Rewards through the deal: navigating M&A from due diligence to integration

M&A is one of the most requested topics among reward and compensation professionals and yet it's rarely spoken about openly. Whether you're at a company that's about to acquire, about to be acquired, or somewhere in the middle of a messy integration, the rewards challenges are significant and the stakes are high.

David and Tobias have lived through it from multiple angles. David has led his team  through the Just Eat and Takeaway.com merger, the all-share combination with Grubhub, and the recent acquisition by Prosus – covering being acquired, acquiring, and everything in between. Tobias built the compensation and benefits function for acquisitions at Klarna, integrating companies including PriceRunner and Flex Engage, and has since been navigating more local integrations at Kry, including the recent acquisition of a private health company in Sweden.

Together they'll walk through four phases of M&A from a rewards perspective:

• Business as usual: how to prepare your rewards function before a deal is even on the table
• Due diligence: what rewards needs to surface, flag, and protect during the deal process
• Completion: the decisions that need to happen fast, and the ones that shouldn't
• Integration: merging two compensation philosophies, retaining key talent, and building something coherent on the other side.

As always, there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, and learn from fellow Reward leaders on how best to navigate M&As.