Company Allegedly Under-Compensates Female Member of Sales Team

This case involves a senior sales executive that was allegedly under-compensated by the company in question for the first 3 years of her employment. The executive was a career sales professional with an MBA and was consistently ranked the highest performing employee in her division. It was then brought to her attention that a less senior member of the division with less experience and no terminal degree was receiving a higher percentage of variable compensation than she. It was alleged that the less senior employee was being compensated at a higher rate than the executive because of his long-standing relationship with the CEO. An expert in executive and sales compensation was sought to describe the industry landscape and determine whether the variable compensation distribution at the company in question was justified.

Question(s) For Expert Witness

1. Please describe your experience in executive and sales compensation

2. How long does it take the typical candidate to find a comparable job with a similar compensation range?

Expert Witness Response E-013772

I'm a sales compensation leader who has published articles, spoken at conferences, and led operations for global organizations. My expertise is in compensation, specifically both the base and variable commissions aspects of their rewards package. I'm also an expert in sales performance management and can discuss items like average compensation levels and "ramp-up" for success through opportunity management. I often participate in the onboarding and support of prospective sales employees. "Ramp-up" time greatly depends upon the industry and nature of the sales role. There are many aspects that should be examined such as average deal time, length of new hire guarantee/ draw, crediting mechanics, among others.