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September 24-26, 2025 Kalahari, Sandusky, OH
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Beyond Market Rate: The New Model for Equitable and Strategic Pay
Date: Beginning at
Session Duration

Learning Objective
- Explain why pay equity remains a persistent challenge and why reliance on market benchmarks falls short. - Understand how skills- and value-based pay creates a future-ready compensation model that meets employee expectations and aligns with organizational needs. - Examine Ohio case studies that demonstrate practical, sustainable solutions for improving employee experience. - Gain tools to design a compensation strategy that strengthens retention, advances fairness, and aligns with organizational goals.

Session Description
In today’s competitive labor market, compensation is more than a budget line item — it’s a strategic tool that reflects your organization’s values and directly impacts retention. Yet too often, small and midsize employers rely solely on market benchmarks or generic frameworks, leaving them vulnerable to disengagement and turnover. And despite decades of attention, pay inequity remains a persistent challenge for employers across industries.

This session will challenge outdated pay practices and unveil the new model for compensation strategy. Grounded in case studies from Ohio employers and interactive discussion, you’ll leave with a data-driven approach that replaces market-rate dependence with insight into role value, skills, and organizational priorities — advancing equity, strengthening retention, and aligning compensation with your organization’s strategic goals.

Session Speaker

Nicole Armstrong

Ellequate
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More About Nicole Armstrong

Nicole Armstrong is the Founder and CEO of Ellequate, an award-winning SaaS platform that helps employers create fair, inclusive, and high-performing workplaces. With more than 15 years of experience in design thinking and social innovation, she launched the nation’s first employer certification for workplace equity and has partnered with over 40 organizations across industries to strengthen employee experience and retention through better systems and strategies.

Ellequate leverages behavioral science, real-time data, and AI to help HR leaders make smarter decisions on pay, policies, and culture. Nicole also spearheaded the development of Ellequate’s compensation intelligence tool, which enables employers to move beyond market benchmarks and align pay with internal value, skills, organizational priorities, and sustainability.

A frequent national speaker at SHRM, WELCOA, and DisruptHR, Nicole is a Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses graduate and has been recognized with honors including the CLIMB Award, Best in Tech: Woman/Minority to Watch, and the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Forty Under 40

Ohio SHRM State Council

The Ohio SHRM State Council is dedicated to leading, educating, and inspiring the over 12,000 HR professionals in Ohio and educating, serving as HR experts to, and positively impacting other business professionals in Ohio. Membership is made up of 51 volunteers who are elected or appointed to The Council and includes the Chapter Presidents of the 26 local SHRM affiliated chapters in Ohio.

Animate HR: From Concept to Creation

Please plan on attending the annual Ohio Human Resource Conference, September 24-26, 2025 as we return to the Kalahari Resort, Sandusky, Ohio.

Contact Us

Ohio SHRM 2025 HR Conference

PO Box 450802
Cleveland, OH 44145

Phone: (440) 899-2242
E-mail: marketing@ohioshrm.org

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