"I gave a star performer a raise, and now everyone else is marching into my office, demanding one, too." "If anyone looked closely at our payroll, it would be hard to rationalize why we're paying certain people what we do." "I'm tired of losing our best people to the Googles of the world because we can't match their salaries." "It seems like our bonus plans have become entitlements - like we're just giving money away." These and many more challenges arise when setting up compensation schemes. And given that compensation is one of your largest expenses, it's critical to get it right and then out of sight -- and turn it into a strategic advantage in attracting, retaining, and motivating talent (or not accidentally demotivating them). This book details 5 design principles along with practical examples of compensation schemes from leading small, medium, and large firms.