2026 Compensation Review, made 10x

Every element on this page is tagged. Green is already live and stays exactly as the approved design. Blue is a proposed addition, each with a one line reason. The thesis: the tool already proves the facts, so the 10x is turning a fixed 4% pool plus a fairness map into the single best allocation, run live in the room with each GM.

Real figures cited to the launch-readiness audit (2026-08-31 and 2026-09-01). People are synthetic; any allocation amount or figure marked (illus.) is an illustrative placeholder, not real employee pay.

Baseline: what is live today

The approved surface. Shown compressed so the proposed modules have context. Nothing here changes.

Cycle flow

In production

Six fail-closed stages. HOUZN is the one active GM-review lane; HOURP and HOUUS are census-frozen. (spec 2026-09-01)

Census
GM review
Ownership
Payroll
Reconcile
Close

Property pool

In production

4% is a property spending limit, not a per-person target. Remaining, proposed, and actual-tax burden stay separate.

HOUZN poolCap and balances are illustrative

$11,020of $18,400 cap illus.

Remaining$7,380

Proposed$2,026

Tax burden$169

Position fairness (real example)

In production

Same position at property, portfolio, and BLS Houston. Never hotelwide average pay.

Andrew G., HOUZN

$16.00

HOUZN Front Desk

$14.00

BLS Houston

$14.37

Browser-proven: Front Desk Agent, current $16.00/hr; property p25/median/p75 $13.38 / $14.00 / $15.00 across 12 assignments; BLS Houston $13.39 / $14.37 / $16.91, May 1 2025. (spec 2026-08-31)

People roster + evidence gates

In production

The approved compact roster. Records that cannot be decided are held, not guessed.

PayrollHomebaseRegisterexecution proof chain

Craig R. inactive state is real: 0 Homebase hours in 13 weeks, still listed active. (spec 2026-09-01)

Proposed: do now

Highest leverage on the fixed pool. Built on inputs the system already has.

1 · Pool Allocation Optimizer

Do now

The pool is the binding constraint and the hardest human call. The tool already holds every input (pool cap, each person's gap to midpoint, hours, employer-tax load), so it should propose the fair allocation, not just show the parts. Ace and the GM adjust from a starting point instead of solving a budget puzzle by hand.

$14,300optimizer would commit of $18,400 HOUZN cap illus.

Closes fairness gap for9 people

Left unfunded3 people

Loaded cost$15,488

Person / position	Current	Gap to property midpoint	Suggested raise	Fairness after
Employee ARoom Attendant · HOUZN	$13.50	$1.00 below	+$0.85	Near midpoint
Employee BFront Desk Agent · HOUZN	$13.25	$0.75 below	+$0.60	Near midpoint
Employee CMaintenance Tech · HOUZN	$17.40	$1.10 below	+$0.95	At midpoint
Employee DRoom Attendant · HOUZN	$13.00	$1.00 below	unfunded, cap reached	held for next cycle

Allocation amounts, people, and the HOUZN cap here are illustrative placeholders on synthetic people. The real inputs (per-person gap to property/BLS midpoint, hours, actual employer-tax rate) already exist in production per migrations 1032 and the fairness audit.

2 · Raise-Overdue Priority

Do now

Rank by months since last raise combined with gap below midpoint. Track record from facts on file, not an attrition prediction. Points the fixed dollars at the most underpaid, longest, first.

Employee ARoom Attendant · HOUZN

14 mo · $1.00 below

Employee DRoom Attendant · HOUZN

11 mo · $1.00 below

Employee BFront Desk Agent · HOUZN

9 mo · $0.75 below

Illustrative ordering. Real inputs: payroll-detected last-raise date and property-midpoint gap, both live in production.

8 · Pool ticker

Do now

One always-visible line as decisions are made. Removes pool anxiety without opening a report.

$4,100left in HOUZN pool

3people still unfunded

78%of cap committed

Figures illustrative; derived from the same pool balances already computed.

6 · Fully-Loaded Pool Toggle

Do now

Switch the pool between wage-only and wage-plus-employer-tax dollars (actual FICA, Medicare, FUTA, TX SUTA already computed). Makes the 4% honest and stops quiet overruns.

