In the fast-evolving world of human resources, few topics are as critical—and as challenging—as compensation. Matt McFarlane’s journey from a rural upbringing and a psychology degree to becoming a global HR expert and specialist compensation consultant offers unique insights into this complex field. As the founder of FNDN, a consultancy focused on startup compensation strategies, Matt shares his unconventional career path, lessons learned, and bold perspectives on pay transparency, title inflation, and the future of HR.
From Farm Life to People Operations: Matt’s Early Career Journey
Matt’s story begins far from the corporate world, growing up on a farm in rural Victoria. Although he initially pursued a psychology degree, he realised halfway through that clinical psychology was not his path. It was a suggestion from someone in business that steered him toward human resources, specifically organisational psychology, the intersection of human behaviour and business needs.
Despite his interest, landing his first HR role was far from easy. Without a formal HR degree or corporate experience, Matt faced repeated rejections. A recruiter advised him to gain office experience first, even in an administrative role, to build a foundation. Taking this advice, Matt worked as an admin assistant for a year in the software industry before successfully transitioning into an HR assistant role in professional services.
This early experience was formative. Matt learned the nuts and bolts of HR administration, including building onboarding systems and automating processes using tools like SharePoint. It also planted the seeds for his passion for systems thinking and automation within HR.
Industrial Relations: The Tough School of HR
After gaining generalist HR experience, Matt sought to deepen his expertise in industrial relations (IR)—a challenging and often reactive area of HR. He joined a heavily unionised food manufacturing company, leading multiple enterprise agreement negotiations within a single year. The intense, fast-paced environment involved constant firefighting and required a solid understanding of Australian labour laws like the Fair Work Act.
Although Matt did not find IR to be his long-term passion, he acknowledges that the experience was critical. The legal and compliance knowledge he gained became a cornerstone of his HR toolkit, especially valuable when transitioning to global roles.
Global HR Complexities: Navigating Legal and Cultural Challenges
Matt’s career later took him into the tech sector, where he managed people operations for companies scaling rapidly across dozens of countries. This global scope introduced a new layer of complexity, combining diverse legal requirements with vastly different cultural expectations.
For example, some countries have mandatory benefits like Brazil’s 13th month salary or Portugal’s food allowances—concepts unfamiliar in Australia. Handling global layoffs was particularly challenging, as local laws and cultural norms varied widely. While Australian IR experience provided a strong legal foundation, Matt emphasises that cultural sensitivity and clear communication were equally vital to navigating these situations.
One standout example was a global round of redundancies where the company exceeded local legal requirements to maintain consistency with its values, offering generous severance packages in countries like the US, where “at-will” employment usually means minimal notice. This approach underscored the importance of aligning compensation and HR practices with company culture, even across borders.
Why Compensation Became Matt’s Passion
While Matt’s HR experience has been broad, he has developed a deep passion for compensation, an area often overlooked or shrouded in taboo. He describes compensation as:
- Analytical and commercial: It involves data, spreadsheets, and financial reasoning, which Matt has grown to love.
- Strategic: Compensation is often the largest cost for a business and a key lever for talent attraction and retention.
- Deeply human: It’s a highly emotional topic that affects every employee individually.
Matt believes compensation can be designed to create harmony between business needs and employee expectations, dispelling the myth that it’s a zero-sum game. However, he recognises that many organisations struggle with compensation, often defaulting to simplistic processes focused solely on annual pay reviews without considering the broader strategic and human elements.
Demystifying Compensation: Challenges and Misconceptions
Matt highlights several common barriers HR professionals face with compensation:
- Fear of analytics: Many shy away from the data and spreadsheet work involved, but Matt encourages learning through practical experience and resources like YouTube.
- Reactive mindset: Compensation is often treated as a once-a-year task rather than a continuous strategic process.
- Unclear benchmarks: Without knowledge of what “good” looks like, companies tend to copy others or rely on incomplete salary surveys.
He also stresses that compensation should remain firmly within the people domain, ideally overseen by Chief People Officers or HR leaders, while working closely with finance. This ensures alignment with talent strategy and culture rather than purely financial considerations.
Startup Compensation: Finding the Right Fit
Matt’s consultancy, FNDN, focuses on startups and scale-ups with 50 to 500 employees—companies often grappling with compensation fundamentals. He explains that compensation solutions are never one-size-fits-all. Instead, they must be tailored to the company’s goals, culture, and talent strategy.
