Hey friend,

Lately there's been a lot of talk about Employee Ambassador programs. Companies are finally realizing that their employees are more credible than any influencer they could hire.

But there's a part of this conversation that's hardly ever discussed: compensation.

Last year, Ulta Beauty made headlines for paying store associates to create content. Not as a "fun perk." As actual compensated work. And I love that they're doing it.

But when I saw the program, my HR brain immediately started asking questions. How should companies structure this? What are the legal considerations? What does fair compensation actually look like?

Last year I sat down with two experts on this topic: employment lawyer Heather Bussing and compensation strategist Cynthia Abbott Kerr (who literally built creator payment programs at Saks Fifth Avenue).

Here's what I learned: It's not as complicated as HR teams make it sound.

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Your employees are already your best ambassadors. They know the products. They have the stories. They're credible in a way no influencer partnership can replicate.

But most companies either don't pay them at all, or they overcomplicate it so much that the program never launches.

Heather put it plainly:

How you handle compensation depends on whether your employee creators are exempt or non-exempt.

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 (like retail associates in Ulta's program), Heather's advice was refreshingly straightforward: "𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦."

𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀, this gets murkier. Most companies haven't figured this out yet — content creation often gets lumped into "other duties as assigned" without additional compensation. If you're an exempt employee creating content that drives results, Heather's advice is to make your value visible:

There's a common law doctrine called work-for-hire: if someone pays you to create something, they own it. That's the default. But forward-thinking companies are having real conversations instead of just grabbing rights forever:

Employees are learning from the creator economy. They understand usage rights. They know their worth. Meet them there.

And here's the part most companies forget: if an employee's manager isn't on board with content creation being part of their role, the whole thing backfires. As Heather said, "𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘰𝘣."

 Listen to my full conversation with Heather

Here's where companies get stuck. Cynthia laid out the scenario:

Her answer? Stop trying to solve it. You're not Meta. You don't need complex attribution models or cross-store tracking.

The solution is simple: 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀.

Clean tracking. Clear commission. No spreadsheets required.

Cynthia dropped this truth bomb that I haven't stopped thinking about:

Yet most companies launch creator programs with commission structures so complicated that employees need a finance degree to figure out what they're earning.

Here's what employees actually need to know:

 That's it. If you can't explain your creator compensation in one paragraph, it's too complicated.

Want to launch next month? Here's the playbook from both conversations:

Pick five products you want to move and test with those. Not your entire catalog.

In California, you have to provide a stipend for employees using their phone for work. Cynthia recommends making this universal.

Let employees be affiliates through TikTok Shop or similar platforms. Clean tracking, clear commission.

Create content in appropriate settings. Follow brand guidelines. Disclose employment relationship. No inappropriate content.

As Cynthia said:

Listen to my full conversation with Cynthia:

Your employees are already your best brand ambassadors. They're already creating content about their work lives. The question isn't whether to embrace this, it's how to do it right.

Companies like Ulta aren't just paying for videos. They're investing in authentic storytelling that no agency could replicate. And they're doing it legally, ethically, and sustainably.

Because when you treat content creation as the valuable work it is, everyone wins.

 I've compiled all my episodes on employee creator compensation into one playlist:

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂: If your company currently compensates employees for creating content, I'd love to hear what's working. What does your program look like? What would you do differently?

Hit reply and let me know. I'm genuinely curious, and your insights might make it into a future episode.

Until next time. 💖