Ultratech, Inc.

Challenge

Founded in 1979, Ultratech, Inc., is a global supplier of lithography and laserprocessing systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and highbrightness LEDs. Industry leaders from the semiconductor, display and nanotechnology markets look to Ultratech to provide reliable, cost-effective technology solutions that enable the increasing demand for smaller, thinner, and lighter consumer devices. The company experienced strong growth and opened a new office in Singapore; it was time to produce Ultratech’s first international total rewards statement. The company targeted four overseas offices to receive statements: Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and China.

Solution

Ultratech had previously issued total rewards statements to its U.S. workforce but never to its overseas offices. Salina Faria, compensation & benefits manager for Ultratech, quickly recognized the differences between international benefit packages and the United States’ dizzying menu of choices.

“It’s not like the U.S., where we have 30 different various deductions & benefit choices,” she explained. “In many cases, our international employees are limited to state-issued benefits, where it’s given to them instead of opting in.”

Salina Faria, Compensation and Benefits Manager | Ultratech, Inc.

Using its TotalRewards Builder software platform, the Total Rewards Software team created individual statements that detail each employee’s cash compensation along with the total value of their benefits and retirement programs. Since there were fewer categories of benefits in the overseas locations, the team decided to mirror the presentation style of U.S. compensation reports, which typically feature pages of graphs and pie charts. Another important step was to educate managers prior to rolling out the statements so they could help employees with questions.

Ultratech leveraged the online functionality of the customized total rewards portal to allow employees to log in from work or home.

Results

Ultratech’s overseas employees now understand the “big picture” of their salary and benefits – and the company successfully conveyed the value of its compensation and rewards package.

“When our employees saw the pie charts showing the value of overtime, car allowance and everything else Ultratech was contributing, they were truly surprised. Most people only see their annual base salary and they don’t realize what else is included.”

Salina Faria, Compensation and Benefits Manager | Ultratech, Inc.