Reward and pay strategy plays a critical role in organisational performance, employee trust and talent retention. I help organisations take a more strategic, pragmatic and commercially sustainable approach to reward, ensuring pay decisions support both business priorities and the wider people strategy. Specialist coaching and advisory support for HR leaders working through complex reward challenges. Whether you are designing frameworks, navigating pay transparency or preparing for Board discussions, this support helps you test ideas, build confidence and make well-considered decisions that align with business priorities and stand up to scrutiny. What sets me apart from many reward specialists is my foundation as a senior HR generalist. I’ve worked across the full employee lifecycle, so I understand how pay and reward impact – and are impacted by – the broader people strategy. That means I don’t approach reward decisions in isolation. I consider how they link to performance, engagement, talent development and culture. This wider lens ensures reward initiatives are practical, people-focused and aligned with your business goals. Whether it’s job evaluation, pay benchmarking, or redesigning a bonus scheme, I’ll help you shape solutions that are not only technically sound, but embedded in the real dynamics of your organisation. My approach is intentionally practical and partnership-led, helping organisations build reward solutions they can confidently sustain and evolve internally over time. As an experienced HR Reward Advisor and executive coach , I work in a flexible, partnership-led way to help organisations navigate reward challenges with greater clarity, confidence and strategic alignment. Support can range from targeted advisory input on specific reward activities, such as pay benchmarking, job evaluation or bonus design, through to helping shape a broader reward roadmap aligned to business priorities, organisational culture and future workforce challenges. HR reward and recognition play an important part in the wider talent management strategy across the organisation. I help organisations create a fair, commercially sustainable and pragmatic approach to reward strategies that drive performance and build employee trust. Integrating any approach to Reward with wider HR strategy and operations is crucial, and it’s important to join the dots across all areas of HR. Depending on your internal capability, my involvement can flex between strategic guidance, challenge, coaching and hands-on support where it adds most value. Many organisations already have strong internal HR capability, but benefit from specialist reward expertise, strategic challenge and practical guidance at key decision points. An advisory approach creates more flexibility than traditional consulting, helping organisations: Pay transparency is about ensuring employees understand how pay decisions are made – and that those decisions are grounded in fairness, objectivity and compliance. With the EU Pay Transparency Directive coming into force in June 2026, employers with EU-based employees must prepare to meet new legal requirements. But beyond compliance, the ripple effect across the wider talent market means UK-based organisations are also under growing pressure to show that pay structures are robust, equitable and free from bias. Download this free guide to understand the key elements of the directive, what it means for UK HR and Reward leaders, and the practical steps you need to take now — plus get a handy checklist to help you stay on track with EU pay transparency compliance. The EU Pay Transparency Directive takes effect in June 2026. Use our EU Pay Transparency Compliance Checklist to assess your current position, identify risks, and take practical steps towards a fairer, more compliant approach to pay. Simple, clear and built for HR leaders. I’ll work with you to assess how prepared your organisation is for the growing demands of pay transparency. Together, we’ll review how pay is determined, communicated and applied in practice – and identify any gaps or risks. We’ll build a clear roadmap to strengthen your reward architecture, ensure legal readiness where required, and increase confidence among employees, managers and senior leaders. My approach blends deep reward expertise with strategic insight – so any changes we make are not just compliant, but commercially and culturally aligned too. Organisations with employees in the EU who need to prepare for the 2026 directive – and UK-based employers who want to stay ahead of market expectations. Particularly relevant for HR teams managing legacy pay issues, poor internal equity, or pressure for clearer progression and fairness. This work supports not just compliance, but culture – helping you create a fairer, more transparent organisation. You can see how this approach works in practice in our latest EU Pay Transparency case study, featuring a leading global airline navigating cross-border compliance and reward alignment. “We were looking for expert support to review and strengthen our reward processes. This included reviewing bonus and pay review frameworks, building the groundwork for greater pay transparency, and identifying low-cost ways to enhance our benefits offer.” A reward strategy in HR is a plan that outlines how a company will attract, retain, motivate, and engage employees through compensation and recognition. We look at all the reasons an employee chooses to join, stay or leave your organisation. It considers factors like business goals, market competitiveness, employee preferences, performance, flexibility, and budget. By creating and following this plan, organisations can gain a competitive edge, boost employee performance and satisfaction, and meet business objectives. I’ll make sure your HR reward strategy consultation is valuable every step of the way. Together, we’ll set clear objectives, develop a smart HR reward strategy, and plan out how to put it into action. We’ll work closely to ensure everything aligns strategically. I understand how different parts of HR connect, so I’ll make sure any changes we make won’t cause problems elsewhere. With my broad HR experience and CIPD-accredited advanced reward expertise, you’re in good hands. Organisations of any size where a strategic stance to pay and reward is needed to ensure all parts of the reward framework are working cohesively and consistently to support the organisation’s objectives. Especially relevant to organisations focusing on enhancing their EVP (employee value proposition) or wanting to find ways to better attract and retain talent. “Gemma’s strategic approach has reinforced our position in the market and improved our retention strategies. We are grateful to Gemma for her expertise and guidance.” Job evaluation is a methodical way to compare different job roles within an organisation to see how valuable they are relative to each other. It sets the foundation for fair pay by helping identify any pay disparities and establishing a consistent pay structure. It also helps understand the organisation’s structure better and creates clear career paths for employee As a skilled Reward Consultant, I’ll team up with you to suggest, create, and implement a job evaluation system tailored to your requirements. This can range from a simple job hierarchy to a more comprehensive evaluation framework. I ensure it is fully calibrated across the business to ensure fairness and consistency. Any such job evaluation system provides a more robust basis for a pay benchmarking exercise. It can also