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Live Webinar

The Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations

  • Tuesday, January 5, 2027
  • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
  • 60 Minutes
CE credits
  • 1.00 HRCI (Human Resource Certification Institute)
  • 1.00 SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)
  • 1.00 ATAHR (Aurora HR)

What You'll Learn

This webinar is not just another training session; it's a crucial step towards empowering you and your organization in mastering one of the most sensitive aspects of management—compensation conversations. By attending, you'll gain a profound understanding of how to align pay discussions with your company's values and objectives, ensuring that your best employees remain engaged and motivated.
  1. The Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations:
    • Learn about the importance of initiating company-wide discussions on compensation.
    • Understand how these conversations set the stage for successful individual pay discussions.
    • Explore strategies to foster transparency and trust within the organization regarding compensation.
  2. Navigating Various Pay Structures:
    • Discover the differences between public and hidden pay structures.
    • Analyze the advantages and challenges of each approach.
    • Gain insights into selecting the most suitable pay structure for your organization.
  3. Balancing Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction in Compensation:
    • Explore the paradox of how compensation can both satisfy and dissatisfy employees.
    • Learn strategies to manage and mitigate dissatisfaction related to pay.
    • Gain insights into fostering a positive perception of the company’s compensation policies.
  4. Preparing Managers for Tough Questions:
    • Equip yourself with answers to challenging questions about disparities in raises, equal pay for equal work, and bonus structures.
    • Understand how to address sensitive issues like salary reductions and pay differences.
    • Understand how to balance empathy with professionalism in these sensitive conversations.
    • Learn how to maintain morale and fairness in complex compensation scenarios.
View Full Description
This transformative online webinar tailored for managers, HR professionals, operations professionals, and business owners. In today's business environment, discussing salaries is more than a transaction; it's an emotionally charged conversation that can significantly impact employee morale and retention. With most employees relating their self-worth to their compensation, it becomes imperative for those in leadership roles to navigate these discussions with tact and understanding. This webinar is designed to equip you with the necessary skills and insights to handle these delicate conversations, ensuring a positive outcome for both the employee and the organization.
Why You Should Attend?

Whether you're a seasoned HR professional or a business owner taking on HR responsibilities, this webinar will provide you with the tools and confidence needed to handle compensation conversations with finesse, leading to improved morale, productivity, and retention in your organization.

Meet Your Speaker

Wendy Sellers

Wendy Sellers, MHR, MHA, SHRM-SCP, SPHR has 25 years of experience in HR, change management, operations, strategy, corporate culture, and leadership development in all size businesses (local startup to global enterprise) in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, professional services,...

View Full Bio of Wendy Sellers

What Attendees Are Saying

  • “The program was very helpful and she provided valued information.”

    Patricia R. , District Human Resources Liaison

  • “I guess more information on hybrid and work at home roles.”

    Jarrod H. , Sr Human Resource Generalist

  • “I always enjoy Wendy's presentations and they are greatly appreciated.”

    Denny S. , HR Manager

  • “The training was very clear and precise. Very positive training experience.”

    Mary Jane B.

  • “I really enjoyed the way the materials were presented.”

    Joy S. , Human Resources Specialist

  • “liked the link to the implicit bias test”

    Susan M.

  • “Enjoyed the pacing and information of the session. Very helpful!”

    Jeff C.

  • “Overall it was a great training. The presenter Wendy was very dynamic and easy to listen and pay attention to.”

    Amanda C. , Regional HR Business Partner

  • “Thank you for the great information. It will be very helpful in my career.”

    Gina C. , HR Generalist

  • “This was a great webinar. The presenter gave great tips and was very thorough.”

    Teresa P.

CE Credits

These are the continuing education credits available to you for this webinar.

