Friends, I’m back!

After an incredibly restful Christmas and New Years period, I’m now back in seat and focused on delivering an incredible 2025.

And what a year to enter into from the vantage of a startup Head of People. We’ve got shockwaves on the employment front in the US with the newly inaugurated Trump administration, pay transparency another step closer in Europe, and of course the capability and impact of AI is showing no signs of slowing down. The organisational importance of the People function continues to be strong.

I got a lot of incredible feedback on my last piece on ‘How to Become a HR Consultant’, and it was easily one of the most read and engaged with posts since I started this series. Thanks to those of you who wrote in. It inspired me to add a new section to this series, one where I can write more about this and other topics in a bit more detail. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Ok, that’s it. Let’s dive into this month’s edition, featuring LinkedIn’s first CHRO, it was one of the most exciting interviews for me personally.

As always, if you know someone who would benefit from this series, please forward it along. The more FNDN Series can grow, the more I can focus on bringing in great guests and sharing valuable startup comp wisdom.

Otherwise, enjoy.

Matt

Blitzscaling and the Evolution of Startup Compensation

with LinkedIn's First CHRO, Steve Cadigan

At the end of last year, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Talent Hacker, Steve Cadigan to discuss the challenges and opportunities in startup compensation. Steve has been at the forefront of global talent strategy and company culture for the past 30 years. Best known for scaling LinkedIn from 400 to 4,000 employees in just 3.5 years, Steve also spearheaded the development of LinkedIn's legendary company culture, guiding the talent function through its highest growth period and its IPO. With experience spanning five industries, three countries, and numerous acquisition integrations, Steve's expertise in the talent arena is unparalleled.

During our conversation, we explored a range of topics related to startup compensation, culture, and the evolving workforce. Here’s what we covered:

• The unexpected path that led Steve to HR and how his diverse career experiences shaped his perspective on startup compensation.

• Strategies for startups to compete for top talent without relying solely on high salaries, including the importance of mission-driven recruiting.

• Common pitfalls for HR leaders, such as the pressure to have all the answers, and how transparency and collaboration can mitigate burnout.

• Innovative approaches to retaining talent, like LinkedIn’s “InDays” that fostered creativity and became part of the company’s cultural identity.

• The complexities and opportunities of pay transparency, and how to build trust through consistent and defensible pay practices.

• Emerging trends like fractional and gig work, and how startups can adapt compensation structures to meet the needs of a more fluid workforce.

My 5 Key Takeaways

• Transparency is key to building trust with your people. Establishing a clear pay philosophy and maintaining consistent practices provides a solid foundation before introducing open discussions about salary data.

• Steve emphasised the importance of showing the rationale behind salary figures, highlighting that simply sharing numbers is ineffective without providing clear explanations of how they were determined.

• Employees, particularly Gen Zers, are increasingly prioritising purpose over pay, seeking roles that align with their values and provide them with better balance, and opportunities for meaningful impact and professional growth.

• Steve pointed out that consistency in pay practices is critical. Inconsistent policies risk undermining even the best efforts at transparency, so ensuring fairness and defensibility is essential.

• Preparing for the future workforce means recognising the shift toward flexible, gig-style roles and embracing a stronger focus on work-life balance, alongside traditional salary structures.

For anyone looking to refine their approach to startup compensation and foster trust through transparency, watch the full interview to learn how Steve’s insights can help you shape winning strategies for your organisation.

You can follow or connect with Steve on LinkedIn here.

Interested in working with Steve, check out his site here.

Listen, watch or read the full interview here.

Got a specific topic you want me to cover or a guest you’d love to nominate? Hit reply to this email and let me know.

🔥 NEW 🔥 NEW 🔥 NEW 🔥

Introducing Done With You Compensation Programs

If you're ready to build a fair, transparent, and scalable compensation program but don’t know where to start, I’ve got you. My new Done With You: Compensation Programs give you expert guidance—so you can build the skills to master compensation.

For the first time, I’m offering 2 exclusive spots (once they’re gone, they’re gone!) at a special rate for subscribers. Pick any one (or more) module and get 1:1 coaching, hands-on support, and tailored resources from moi to set up a solid compensation foundation.

Curious? Check out the full details 👇

In 2025, I want to take the FNDN Series a step further — I want to explore the wild world of employment and the things happening within it. I also want to spend more time talking about how to actually embed some of the practices we cover in our interviews and beyond.

Is Overemployment Ethical?

Imagine earning two, three, or even four full-time salaries simultaneously — and never telling a soul. This is the world of overemployment, a growing trend born from the pandemic’s shift to remote work. 

While some hail it as a justifiable new career format, others see it as a breach of workplace ethics.

In the wake of remote work’s flexibility, overemployment has emerged. Initially seen as a pandemic anomaly, it has persisted, fueled by stagnating wages, rising living costs, and shifting attitudes about work. Yet despite its prevalence, overemployment often sits in the shadows, dismissed as a workplace taboo.

Is this model of work inherently unethical, or does it reveal deeper flaws in the way we value labour? To fully assess whether overemployment is ethical, it's important to first understand what it entails, how it functions, and why it has emerged as a compelling proposition for many in today’s workforce.

What is Overemployment?

Overemployment is the practice of holding multiple full-time jobs simultaneously, typically without the employer’s knowledge. Unlike moonlighting, which often involves balancing a primary job with a smaller side gig, overemployment is when a person uses remote work arrangements to undertake more than one full time role, with multiple employers.

The r/Overemployed subreddit — home to nearly 400,000 members — offers a window into this world, sharing tips, success stories, and cautionary tales from those caught out. Members commonly refer to their roles as J1, J2, and beyond. Some have as many as five.

How Does Overemployment Work?

Overemployment can be achieved via three key strategies:

Hyper Efficiency

We’ve all worked with someone who excels at their work, completing tasks in a fraction of the time expected. In traditional settings, this efficiency might lead to additional responsibilities or a promotion. Overemployed workers, however, redirect their extra capacity into an additional job — or jobs —  effectively multiplying their income vs the comparatively meagre increase to pay they might otherwise have received. 

Obfuscation and Delay

A more controversial approach involves using tactics to minimise workload or delay deliverables. These might include deploying mouse jigglers, feigning IT issues or deliberately slow rolling work to set a low bar. While this method is dubious, it is a common method of discussion in online overemployment communities.

Juggling Multiple Roles

Some undertake overemployment by just doing all roles fully and deftly managing overlapping commitments. This approach pushes the boundaries by maintaining two or more full-time positions and working lengthened hours or juggling responsibility in order to accommodate the full requirements of each.

Some might even combine these strategies to sustain their overemployment arrangements. 

The Evolution of Overemployment

This evolution of overemployment stems from the unique flexibility of remote work, which allows skilled professionals to manage overlapping responsibilities without needing to be physically present in multiple locations. Additionally, asynchronous work environments and a preference for roles with minimal managerial oversight (i.e. individual contributor roles) further enable overemployment to be achieved…

Continue reading

Here’s some of the stuff we found interesting this month.

That’s all for this week.

Sure, this is technically the end of the newsletter, but we don’t have to end here! I’d love this to be a two-way chat, so let me know what you found helpful, any successes you’re seeing, or any questions you have for me.

Sharing is caring. If you are enjoying our newsletter, others might too — forward this on to them and get their endless appreciation.