To Pay or Not to Pay
To Pay or Not to Pay is a single-player HR simulation in which participants act as the HR lead at a fast-growing startup operating under tight cash runway, competitive talent markets, and high strategic dependence on each hire. Across three hiring rounds of increasing complexity and seniority, participants design compensation packages, evaluate candidate profiles, negotiate offers, and manage budget and equity constraints — experiencing firsthand how each decision accumulates to shape financial outcomes, talent quality, and strategic alignment.
The simulation is available in two distinct organisational contexts: NexaTech Solutions, a Bengaluru-based technology startup, and Swift Eats, a platform-based consumer services firm. Each context surfaces different but complementary compensation and hiring challenges, while retaining a common decision logic. Together, they illustrate how compensation strategy must be adapted to organisational context, not applied as a universal formula.
- Strategy-aligned compensation
- Total Rewards thinking
- Negotiation efficiency
- Candidate prioritisation
- Right pay, right person
- Available in two organisational contexts — NexaTech Solutions (technology startup) and Swift Eats (consumer services firm) — each surfacing distinct compensation and hiring challenges
- Three hiring rounds of progressively increasing seniority and strategic complexity, spanning junior, mid-level, and senior roles
- Full compensation design toolkit: base pay, equity, benefits, signing bonuses, and performance bonuses within defined budget and equity constraints
- Leaderboard scoring based on three KPIs — Financial Alignment (50%), Candidate Priority (30%), and Negotiation Efficiency (20%)
- Separate debrief views for participants and facilitators, with personalised decision outcomes and comprehensive class analytics respectively
- Move beyond salary-matching toward strategy-aligned, data-driven compensation decisions
- Recognise compensation as a portfolio of levers rather than a single salary number
- Understand the real cost of negotiation inefficiency in competitive hiring environments
- Develop the ability to evaluate and prioritise candidates based on skills, experience, and strategic fit — not just availability or acceptance
- Internalise that effective compensation is not about paying the most — it is about paying the right mix to the right person at the right time