  • 1.00 HRCI Human Resource Certification Institute Browse HRCI-approved webinars and earn recertification credits online. Live and on-demand HR training for PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification. Expert-led sessions from Aurora Training Advantage.
  • 1.00 SHRM Society for Human Resource Management Aurora Training Advantage is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CPSM or SHRM-SCPSM. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org.
  • 1.00 ATAHR Aurora HR Aurora Training Advantage is offering continuing education points designed to recognize dedication to training and excellence in human resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should HR professionals prepare managers to have compensation conversations with employees?
Preparing managers for compensation conversations is one of HR's most important responsibilities because these discussions profoundly affect employee morale, trust, and retention. Effective preparation includes ensuring managers understand the company's compensation philosophy and how it determines pay levels; equipping them with talking points for common difficult questions—such as why raises differ across employees, how pay equity is maintained, and how bonuses are calculated; and practicing scenarios involving emotional reactions or pointed fairness questions. Managers should know what they can and cannot disclose, and they should be confident enough to hold the line on decisions while showing genuine empathy. Role-playing exercises and manager-specific FAQ sheets are practical tools. Wendy Sellers, with 25 years of HR experience, addresses this comprehensively in Aurora Training Advantage's The Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations webinar, offering HR-approved frameworks for guiding managers through these sensitive discussions.
What are the benefits and risks of pay transparency in organizations?
Pay transparency—openly sharing compensation information within or outside the organization—offers significant potential benefits but also real risks that HR must manage carefully. Benefits include reduced pay discrimination, stronger employee trust, clearer alignment between pay and performance, and a competitive advantage in recruiting markets where candidates increasingly demand salary information upfront. Risks include employee dissatisfaction when perceived inequities become visible before they are addressed, manager discomfort with justifying pay differences, and competitive exposure if salary data is too broadly public. Organizations exist on a spectrum from fully confidential pay to total transparency, and the right position depends on the company's culture, readiness, and compensation equity status. HR must ensure pay structures are defensible before increasing transparency. Aurora Training Advantage's webinar on The Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations, led by Wendy Sellers, helps HR and leadership teams navigate this balance strategically.
How do compensation conversations affect employee morale and retention?
Compensation conversations—whether handled well or poorly—have an outsized impact on employee morale and retention. Research consistently shows that it is not just pay levels but how pay decisions are communicated that drives employee sentiment. Employees who receive clear, respectful explanations for their compensation—even when the news is less than they hoped for—tend to remain more engaged and loyal than those who feel dismissed or misled. Managers who can articulate the company's pay philosophy, acknowledge an employee's contributions, and provide a realistic view of future opportunities create a foundation of trust even in constrained compensation environments. Conversely, vague or evasive responses to pay questions fuel resentment and accelerate attrition. Wendy Sellers addresses this dynamic in Aurora Training Advantage's The Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations webinar, providing HR and managers with the language and frameworks to turn potentially difficult discussions into retention-positive interactions.
What is the difference between transparent and hidden pay structures, and which is better?
Pay structures range from fully transparent—where salary bands are published internally or externally—to fully confidential, where individual pay is known only to the employee and HR. Transparent structures offer significant advantages: they reduce the likelihood of pay discrimination, simplify compensation conversations, and give employees a clear line of sight to future earning potential. Hidden structures preserve managerial flexibility and protect business-sensitive information, but often fuel speculation, perceived inequity, and distrust. A middle-ground approach—sharing salary bands and the criteria that determine placement within them, without revealing individual salaries—is increasingly popular and often satisfies both equity and confidentiality goals. The right approach depends on organizational culture, legal environment (several states now require pay range disclosure in job postings), and compensation equity readiness. Aurora Training Advantage's pay conversations webinar with Wendy Sellers provides guidance for organizations evaluating which structure best serves their workforce.
What legal considerations should HR keep in mind when designing company-wide pay conversations?
Company-wide pay conversations operate within a growing legal framework that HR must navigate carefully. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects most private-sector employees' right to discuss their own wages with coworkers, meaning policies that discourage pay discussions may be unlawful. Equal pay laws—including the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and state-level statutes—require that pay disparities between similarly situated employees be based on legitimate, documented factors such as experience, performance, or seniority. Several states and localities now require employers to include pay ranges in job postings. HR must also consider how manager communications during pay discussions could create legal exposure if they inadvertently misrepresent company commitments. Training managers on what they can and cannot say during compensation conversations is essential. Wendy Sellers covers these legal dimensions in Aurora Training Advantage's Foundation of Company-Wide Pay Conversations webinar, helping HR teams design communications that are both effective and legally sound.