One of the most important things I do at work is to make sure people get paid fairly. It never ceases to amaze me how out of whack compensation can get when managers take the easy way out and simply “peanut butter” (spread out uniformly) their merit increase pools. I am invariably the hero to some and villain to others who ensures that we operate as a meritocracy, rewarding our top people with the highest compensation. This week I am in the thick of the process and one of my favorite tools are sticky notes. In a meeting with my direct reports that went well past normal business hours, we stack ranked a group of employees from across the Engineering organization as a quality control check. Having integrated two divisions into a single organization this year has amplified the magnitude of the challenge considerably. This is some of the hardest work we do as a team but it is also extremely satisfying when we arrive at a fair outcome. For all the grousing I hear before, during, and after the process, I think folks appreciate the level of rigor and effort we apply to something as important as salary administration.