How Wisp 2x’d Employee Trust in Compensation with the Assemble + Carta Joint Compensation Solution
Summary
Assemble & Carta Total Comp power Wisp’s compensation program
Wisp experienced a surge in demand in 2022 resulting in a rapid increase in headcount. Without market data, a compensation philosophy, or software for roll-out, Wisp lacked the ability to drive fairness and trust with its employees. Wisp leveraged the Carta Total Comp & Assemble joint solution, and Assemble's integration with Justworks, to build compensation bands, implement a pay transparency program, and improve employee retention.
“Before we rolled-out Assemble and CTC, 67% of the company didn’t believe they were being paid fairly. Fast forward to today, it’s practically switched. 75% of our organization now believes compensation at Wisp is both fair and equitable”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
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Head of People & Talent at Wisp
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background
Wisp is a sexual wellness telehealth company with a high-performing and mission-driven workforce.
“Prior review cycles had never hit the mark, and there was a lot of mistrust and anxiety around how compensation and performance was managed.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
“Prior review cycles had never hit the mark, and there was a lot of mistrust and anxiety around how compensation and performance was managed.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
Painpoints
As Wisp’s headcount grew alongside its commercial success, the business faced growing uncertainty around how to maintain its high talent quality as the organization scaled. With such a strong team, Wisp needed intuitive and transparent workflow tooling to support its workforce operations as well as high fidelity market data for both cash and equity in order to benchmark new roles.
Without the proper data or systems in place, Wisp employees were left with the perception that their compensation was not competitive relative to other organizations or even compared to other team members. Wisp employees wanted to be paid fairly, and did not trust the current compensation practices to do so.
Challenge
Wisp sought a single, integrated solution for building compensation bands and running compensation workflows
“Assemble presented us with the opportunity to speed up roll-out, integrate multiple data sources, and provide a unified place to communicate and maintain all that information. It was really a no-brainer for Wisp.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
“Assemble presented us with the opportunity to speed up roll-out, integrate multiple data sources, and provide a unified place to communicate and maintain all that information. It was really a no-brainer for Wisp.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
Painpoints
When Elizabeth (“Liz”) McConnaughey joined Wisp originally as their Chief of Staff, her first task was to build a fair and equitable compensation program as soon as possible.
Being a fast-growing, highly analytical organization, Liz knew she needed a single source of truth with high quality salary and equity benchmarks for building a compensation program.
Additionally, since Wisp is a champion in the market around health equity, Liz knew she wanted to champion pay equity internally. This required a software solution that could also drive transparency and trust through manager and employee visibility.
The challenge was finding an integrated solution that connected employee salary and equity data with benchmarks and compensation workflows. Assemble and Carta’s joint solution was the answer.
Wisp used Carta Total Comp (“CTC”) benchmarks to build compensation bands that were role-specific to the HealthTech industry. Wisp was particularly interested in bringing in best-in-class equity benchmarks to ensure employees had the right long-term incentive compensation.
Wisp connected Assemble to their Carta Cap Table, and Justworks HRIS, through a secure API to ensure always up-to-date equity information in Assemble.
Finally, Wisp communicated its new compensation program and rolled out Assemble to managers and employees as part of their pay transparency program. Employees were granted access to their cash compensation band to better understand their total compensation package.
“Having CTC salary bands in Assemble allows things to be defensible. It allows us to go look things up if they're ever in doubt... I’m a one-person team dealing with a lot of other ad hoc initiatives. Having Assemble took a huge amount of stress off my back.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
“Having CTC salary bands in Assemble allows things to be defensible. It allows us to go look things up if they're ever in doubt... I’m a one-person team dealing with a lot of other ad hoc initiatives. Having Assemble took a huge amount of stress off my back.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
Wisp used Carta Total Comp (“CTC”) benchmarks to build compensation bands that were role-specific to the HealthTech industry. Wisp was particularly interested in bringing in best-in-class equity benchmarks to ensure employees had the right long-term incentive compensation.
Wisp connected Assemble to their Carta Cap Table, and Justworks HRIS, through a secure API to ensure always up-to-date equity information in Assemble.
