Making Pay Fair And Simple: How We Helped a Tech Giant Improve Its Global Salary System

As companies grow, things can start to drift, especially when it comes to how people are paid.

New roles are added quickly, job titles evolve without much structure, and pay decisions are often made on the fly to fill urgent hiring needs. Over time, these one-off decisions pile up. And before you know it, the compensation framework you started with no longer reflects the organization you’ve become.

That’s exactly what happened to a global tech company we partnered with. They were growing fast, expanding across regions and functions, and doing important work in a competitive industry. But behind the scenes, pay practices were becoming inconsistent, unclear, and hard to manage.

The company came to us with a clear ask: help us bring structure, fairness, and consistency to how we pay people, without slowing down the pace of the business.

The Hidden Cost of Inconsistent Pay Practices

On paper, the company had a global rewards framework: salary ranges, bonus targets, and leveling guidelines. But in reality, those tools weren’t being used consistently.

In some teams, hiring managers were offering salaries outside the approved ranges to secure top talent. In others, bonus targets varied widely, even for employees at the same level. And job titles didn’t always reflect actual responsibilities, which made it hard to compare roles or make confident decisions during reviews and promotions.

These issues not only created extra work for HR but also affected employee trust.

When employees saw peers with the same title earning different bonuses, or unclear guidance around what it takes to move up, it created friction. Leaders felt uncertain when communicating pay decisions. HR teams spent hours managing exceptions and trying to patch inconsistencies.

The company didn’t just want a quick fix. They wanted a stronger foundation to support growth and build trust across the organization.

Where We Started

Our first step was to understand what was working and what wasn’t.

We partnered with HR, Finance, and business leaders to look across regions, teams, and systems. We reviewed compensation data, job profiles, bonus structures, and how decisions were being made in the field.

It became clear that there were gaps between the company’s formal compensation framework and how it was applied day-to-day. Teams were interpreting policies in different ways, and tools like Workday weren’t set up to support consistent enforcement.

So instead of layering on more rules, we focused on making the existing system work better by simplifying where needed and tightening things where it mattered most.

What We Built Together

Rather than overhauling the entire compensation system, we worked together on making the existing one work better.

What we did:

• We audited compensation practices across teams and regions to identify misalignments.

• We refined job profiles and levels, aligning them more closely to actual responsibilities.

• We redesigned key processes, including hiring, promotions, and bonus reviews, to ensure consistent use of salary ranges and bonus targets.

• We enhanced Workday configuration so the system could support smarter decision-making and reduce the need for manual overrides.

• We provided practical tools and guidance so managers and HR partners could apply the framework with confidence and clarity.

We also helped the company build change management into the rollout so leaders, managers, and employees understood what was changing and why it mattered.

The Results

There are a few areas where the company saw significant improvements:

• More consistent pay decisions across functions and geographies

• Fewer exceptions and surprises during salary reviews and hiring offers

• Clearer expectations for managers, employees, and HR partners

• A stronger foundation to support future pay transparency and equity initiatives

Even without publishing hard metrics, the shift was clear: better structure, better conversations, and better alignment between what the business needed and what people expected.

Why This Matters

When it comes to pay decisions, there is one thing that can be easily missed: pay is both about numbers AND trust. When compensation decisions feel inconsistent or unclear, it affects how people view the company, their career prospects, and their sense of fairness.

Getting compensation right doesn’t always mean making big, dramatic changes. Often, simplifying what you already have, building stronger alignment, and creating tools that help people make better decisions can lead to positive changes.

If your company is growing fast and you’re starting to see cracks in your compensation practices, you’re not alone. We’ve seen it before, and we’d be happy to help.

Let’s Build Something That Works

At Nua Group, we work side-by-side with HR and business leaders to bring clarity to complex issues, whether it’s compensation, job levels, pay equity, or organizational design.

If your pay practices are starting to feel messy or inconsistent, let’s talk about how to bring structure and fairness back into the picture.

Get in touch - we’d love to hear what you’re working through.