Research Report
How Top Comp Leaders Are Thinking About AI Agents
4 min read · May 30, 2025
We sat down with top comp leaders from Fortune 50 enterprise companies to ask one big question:
What will it take for AI agents to succeed in compensation?
Here’s what they said.
The value proposition is clear but conditional
Compensation and TA leaders see the upside; Fast offers, fewer questions, clean data, and smart decisions.But adoption depends on one thing: trust.For AI agents to earn a permanent seat at the table, they must be:
Until then, the skepticism stays.
What Do Comp Teams Want?
What it boils down to:
Stop repeating ourselves.
They want fewer Slacks, meetings, and questions from recruiters.
Enforce the rules.
Embed logic that reflects compensation philosophy with guardrails, not guesses.
See the big picture.
Combine offer data, benchmarks, surveys, and recruiter behavior to surface real-time insights.
Do more, think big.
Let agents handle the repetitive work so the comp team can focus on strategy.
63% of comp leaders want analytics that surface trends and outliers. AI isn’t just for efficiency, it’s a new lens for comp strategy.
What Do TA Teams Want?
What they're asking for:
Fast answers.
Stop waiting on comp. Speed up approvals.
Smart autonomy.
Give recruiters enough logic, data, and context to act independently.
Understand the “why.”
Teach recruiters not just what to offer, but how comp works.
79% of TA teams want an on-demand comp partner. Recruiters are ready to self-serve if the agent can deliver clear, trusted guidance.
Control is non-negotiable
If the agent is going to act on behalf of comp, it has to think like a comp exec.
Comp leaders want:
Configurable
visibility.
Show recruiters only what they need—nothing more.
Policy enforcement.
Bake in rules like, “flex above range only for Level 6+” or “sign-on bonus for key roles only.”
Source of truth.
Agent decisions must reflect the comp strategy.
84% of comp leaders want selective data sharing. They’ll back AI only if it shows recruiters what they need to see.
The risks comp leaders can’t ignore
If the agent gets it wrong, even once, credibility is gone. The bar is high:
Flawless data privacy.
PII and pay data must be airtight.
No hallucinations.
Comp can't afford sloppy AI answers.
Simple setup.
The configuration can’t be its own full-time job.
TA buy-in.
If recruiters don’t trust it, they’ll ignore it.
How to launch an agent and make it stick
If the agent is going to act on behalf of comp, it has to think like a comp exec.
Winning playbook:
Prove ROI fast.
Track comp exceptions, time-to-offer, and recruiter reliance.
Build trust.
Test thoroughly, demonstrate accuracy, and make it better than the manual process.
Make it easy.
Train users, simplify admin tools, and lower the barrier to adoption.
Start small.
Roll out standard offers first and expand from there.
Integrate seamlessly.
If it doesn’t work with an ATS and HCM, it won’t work at all.
74% say trust and accuracy will make or break adoption. If the agent slips up once, it may never recover credibility.
Looking ahead: The agent of the future
The vision goes beyond guidance. Comp leaders are dreaming bigger.
Predictive analytics.
Will this offer close? Are we under market on equity? Is this team losing talent?
Approval workflows.
Flag exceptions, route approvals, and the ability to sync to their HCM automatically.
Real-time ranges.
Build and refresh ranges dynamically, based on current market signals.
Live agent use cases.
From recruiter calls to hiring manager huddles, let the agent join the conversation.
AI agents won’t be adopted because they’re innovative, they’ll be adopted because they’re trusted.
Trust is earned; one accurate, secure, policy-aligned decision at a time.
