What they built
A Total Rewards Dashboard — an interactive, branded web app that shows employees the full value of their compensation package beyond base salary.
Key features:
- Two tabs: one for UK employees (GBP) and one for Mumbai employees (INR/CTC)
- Input fields for base salary, bonus percentage, and equity/shares
- Auto-calculated breakdown across four categories: Cash Compensation, Protection & Benefits, Growth & Wellbeing, and Paid Time Off
- Visual reward bar showing the split between cash and non-cash benefits
- Toggle on/off individual benefits (e.g. private medical insurance, pension) so the total updates in real time
- Non-quantifiable benefits (L&D, career progression, flexible working, bike to work, maternity uplift) listed separately as qualitative callouts
- Branded in HowNow's colours; hosted inside HowNow's own platform and employee handbook
Why they built it
- HowNow had completed multi-year work to bring all employees into salary bands; large annual pay rises were no longer necessary or expected
- Employees were still expecting significant increases at comp review time, creating friction in manager conversations
- No existing platform provided a total reward statement that covered both populations and currencies
- HowNow's culture is built on full transparency - they wanted employees to make informed decisions with a complete picture of their compensation
- Managers needed a concrete tool to frame salary review conversations positively
Tools used
- Lovable - no-code/AI app builder used to generate and host the dashboard
- Gemini (LLM) - used to brainstorm the build, identify missing data points, and generate the initial code that was then pasted into Lovable
- HowNow platform - where the finished tool is hosted (linked from the employee handbook)
How you could build this yourself
- Audit your total rewards inventory - list every benefit you provide across each office/population, including monetary value or a defensible average (e.g. average PMI cost by age range)
- Separate populations if needed - identify where benefits or currencies differ (e.g. UK vs. India CTC) and plan for separate views
- Categorise your benefits - group them into logical buckets (cash comp, protection, wellbeing, PTO, qualitative perks) before touching any tool
- Brainstorm with an LLM first (don't open Lovable yet) — describe what you want to build and paste in your data; ask it to identify gaps and suggest a structure; find a visual reference you like and share it
- Generate code via the LLM - once the structure is agreed, ask it to write the code; copy the output
- Paste the code into Lovable - use it as your starting prompt; tweak from there
- Apply your brand - specify your exact brand colours and fonts in your prompts so the output looks native to your company
- A/B test with a small employee group - gather feedback on look, feel, and accuracy before a wider launch
- Align with Finance and regional leads — validate figures and averages with Finance; sense-check the non-UK version with local stakeholders
- Embed it where it matters - link it from your employee handbook, comp review materials, and (optionally) your careers site for employer brand impact
- Time the launch - roll it out alongside your comp review cycle so managers can use it in salary conversations immediately
Source
Built and presented by Pauline Taylor, VP of People at HowNow, as part of an Open Org "Shipped by HR" session. Session title: Building a Total Rewards Dashboard For HowNow with Lovable