One example he shares is a startup that chose to pay everyone in a role the same salary, rather than using pay ranges tied to individual performance. This approach supported their commitment to equity, especially given their diverse workforce including many people with disabilities and neurodivergence. While this model wouldn’t suit every company, it was the right fit for theirs.
Controversial Takes: Title Inflation and Living Wage Philosophy
Matt is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. Two of his more debated views are:
- Title inflation: In startups, inflating titles can be a strategic tool to attract talent when salaries can’t compete with larger companies. For example, calling a senior engineer a “CTO” might help secure critical hires early on, even if it creates challenges later during formal compensation structuring.
- Living wage first: Matt believes companies should ensure employees earn a living wage before benchmarking against market rates. If employees are struggling to meet basic needs, they cannot perform at their best.
Lessons for HR Professionals: Navigating Career and Role Challenges
Reflecting on his career, Matt offers practical advice for HR professionals at all stages:
For Early Career HR Practitioners
- Be diligent about job choices: Research companies thoroughly beyond job ads. Ask questions about culture, role expectations, and turnover.
- Use your network: Reach out on LinkedIn to speak with current employees and gain insider perspectives.
- Embrace learning opportunities: Don’t shy away from uncomfortable or unfamiliar roles; they build valuable skills.
For Experienced HR Leaders
- Balance idealism with pragmatism: Champion fairness and culture, but recognise when to pick your battles to maintain relationships and credibility.
- Create space for strategic work: Avoid being consumed by reactive firefighting by splitting teams into “services” and “product” functions, rotating roles every six months to balance workload and innovation.
Matt also advocates for time tracking within HR teams to gain insights into how time is spent, identify bottlenecks, and make informed resource decisions—a practice often overlooked in HR but common in professions like law and accounting.
The Future of Compensation and HR: Trends and Opportunities
Several shifts are reshaping compensation and HR globally:
- Growing pay transparency: Legislation in places like Western Australia and countries such as the US, Canada, and across Europe is pushing companies to disclose pay information, increasing pressure to get compensation right.
- Emergence of Gen Z workforce: Gen Z employees expect openness about pay and want clear justifications for compensation decisions, challenging traditional taboos around salary secrecy.
- Advances in technology: Real-time market benchmarking and sophisticated compensation management tools enable even small companies to be competitive and fair.
Matt’s experience managing compensation for companies scaling from 250 to over 6,000 employees across 70 countries highlights the increasing complexity and importance of getting pay right in a globalised, remote work environment.
Return on Investment: Making Compensation Visible and Strategic
Matt emphasises that well-designed compensation systems can save companies significant money and improve talent outcomes. For startups, establishing clear salary structures can prevent costly disparities and overpayments as companies grow.
He also warns against relying solely on recruitment agency salary surveys, which may be biased toward higher salaries due to their commission-based models. Investing in high-quality salary data can help companies avoid overpaying by tens of thousands of dollars and make better-informed compensation decisions.
Final Words of Wisdom: Embrace Opportunities and Learn Along the Way
“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you’re not sure you can do it, say yes and then learn how to do it later.”
– Richard Branson
Matt’s career mantra reflects his approach to growth: diving into new challenges, learning on the job, and continuously evolving. His journey from farm life to global HR leadership, and now as a compensation consultant helping startups lay strong foundations, exemplifies the power of embracing discomfort and balancing idealism with commercial reality.
About Matt McFarlane and Foundation
Matt runs the FNDN Series podcast, where he explores the nuances of total rewards, remuneration, and compensation with industry leaders and innovators. The podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, offering weekly episodes that unpack compensation challenges and solutions with fresh perspectives.
His consultancy, FNDN specialises in startup compensation strategies, helping companies between 50 and 500 employees build fair, competitive, and scalable pay structures aligned with their culture and business goals.
Conclusion
Matt McFarlane’s story is a testament to the evolving nature of HR and compensation. His blend of psychology, industrial relations, global experience, and analytical passion equips him to tackle one of the most critical and sensitive aspects of business: pay. For HR professionals, startup founders, and anyone interested in the intersection of people, culture, and business strategy, Matt’s insights offer valuable guidance on navigating complexity, embracing change, and building compensation systems that work for everyone.
Whether you’re just starting your HR career or leading a people team through rapid growth, Matt’s advice—to be diligent, balance idealism with pragmatism, and continuously learn—resonates as a blueprint for success in today’s dynamic workplace.
