Workleap, the Canadian software leader behind AI-powered talent management tools used by over 20,000 companies worldwide, has announced its acquisition of Barley, a specialist in end-to-end compensation management. The move strengthens Workleap’s vision of uniting performance and compensation – two pillars of talent strategy that have long been managed separately – into a single, integrated platform.
For many HR teams, compensation remains one of the biggest drivers of employee satisfaction and retention. Yet, manual spreadsheets and siloed processes still dominate the landscape, leaving companies struggling to act with speed, fairness, and transparency. By bringing Barley’s compensation solution into the Workleap ecosystem, organizations can now seamlessly connect performance insights with compensation decisions in one unified workflow.
“Performance and compensation are never too far away from each other,” said Simon De Baene, CEO and co-founder of Workleap. “A lot of companies want to pay for performance, but most lack the tools to do it well. Workleap gives you the signal, and Barley gives you the confidence to act on it. While performance and compensation are distinct conversations, they will now come together in a unified and streamlined workflow. Together, Workleap and Barley help companies close the loop between how people perform and how they are rewarded.”
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With Barley now part of the Workleap platform, managers and HR leaders can move effortlessly from performance reviews and goal tracking to compensation planning and total rewards – without leaving the system. The combined solution offers flexible review cycles, AI-powered feedback summaries, 360-degree reviews, and intuitive compensation planning tools that replace outdated spreadsheets with smart workflows aligned to company guidelines and budgets. This integration aims to help businesses save time, reduce turnover, and manage one of their largest expenses more effectively.
Jafar Owainati, CEO and co-founder of Barley, said, “We started Barley to tackle the longstanding challenge for organizations to make proactive compensation decisions that are both data-driven and easy for employees to understand — building clarity, trust and equity into every step of the process, with an easy-to-use platform. The Barley solution naturally complements Workleap’s existing suite of tools, and joining Workleap was the clear next step for our team. Compensation is just one piece of the broader HR puzzle, and we are now even better positioned to deliver on our mission of building trust between employers and employees.”
Barley joins Workleap’s growing family of products, including flagship tools like Officevibe and Workleap Performance. Together, they aim to simplify complex HR workflows, boost retention, and help organizations unlock their employees’ full potential.
This marks Workleap’s third acquisition to date and follows CDPQ’s $125 million CAD investment in the company. Previous acquisitions include Didacte in early 2023 and Pingboard later that same year, as Workleap continues to expand its product suite and strengthen its position in the HR technology market.