Finally, Wisp communicated its new compensation program and rolled out Assemble to managers and employees as part of their pay transparency program. Employees were granted access to their cash compensation band to better understand their total compensation package.
Results
2x improvement in employee perception around compensation fairness and equitability
Before implementing CTC and Assemble, the majority of Wisp’s employees did not trust Wisp’s compensation program, according to internal engagement surveys. After rolling out Assemble & Carta, the level of trust flipped: 75% of employees reported feeling that they were being paid fairly compared to other roles in the organization.
“I’m excited that Wisp is joining a wave of companies who are being transparent about salaries, both internally and externally. This is how we close the wage gap for women and other under-represented employees. It all starts with data, communication, and trust.”
Monica Cepak
CEO & CMO at Wisp
“I’m excited that Wisp is joining a wave of companies who are being transparent about salaries, both internally and externally. This is how we close the wage gap for women and other under-represented employees. It all starts with data, communication, and trust.”
Monica Cepak
CEO & CMO at Wisp
Before implementing CTC and Assemble, the majority of Wisp’s employees did not trust Wisp’s compensation program, according to internal engagement surveys. After rolling out Assemble & Carta, the level of trust flipped: 75% of employees reported feeling that they were being paid fairly compared to other roles in the organization.
>50% employees access their CTC-powered comp band in Assemble on a Monthly Basis
Following the launch of transparent pay bands, the majority of Wisp employees regularly log in to Assemble to access their comp band. In turn, employees are more open to discussing compensation with their manager, which has led to productive conversations around equitability and fairness.
“Assemble is definitive; it takes the guesswork out of going back and forth between Finance, Leadership, and the Hiring Manager”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
“Assemble is definitive; it takes the guesswork out of going back and forth between Finance, Leadership, and the Hiring Manager”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
Following the launch of transparent pay bands, the majority of Wisp employees regularly log in to Assemble to access their comp band. In turn, employees are more open to discussing compensation with their manager, which has led to productive conversations around equitability and fairness.
Wisp’s custom compensation program of 250+ comp bands is ready to support their next phase of growth
With over 250 compensation bands that reflect Wisp’s unique organizational make-up, Liz and the Wisp executive team are confident that the Assemble + Carta joint solution will support them as they scale to their next phase of growth.
“I’m passionate about carrying this work forward with Carta. Pay inequity is something that so many employees are forced to contend with - especially women and under-represented employee groups. Wisp is a progressive woman-led, for-women company. We want our people policies to reflect that”
Monica Cepak
CEO & CMO at Wisp
“I’m passionate about carrying this work forward with Carta. Pay inequity is something that so many employees are forced to contend with - especially women and under-represented employee groups. Wisp is a progressive woman-led, for-women company. We want our people policies to reflect that”
Monica Cepak
CEO & CMO at Wisp
With over 250 compensation bands that reflect Wisp’s unique organizational make-up, Liz and the Wisp executive team are confident that the Assemble + Carta joint solution will support them as they scale to their next phase of growth.
“Communicating equity is the hardest thing to get right when pitching total compensation to employees. Assemble's ability to illustrate equity does most of this heavy lifting and makes it digestible and easy to use. It's brilliant.”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
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Head of People & Talent at Wisp
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About Wisp
Wisp is a leading sexual and reproductive telehealth service, committed to providing specialized services to address the most intimate of issues. Wisp connects patients with real-time providers and guides to help safely navigate symptoms and get back on track.
“Before we rolled-out Assemble and CTC, 67% of the company didn’t believe they were being paid fairly. Fast forward to today, it’s practically switched. 75% of our organization now believes compensation at Wisp is both fair and equitable”
Elizabeth McConnaughey
-
Head of People & Talent at Wisp
About Wisp
Wisp is a leading sexual and reproductive telehealth service, committed to providing specialized services to address the most intimate of issues. Wisp connects patients with real-time providers and guides to help safely navigate symptoms and get back on track.
Highlights
Painpoints
Key Results
The Challenge
Requirements
The solution
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Partnership Impact
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Assemble is a compensation management platform for forward-thinking organizations. We help companies make systematic compensation decisions to attract, motivate, and retain employees while eliminating inequitable pay.
