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Pay Transparency Anyone?
TL;DR
There’s a version of compensation tension HR can manage. It’s slow, internal, and usually contained to a few awkward one-on-ones. Even in the most transparent companies, there are usually some cases that only HR is privy to. Then there’s the version where a screenshot escapes into the wild, and all hell breaks loose.
Episode 9 is about that second kind. The kind where no one acted maliciously, but trust still takes a hit. And where HR has to explain an uncomfortable truth, most companies quietly live with but rarely say out loud: sometimes, market reality breaks your neat compensation rules.
A candidate hired into an AI role shares a screenshot of the offer on LinkedIn. The numbers are blurred, but not enough - employees can decipher them immediately. The outrage isn’t about transparency - it’s about what the number confirms: that in certain roles, the market sets the rules, not internal bands. Kelly has to contain the fallout, protect the candidate, and explain a truth that stings without letting compensation turn into a blame spiral.
The Situation
Maya, Kelly’s trusted HRBP didn’t knock. She just walked in and turned her laptop around. “LinkedIn. A post from a newly hired Applied AI Engineer, Priya. Excited. Earnest. The kind of post people write when they’re proud and not thinking three steps ahead. I have spoken to her.”
The post read “Grateful to join LumaCore. Dream role, incredible team!”
Below it was a screenshot of a welcome email sent by Parker, LumaCore’s Co-founder and CTO.
“I don’t understand. What’s wrong with this? It’s great that she’s excited to join us?” Kelly asked, rather confused.
“Zoom in,” Maya replied.
Kelly felt her stomach drop once she zoomed in. She could spot the trail email - the salary figures were blurred but not enough. If somebody zoomed in twice, they would be able to make out the total compensation that was offered to Priya.
“How long has this been up?”
“About an hour. Screenshots are already in Engineering. And Product. Someone pasted it in a private Slack channel with ‘guess the number.’”
Kelly closed her eyes. This wasn’t a leak. This was an accident. Which somehow always makes it worse. She needed to control the damage and fast.
The Spiral
Daniel joined the emergency call already irritated.
“Can we get it taken down?”
“Yes,” Kelly said. “And we will. But that’s not the problem.”
Lena was quieter than usual. “I recognize the figure - I approved it,” she said. “That’s above our top band. But there’s no other way we could have hired a top AI engineer.”
“It’s an AI role,” Parker supported. “That’s the market.”
Kelly watched the room split in real time. Half of them already accepted that reality. The other half wanted to pretend the rules were still intact.
Maya jumped in. “Managers are getting messages. ‘If that’s what new AI hires make, why am I here?’”
Jessica scoffed. “It’s not even their function.”
Kelly turned to her. “It doesn’t matter. Pay never stays in its lane.”
Daniel rubbed his face. “So what, we apologize for paying competitively?”
“No,” Kelly said. “We explain it. Carefully. And we protect the candidate, because they didn’t do anything wrong.”
The Pivot
Kelly started explaining patiently, “This happened because we’ve been saying two different things quietly. One, that we have disciplined compensation bands. Two, that we’ll do what it takes to hire critical AI talent. Both are true. We just haven’t explained how they coexist.”
Lena nodded slowly. “And now people are seeing the gap.”
“Yes,” Kelly said. “And filling it with their own story.”
Daniel crossed his arms. “Which is?”
“That some roles matter more. That loyalty caps out. That bands are flexible when leadership wants them to be.”
No one contradicted her. That silence told her enough.
Kelly continued. “Here’s what we don’t do. We don’t shame the candidate. We don’t pretend the screenshot didn’t show what it showed. And we don’t let managers wing explanations.”
Daniel asked, “So what do we do?”
“We tell the truth,” Kelly said. “Without theatrics.”
The Reframe
That afternoon, Kelly drafted a short internal note. Not inspirational. Not defensive.
- We’re aware of a LinkedIn post showing a blurred offer screenshot from a new hire. The post has been taken down. We are transparent about our pay bands internally but not with the world except candidates who interview with us. This is competitive intelligence and is being treated as such.
- The individual did not violate any policy and will not face consequences.
- Compensation bands guide most roles. In a small number of highly competitive areas, including advanced AI, market conditions can require offers above standard bands.
- This does not change how internal pay is reviewed. If you believe your role is misaligned, here is the formal review path and timeline.
Then she wrote the part that mattered most. The manager guidance.
“When employees ask why this is possible:
- Acknowledge the discomfort.
- Explain the market reality without apologizing for it.
- Do not promise adjustments.
- Route review requests through HR.”
She sent it, knowing exactly which line would get screenshotted next.
The Meeting
Daniel called her into his office the next morning.
“This is turning ugly,” he said.
Kelly sat down. “I know, but trust me on this - I have handled enough of these cases to know that this will die down after the initial outrage. Our response was fair and most importantly, it showed that we had nothing to hide.”
He exhaled. “I don’t love saying we pay above band.”
“I don’t love it either,” Kelly said. “But pretending we don’t is worse. Especially when AI talent knows their market value better than we do.”
Daniel looked at her. “So bands don’t mean anything?”
“They mean consistency where the market allows it,” Kelly replied. “And honesty where it doesn’t. This also means that we need to relook at our bands - they are not set in stone and just like our practices, values, and targets, they too have to evolve.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “And if this opens the floodgates?”
Kelly met his eyes. “Then we handle reviews deliberately. Not reactively. The worst thing we can do is let the loudest people win.”
The Aftermath
By Friday, the noise hadn’t vanished. But it had changed.
Fewer jokes. More direct questions. Some resentment. Some understanding. Mostly, a fragile sense that HR wasn’t hiding.
Maya stopped by late. “That was rough.”
Kelly nodded. “It always is when the market shows up uninvited.”
Maya hesitated. “Do you think people will ever be okay with this?”
Kelly thought for a second. “No. But they can be okay with us telling the truth.”
The Pattern
Pay issues don’t explode because people see numbers. They explode when numbers expose a story employees already suspect.
In competitive talent markets like AI, compensation stops being purely internal. The mistake isn’t paying above band. It’s failing to explain why, before a screenshot forces the conversation.
Fairness isn’t sameness.
But if you don’t articulate the difference, people will assume favoritism.
Kelly Recommends
If your company hires in markets where demand outpaces structure, decide these before the screenshot happens:
- Which roles can break your internal bands, and who approves it.
- How you explain market exceptions without devaluing internal work.
- How review processes stay disciplined when emotions spike.
Dear Kelly: You’ve vented to a friend. You’ve laughed with your team. Now tell Kelly. Dear Kelly is collecting the real-world HR stories that deserve to be told, the messy, painfully familiar ones. Drop yours here.
Just When Things Were Settling Down…
Late Friday afternoon, Kelly saw a new invite from Daniel.
Subject: Performance process rethink
Attendees: Daniel Mercer, Kelly Cross, Lena Cho
Message: “We need to overhaul performance this quarter. The current system isn’t matching the pace we want. Let’s move fast.”
Kelly stared at the screen.
After a week of people arguing about how value is measured, Daniel wanted to change the system that defines it.
She didn’t decline the invite.
She didn’t accept it either.
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