There’s one critical element the typical employee benefits package is usually missing – the perspective of an actual employee. Too often, organizations look toward spreadsheets and number-crunching when it’s time to revisit their compensation plans. Unfortunately, this drives them away from understanding the people and the business objectives impacted by their compensation strategy.
TalentCulture recently discussed this very conundrum in its weekly #WorkTrends chat – and even offered a few solutions for putting people first in a compensation plan. Have a look.
The good news is companies don’t have to reinvent the wheel when developing a people-focused compensation plan. There are actually some small tweaks they can make to “typical” employee benefits that can lead to better engagement, motivation and rewards for their top talent.
Here are a few of them:
Increase Transparency
When it comes to total compensation transparency, employees want it – all employers have to do is provide it. According to Glassdoor, nearly 70% of employees crave a better understanding of their compensation, and the same percentage believes salary transparency has a massive impact on employee satisfaction. It’s amazing how much pulling the curtain back on the full value of typical employee benefits can improve things like workplace culture and productivity. Just look at what happened at GoDaddy.
Create a Total Rewards Marketing & Promotion Strategy
Employees won’t value what they don’t understand, especially if they don’t even know something exists in the first place. No matter how great a company’s compensation plan is, it won’t contribute to employee engagement or retention if employees see it as just another piece of corporate paperwork. A people-focused compensation plan should be a living, breathing aspect of an organization’s day-to-day culture and brand. It should be just as accessible as the company website!
Talk About It in the Employee Review
The compensation plan should be a discussion point in every annual review between an employee and their manager. And the conversation shouldn’t stick to numbers and dollar signs, either. It’s important for managers to leverage their organization’s compensation plan into an open dialogue with their team members about their value and growth path.
Putting a People-Focused Spin on Typical Employee Benefits
The compensation plan will forever be a point of discussion because what motivates employees and candidates is always evolving. The only way organizations can ensure their total compensation strategies align with their talent’s values is by keeping employees front and center when it’s time to develop the compensation plan.
And now that you have a few ideas on how to people-focus typical employee benefits in your compensation plan, you may be interested in learning about a few unusual employee benefits, as well.