Markus Enzner
VP of Total Rewards Americas
The Adecco Group
Episode 49
Stop The Bleed: Off-Cycle Comp Is Your Biggest Hidden HR Cost
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleSeptember 22, 2025 · 15:54
Thesis
“Effective HR leadership requires transparency, empathy, and a holistic approach to total rewards, empowering managers and advocating for employees, especially as new technologies like AI reshape the workforce.”
Show notes
Markus Enzner once sent a sensitive compensation file to the wrong person. He didn't minimize it, deflect it, or wait for someone else to manage the fallout — he owned it immediately, communicated transparently, and fixed it. That instinct, he'll tell you, isn't just about crisis management. It's the foundation of how he thinks about leadership in total rewards: transparency, ownership, and the courage to act on what you actually know.
As VP of Total Rewards Americas at The Adecco Group, Markus has built a philosophy shaped by early experiences with bad managers — the kind that drove him to become the opposite. He's a proponent of holistic high-performance cultures where managers have real influence over total compensation, not just base pay, and where off-cycle increases — often the most ungoverned and expensive part of any compensation budget — are actively managed rather than ignored. His estimate: off-cycle spend typically runs 50-75% of annual comp costs, completely outside the normal P&L review. That's not a peripheral insight. It's a line item that can shift an entire organization's compensation strategy.
Markus is also direct about AI's coming impact on HR: the real question isn't whether AI will change the function, but whether HR will use it to support people or just cut costs. His answer reveals a values-first orientation that has defined his career.
- Transparency as a leadership discipline — what owning a high-stakes mistake taught Markus about credibility
- Off-cycle compensation as a hidden cost driver — why 50-75% of comp spend often goes ungoverned and what to do about it
- Building a holistic high-performance culture — giving managers real leverage across the full total rewards equation
- Mentorship that scales — how Markus deploys assigned mentors for junior employees and what outcomes it drives
- AI as a test of HR values — the question every people leader should be asking about their organization's automation agenda
- Authenticity under pressure — staying true to your leadership style when the environment pushes back
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What you'll take away
- 1Own your mistakes early and transparently, communicating the issue and your plan to rectify it.
- 2Implement a holistic high-performance culture by enabling managers to impact all aspects of total rewards (base pay, bonus, equity) and backing it with technology.
- 3Actively manage off-cycle compensation increases; they are often ungoverned and can account for 50-75% of annual spend, representing an 'easy win' for cost savings.
- 4As AI becomes prevalent, HR's crucial role is to be an ambassador for people, ensuring AI supports employees rather than solely driving cost-cutting.
- 5Embrace change and adaptability, be courageous in speaking the truth, and always bring your authentic self to your career.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Challenges the common neglect of off-cycle compensation increases, highlighting them as a major, yet easily solvable, financial blind spot for companies.
- •Pushes back on the idea of AI merely replacing jobs, arguing HR's primary role is to advocate for people and steer companies towards using AI to enhance products and processes rather than just cutting costs.
In Markus's words
“I made a huge mistake where I kind of calculated incentives for the top 25 of the organization. And I wanted to send that to my supervisor for like 4-eye principal review, and I sent it to the wrong person.”
This quote highlights a significant early career mistake and sets the stage for his advice on owning errors.
“But what companies usually neglect is their off-cycle increases. So basically, you know, how much money are you spending throughout the year... And you will learn that it's typically, it's like 50 to 75% of the cost you're spending completely ungoverned out of your, out of your day-to-day P&L.”
This details a critical, often overlooked financial inefficiency that Markus repeatedly addresses successfully.
“I think the role for HR kind of going forward will be we have to be ambassadors for the people because the decisions that companies will face is, am I using AI just to cut costs and drive efficiency, or am I using AI to support my people and basically create the best product?”
This outlines Markus's core perspective on HR's ethical and strategic imperative regarding artificial intelligence.
“I think first and foremost, and I've done that wrong, you know, at the beginning of my, my career is you have to be very adaptable and you have to embrace change... The second thing that comes to my mind is be courageous... And then for me, last but not least, is bring your authentic self.”
These three pieces of advice summarize key learnings Markus wished he knew earlier in his career.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Compensation decisions being piecemealed and siloed, leading to employee confusion and lack of impact understanding.
- •Managers often avoid full responsibility and accountability for performance and compensation decisions.
- •Companies neglect managing off-cycle compensation increases, resulting in 50-75% of total compensation spend being ungoverned.
- •The emotional toll and complexity of making unpopular decisions, such as reductions in force, while striving for empathy and transparency.
- •The challenge for HR to ensure AI implementation focuses on supporting people and enhancing products, rather than solely driving cost-cutting.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave Gentry shares a little bit about his career journey
Your Career Paths
Markus: When you're working a corporate job, you will always face crisis
Crisis in my Career
What is the most meaningful change that you've made in a company that employees still feel today
What is the most meaningful change that your company made to its culture
Markus: Very often you have to take unpopular decisions for an organization
When to Make a Hard Call
Markus: When I have junior people, assigning a mentor works best
Markus on His Top HR Initiatives
One HR initiative that I repeat is managing off-cycle compensation increases
On Compensation and Off-cycle Increases
Markus says HR leaders need to prepare for the rise of artificial intelligence
Markus, looking ahead,
Marcus, if you could leave one piece of advice for our community
Marcus on Becoming More Creative in Your Career
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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