Committed, wagewhat the raises add to base

$14,300

Committed, loadedplus 8.31% actual employer tax

$15,488

8.31% actual employer-tax rate is the real basis shown in the prototype drawer; dollar totals here are illustrative.

10 · Why-this-range popover

Do now

Inline BLS SOC code, match confidence, and capture date behind the market number. Ace trusts a benchmark he can trace.

Position matchFront Desk Agent · high confidence

SOC occupation43-4081 Hotel Desk Clerks

SourceBLS May 2025 Houston

CapturedMay 1, 2025

Source and date are real (migration 1032, BLS May 2025 Houston). SOC code shown is illustrative for this label.

Proposed: do next

Force multipliers once the pool tools land.

3 · Run-the-Review Mode

Do next

The product's real use is a meeting, not a dashboard. A guided one-person-at-a-time flow: proposed, fairness read, pool effect, decide or return, next. Nothing skipped, clean trail.

Person 6 of 20HOUZN GM review · Employee C

30% complete

Flow illustrative; drives the same recommendation save and revision path already in production.

5 · Compression Detector

Do next

Position by tenure, flagging where new-hire pay sits within a hair of veterans. The prototype already names Front Desk Agent compression as a watch; this makes it a real view.

Position	<1 yr	1-3 yr	3 yr+
Front Desk Agent	$13.25	$13.60	$14.10
Room Attendant	$13.00	$14.25	$15.50
Maintenance Tech	$16.50	$18.00	$19.10

Illustrative. Red flags where tenure bands are within an illustrative $0.50. Real inputs: hire date (Homebase) and current rate, both live.

7 · First-Paycheck Forecast

Do next

For each approved raise, the exact biweekly register it should first appear on, wired to the execution proof chain. Turns approved into will-hit-Sep-20 and makes reconciliation a confirmation, not a hunt.

Employee A+$0.85 · effective Sep 7

First on Sep 20 register

Employee C+$0.95 · effective Sep 7

First on Sep 20 register

Effective date Sep 7 is real (cycle revision 4, spec 2026-08-31). Register dates illustrative.

9 · Refresh-source-now

Do next

A button on the stale-source gate that triggers the Homebase / payroll sync instead of only blocking. Turns a dead end into a self-heal.

HOUZN payroll source is stale

Through Apr 20, 2026 · 10 periods behind the Sep 7 effective date.

Stale-source gate and dates are real prototype states; the refresh action is the proposed addition.

Proposed: explore

Owner-unique vantage and audit surfacing. Bigger lifts, real upside.

4 · Cross-Property Equity Matrix

Explore · owner only

Same position across all three hotels, side by side, respecting Texas privacy. No GM can see this; only Ace can. It is the owner's unique vantage and today it is invisible.

Position (median)	HOURP	HOUUS	HOUZN
Room Attendant	$15.25	$14.00	$13.50
Front Desk Agent	$15.00	$14.10	$14.00
Maintenance Tech	$19.10	$18.40	$18.25

Illustrative medians. Red flags the widest same-position spread across the portfolio. Real inputs: property-level position medians, live in production.

11 · Per-person decision trail

Explore

Surface the immutable revision and actor timeline the server already stores. Turns audit into a one-glance defense of every decision.

Sep 1GM drafted +$0.85 · reason: market correction

Sep 1Owner reviewed · pool checked, within cap

Sep 1Approved · revision 7 · queued for payroll

Illustrative events. The revision and actor-provenance path already exists (migration 1030, audit history contract).

How to read this. Green modules are already in production and stay as the approved design; they are here only for context. Blue modules are proposals for you to keep or cut, one at a time, on this same link. The single highest-leverage bet is module 1, the Pool Allocation Optimizer: it is the one thing that turns your fixed 4% budget plus the fairness map into a proposed answer you adjust, instead of a knapsack you solve by hand with each GM. Real figures cited inline to the launch-readiness audit (2026-08-31 and 2026-09-01) and migrations 1024/1030/1032. People are synthetic and any figure marked (illus.) is an illustrative placeholder, never real employee pay. No em dashes, negatives shown with plain hyphens.