Future modeling

Why future compensation visibility matters

Employees make critical career decisions based on compensation. Without visibility into how their compensation could grow, they struggle to evaluate retention offers, understand promotion impact, or plan major life decisions like buying a home or starting a family. This uncertainty drives attrition and diminishes the value of your compensation philosophy.

Future modeling in Total Rewards solves this by showing employees how their compensation evolves over time. With clear projections, employees can:

• Make informed career decisions: Compare internal growth opportunities against external offers with complete compensation data

• Understand equity value: See when future refreshes vest and how equity compounds with salary growth over multi-year horizons

• Plan personal finances: Project total compensation for major financial decisions with confidence

• Internalize your compensation philosophy: Learn how your organization rewards tenure, performance, and career progression through interactive modeling

• Reduce compensation anxiety: Replace speculation about future earnings with transparent, policy-driven projections

Future modeling transforms compensation from a point-in-time snapshot into a forward-looking career trajectory, improving retention and employee satisfaction.

Two tools for different needs

Pave provides two complementary future modeling tools that serve distinct employee needs:

Refresh programs: Guaranteed equity visibility

Refresh programs display upcoming equity grants directly in an employee's Total Rewards portal as part of their total compensation package. Use refresh programs when you have predictable, policy-driven equity refresh cycles and want to transparently communicate guaranteed future grants.

Employee value:

• See guaranteed upcoming equity refreshes alongside current compensation

• Understand total compensation value beyond current grants

• Access refresh policy education explaining how your equity philosophy works

Example use case: Your company grants equity refreshes every 2 years starting at the employee's hire anniversary. An employee hired on January 15, 2024 sees a guaranteed refresh grant for January 15, 2026 worth 30% of their new hire grant based on their band target. This visibility helps them understand the full value of staying through their next vesting cliff.

Compensation simulator: Exploratory career modeling

The compensation simulator is an interactive tool where employees model hypothetical scenarios by adding raises, promotions, and equity refreshes to a timeline. Use the simulator when you want employees to explore realistic growth scenarios based on your compensation philosophy without committing to specific guaranteed amounts.

Employee value:

• Model career progression scenarios interactively

• Understand how raises, promotions, and equity compound over time

• Explore different time horizons (5–10 years) to inform long-term career decisions

• Compare multiple scenarios to evaluate career paths

Example use case: An employee considering whether to pursue a promotion in the next year uses the simulator to model two scenarios: staying at their current level with annual merit raises versus getting promoted next year with the configured promotion bump and continued merit increases. The visualization shows the total compensation difference over 5 years, helping them understand the financial impact of pursuing promotion.

When to use each

Use refresh programs to transparently show guaranteed or highly predictable equity refreshes as part of total compensation. This builds trust by making future compensation concrete and reduces attrition by ensuring employees understand the value of staying.

Use the compensation simulator to educate employees about career growth dynamics without making specific promises. This empowers employees to explore realistic scenarios and understand how your compensation philosophy rewards tenure, performance, and promotions.

Use both together to provide guaranteed baseline visibility (refresh programs) while enabling exploratory modeling (simulator). For example, show guaranteed biennial refreshes in the portal while allowing employees to model scenarios like "What if I get promoted next year and then receive an off-cycle refresh?"

Articles in this section

• Future modeling overview - Detailed comparison of refresh programs vs. compensation simulator, configuration differences, and employee experience

• Configure refresh programs - Step-by-step guide to setting up guaranteed equity refresh grants in the employee portal

• Configure compensation simulator - How to configure equity refreshes, raises, and promotions for interactive employee modeling