Compensation & Benefits: Total Reward – What does success look like?
Estimated reading time 2 minutes
Total Reward has enormous potential to improve business performance through an engaged workforce, and it is being harnessed and utilised by many UK companies
Recent research from both Thomsons and the CIPD (see links in Resources below) show a third of all UK companies have adopted this approach, and many think it is the future for meeting the motivational and retention needs of their companies with very impressive ROIs.
Total reward encompasses pay and benefits, working environment and career and personal development, giving a value to both financial and non-financial elements of working life. In the current financial climate, where companies are being asked to do more with less, total reward as a business strategy is of particular relevance. Non-financial elements such as learning, personal development and work environment have a huge influence over company culture, and are therefore a powerful management tool. When employees understand and appreciate the value of their total reward package, it helps to improve retention, creates a competitive cultural brand and counter balances pay or bonus freezes. As the workforce demands different returns from work, it certainly helps to be able to see the bigger picture.
So what does successful total reward look like? The first thing is to choose which benefits appear on your total reward statements wisely, only selecting benefits that have true value to your employees. Communicate these in an effective way, in line with your company or reward brand and values, and make sure that if segmented, you only communicate rewards to which an individual is entitled to. The aim is to be balanced, ensuring that the company’s interests are catered for as well as inspiring more positive employee commitment. If implemented correctly, the benefits should include easier recruitment and better-quality of staff, reduced wastage from staff turnover, better business performance and an enhanced reputation of your company as an employer of choice. More tangible methods of measuring success include before and after employee surveys and monitoring login and benefit selection statistics.
Resources
Thomsons Online Benefits – Employee Reward Watch 2009:
http://www.thomsons.com/reward-news-knowledge/thought-leadership-and-research
CIPD
Annual Survey Report 2009 – Reward Management:
For further information or to discuss the issues raised, please contact Caroline O’Keeffe (Caroline.OKeeffe@thomsons.com) on +44 (0) 203 328 4000