Written by Lola Han, CEO & Founder of Kamsa

Have you ever found out you were underpaid? It’s a gut punch, isn’t it? 

For me, it happened about 15 years ago when I was at a work happy hour. A colleague with the same job as mine said they were earning 23% more than me. I was shocked - It especially hit close to home since I was an HR consultant focused on compensation.

From Underpaid to Paving the Way for Equal Pay

I couldn’t just let it slide. I gathered up courage to ask my manager to review my pay. Within weeks, I received a 23% increase — no questions asked. The experience lit a fire under me to dig deeper into how pay decisions are made.

Starting in top HR consulting at firms like EY and Willis Towers Watson to internal compensation roles at companies like Zendesk, I climbed the ladder from compensation analyst to senior director. 

However, I kept noticing one big problem: the lack of solutions in the market for making  compensation management easier and more efficient. 

From job leveling across an organization to market pricing and updating salary ranges — each task was time-consuming, and there was no straightforward ‘one-top shop’ solution to help with these routine initiatives. That frustration turned into a mission, and in 2017, I founded Kamsa.

Building Kamsa: A Solution Born from Pain Points

At Kamsa, we’re out to make fair pay a given, not a goal. We simplify and automate the laborious tasks of job leveling, market pricing, and updating salary ranges, while offering real-time, global market data. 

Kamsa empowers companies to manage compensation with ease and transparency, reducing and addressing pay gaps and unconscious bias head-on.

Kamsa is built for organizations that genuinely want to pay their employees fairly, yet struggle with the complexities of compensation management. 

We help companies:

1. Establish Compensation Structures: For cash and equity programs alike, our tools align employee pay with market trends while addressing internal equity.
2. Build Career Paths: With a clear job architecture and progression opportunities in place, employees know they can grow within the organization, enhancing retention and motivation.
3. Remove Bias: With our approaches to job leveling and market pricing we objectively assess pay (focusing on jobs vs. individuals) to ensure equal pay for equal work, eliminating unconscious bias.

How Kamsa Stands Out: Technology + Compensation Consulting

Kamsa isn’t your average market data provider. Traditional market survey data can be costly, lagging, and inaccurate because the job levels are misaligned, leaving companies to piece together spreadsheets in a time-consuming, often frustrating way. 

Instead, Kamsa has built our in-house machine learning technology to expedite the job leveling and market pricing process. This not only matches employees to the right market role but also ensures accuracy with the guidance of Kamsa’s compensation experts.

Unlike typical market data solutions, our compensation consultants act as an extension of your team throughout the year, offering guidance on comp strategy and review cycles, executive benchmarking, and even board presentations. We’re here year-round to make sure your compensation strategy stays fresh and impactful.

How to Ensure Fair Pay in Your Organization

The road to fair compensation doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few essential steps companies can take:

⏫ Articulate your compensation philosophy 

🪜 Conduct job leveling to ensure alignment with business needs.

🎯 Establish compensation ranges using reliable market data 

🪡 Assess employees’ compensation against the market, regularly 

🔎 Conduct regular compensation review cycles

These actions don’t just help with budgeting and retention — they set up your organization to thrive.

Kamsa’s Impact So Far

From startups to industry leaders like Peloton and MasterClass, we’ve helped hundreds of companies scale their pay processes and ensure equitable compensation across the board. 

By partnering with Kamsa companies have found they can focus on what matters most: driving growth and making a positive business impact, while knowing they’re paying fairly.

Kamsa means appreciation in Korean, and our mission is to help companies appreciate your greatest asset — your people — through equal pay for equal work.

To learn more about how Kamsa can help make fair pay a reality for your team, reach out to us.