playbook for startup people practices. Grab recordings from past events, or subscribe to join the next summit.