spotlight anomalies in your organisation design (OD), highlight gaps in the structure, and crucially alert you to potential areas to investigate from an equal pay perspective. Organisations that want to establish competitive market pay position but don’t have an established way of grading roles, as job evaluation is an essential precursor to pay benchmarking. Job evaluation is also the critical first step to establishing a fair and consistent pay structure, and creating career pathways. “The framework created was clear and adapted perfectly to our specific needs. I highly recommend Gemma as a reward partner.” Pay benchmarking is the process of comparing an organisation’s pay rates and compensation practices with those of similar companies or industries. This comparison helps you ensure that your compensation packages are competitive and aligned with prevailing market trends. By analysing pay benchmarking data, you can make informed decisions about salary levels, benefits, and other forms of compensation to attract and retain talent effectively. I’ll handle everything involved in comparing your pay rates to industry standards, starting from finding the right data sources to accurately matching your roles. I’ll provide a clear analysis of how your workforce compares to these benchmarks and can create basic pay structures tailored to your business needs. With my expertise in both reward strategies and general HR, I’ll ensure this process integrates smoothly with other HR aspects like career paths, bonuses, and performance-based pay. Organisations that want to establish competitive market pay position – either to achieve a pay fairness principle, or to tackle a talent attraction/retention challenge, or ensure pay equity. Ad hoc pay increase are a significant hidden cost for many business – a robust pay framework is an essential foundation to ensuring pay decisions are robust and fair. “Gemma is a strong reward expert, with deep technical understanding, in addition she is also amazing to work with, making sure workloads are managed in a straightforward and simple way.” Executive pay and reward requires a specialist approach due to the strategic nature of executive roles, their higher impact on company performance, and the need to align their interests with shareholders, consider long-term value creation and regulatory requirements.. Benchmarking is undertaken using a combination of different data points, depending on company factors such as revenue, profit, and other commercial measures. Considerations for executive pay can also involve greater scrutiny from regulatory bodies, shareholders, and the public, requiring transparency and justifiable pay structures. As an experienced Executive Remuneration consultant, I can undertake a thorough analysis of your executive pay landscape, from an in-depth analysis and benchmarking of each pay component to advising on corporate pay governance principles, preparation for Remuneration Committees (Remcom), and LTIP review and design. Analysis is provided as a clear and concise Board-ready report designed for use in Executive Board meetings, Remuneration Committees, and senior leadership presentations. With my board-level HR experience, I can also work directly with your CEO, CFO, or Executive team and present on your behalf or provide support for you to do this, as needed. Organisations that want to establish competitive market pay for their Exec team and/or have a requirement to follow regulatory or other corporate governance processes. “It is great to work with Gemma. Being an HRD can be lonely, and Gemma provides wise counsel. She has a great ability to bring clarity of thought to the most complex of situations.” When designed well, variable pay schemes (bonus or sales incentives) can provide the most affordable and powerful way to motivate and reward high performance. Do you have a bonus scheme that you think isn’t really delivering this? Whether it’s an issue with design, market alignment, internal equity or communication (or a combination of any of these), I can review, recommend and deliver the changes you need to reward and drive high performance. Organisations who have a bonus scheme in place and want to get an expert view on its effectiveness. Or organisations who want to introduce a bonus to help drive performance, minimise reliance on base pay to remain competitive, or want to motivate/retain key staff. “This work has laid important foundations for what is ultimately a longer-term shift in how we manage and motivate performance in our sales teams.” Organisations with clear pay progression principles and processes provide a fair and transparent framework by which individual wage increases are defined and presented to employees. Determining pay progression also ensures payroll costs can be more robustly managed, supporting wider strategic goals and budgeting. Making decisions around pay structures, frameworks, and progression can seem daunting, with many strategic mechanisms involved. As an experienced HR reward advisor, I can walk you through the process step-by-step. Pay progression and promotion principles Organisations who want to attract and retain key talent, grow and develop their own talent pipeline and reduce reliance on and cost of external hiring. “I would highly recommend Gemma to anyone looking to professionalise and streamline their reward systems and also help upskill the team.” An independent reward adviser provides an objective perspective on your organisation’s approach to reward, helping your HR team navigate complex reward decisions with confidence. This may include reviewing pay structures, reward frameworks, pay transparency readiness, job architecture, salary benchmarking and reward governance. Reward advisory complements your internal expertise by bringing specialist insight, practical recommendations and an external perspective to support informed decision making. Absolutely. Many organisations don’t need a complete reward redesign. A reward strategy review can identify what’s working well, highlight potential risks and recommend targeted improvements that align with your business strategy and future plans. And you don’t need a written strategy to do this. Whether you’re preparing for organisational growth, reviewing pay transparency or simply looking to strengthen your existing reward framework, the focus is on building upon your current approach (whether written down or not) rather than starting again unnecessarily. Reward advisory provides strategic guidance on how your organisation rewards, motivates and retains its people. The aim is to help organisations develop fair, commercially sustainable reward practices that support both business objectives and employee engagement. I work with organisations of varying sizes, from growing SMEs through to larger international organisations looking to strengthen their reward strategy. Clients are often reviewing pay structures, preparing for the EU Pay Transparency Directive, evolving their job architecture or seeking an independent perspective on reward challenges. Every organisation is different, so my reward advisory approach is tailored to your business, people strategy and stage of growth. Jo Dogherty, Chief People Officer VerastarHR Reward Advisory & Pay Consulting
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“Gemma is a strong reward expert, with deep technical understanding, in addition she is also amazing to work with, making sure workloads are managed in a straightforward and simple way. I would highly recommend Gemma as a reward partner.”
