The Core Challenge
Haus Labs, a high-growth makeup brand in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry, combines a direct-to-consumer (D2C) online business with strong retail partnerships through Sephora. The company serves markets across North America, the UK, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Currently employing about 80 people, Haus Labs projects to grow to 100–120 employees by 2026. Its workforce spans 14 different U.S. states, Canada, and the UK, with plans to further expand international hiring next year. Over one-third of the workforce is dedicated to sales or sales-related functions.
Chelsey Lindbloom, Senior Director of People and Culture, was responsible for managing the payroll budget, creating the headcount budget, and overseeing the annual bonus cycle and pay increases. Before implementing 15Five’s Compensation module, Haus Labs relied on manual, Excel-based processes that posed significant operational and financial risks:
- Financial Inaccuracy: Compensation data was manually pulled from the HRIS (ADP) and reconciled with master spreadsheets. In one cycle, bonus calculations were off and had to be manually reconciled, costing the team several hours of work.
- Time-Consuming Process: The annual compensation process took nearly an entire month, requiring complex formulas across multiple tabs to handle bonuses tied to company, department, and individual goals.
- Cumbersome Workflow and Security Risks: To gather input from eight department heads, the master workbook had to be split into password-protected worksheets, sent out, and then merged back. This introduced delays, password management challenges, and security risks.
- Subjective Decision-Making: Linking performance data to promotion eligibility and bonuses was extremely time-consuming and often subjective. Decisions typically focused on individual employees, based on subjective insight due to a lack of clear performance metrics.
- Poor Manager Experience: Managers found Excel templates difficult to navigate and lacked clarity on the total departmental budget or on how compensation decisions were made for their teams.
The Solution
Haus Labs chose 15Five's Compensation module because it directly connects performance and pay—exactly what Chelsey needed for performance-driven compensation. The setup was smooth and intuitive, with the 15Five team helping tailor the system to Haus Labs' unique bonus and pay-increase cycles.
Their implementation focused on:
- Performance-Linked Recommendations: Performance data, categorized as under-performing, meeting, or exceeding expectations from the most recent review cycle, is automatically integrated into the compensation module, providing recommendations for each employee's bonus amount.
- Manager Accountability: While managers can override system recommendations, they are required to provide written explanations for promotions or significant increases for under-performing employees, fostering transparency and consistency.
- Budget Control and Real-Time Visibility: Chelsey approves the overall payroll budget by department, which department executives then distribute. As managers adjust compensation and bonuses, the system shows real-time budget alignment (or misalignment) relative to approved limits.
- Automation of Complex Calculations: The system automates intricate rules such as prorating bonuses for new hires (Haus Labs hired 35 new employees last year alone)—a process that was previously manual, high-risk, and time-consuming.
- Job Architecture and Compensation Fairness: In response to pay equity concerns raised in engagement surveys, Haus Labs used the platform to implement compa-ratios and more complex job levels by region. The platform immediately highlighted where each employee fell within compa-ratio bands, providing visibility into both internal and external equity.
The Measurable Results
15Five Compensation delivered measurable outcomes for Haus Labs across the board. Results included:
- Significant Time Savings: Eliminating manual tasks, such as splitting workbooks, managing passwords, and generating individual award letters (which previously took about five minutes per person), reduced the annual compensation workload by at least one week.
- Risk Reduction and Accuracy: With compensation data now sourced directly from ADP, Haus Labs established a single source of truth in 15Five, eliminating the risk of human error that previously led to substantial financial mistakes.
- Increased Manager Confidence: Managers now have visibility into the performance-to-pay linkage and budget constraints within a single system, empowering them to lead compensation discussions. One executive remarked, “I love this tool—it’s so easy to use.”
- Stress-Free HR Management: Chelsey described an overall improvement in compensation process management, indicating a positive impact on HR operations and manager experience.
Haus Labs now runs a compensation cycle that feels smooth, reliable, and grounded in real performance insight. 15Five helps their leaders reward people fairly and move the business forward with confidence.
Learn how 15Five can transform your compensation planning to connect pay and performance.
