In a typical company, 60-80% of the operating expenses are tied up in workforce costs. However, 95% of the typical workforce doesn’t understand, isn’t equipped and isn’t driven to execute the business strategy. The result – over 80% of business strategies fail to deliver their intended results or value.  Compensation is not only drawing the increased attention of investors, boards and regulators, it represents a key to linking individual and enterprise performance. Moreover, it is vital to improving a company’s return on its human capital investments, and helping drive ordinary people to produce extraordinary results. Lastly, as noted by so many business leaders, compensation is key to creating the consequences and accountability needed for a true growth or performance-based culture.

Assessing the Strategic Context for Compensation

• Core elements and drivers of effective business strategy

• Economic and business trends affecting the talent landscape

• HR strategy’s role in driving business results

• Total Rewards enable and link Business and HR strategy

• Compensation as a key enabler for strategy execution

Compensation – Moving from Expense to Value Driver

• Compensation as a driver of employee and customer engagement

• Building your employee value proposition and employment brand

• Total rewards – employee perceptions and misconceptions

• Creative thinking around non-financial rewards

• The need for both tangible and intangible rewards and malus factors

Fact and Fiction about Compensation Management

• Who owns HR management – HR leaders or business leaders?

• Who owns compensation – HR or Line Management?

• What compensation can and can’t do

• Hygiene versus motivational factors; consistency versus competitiveness

• What makes it difficult regardless of who owns it?

Business-driven Compensation Practices

• Addressing entitlement, free agency, millennials and similar factors

• Compensation as part of the performance equation

• Employee segmentation and differentiation

• Pay for Performance/ Merit Pay – making it work

• Variable pay and incentive plans – pros and cons, tips and traps

• Nuances about sales incentive plans and techniques

Supporting Practices and Processes

• The importance of communications – internal and external

• Your Compensation Philosophy, Total Compensation Statements and other tools

• Training for line managers, employees and HR reps

• Implementation landmines and best practices for disarming them

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• Compensation as an expense or an investment – assessing both approaches and determining which approach would suit better your business reality

• Understand what it takes to move compensation from an expense to a value source; from administration to value-add

• Benefiting from the clear relationship between results and rewards – Pat for Performance as a retention tool

• Obtaining a positive compensation ROI

• Communication as a key – Managing expectations and facilitating frequent communication are essential ingredients for employee engagement

• Evaluating the role of communication in employees’ knowledge and appreciation of your compensation program

• Identifying various employers approaches towards incentivizing and engaging high-potential employees

• Identify and sharpen the steps for integrating compensation with other key processes like strategic recruiting, key employee retention, performance improvement, talent management, total rewards and business strategy execution

• Discuss unique challenges and best practices in compensation planning, design and implementation

• Arm line managers with the knowledge, insights and tools they need to support and effectively implement your compensation strategy and related practices