Strategic Total Rewards: Looking Beyond Pay

Using Total Rewards as a strategy for better engagement, retention, and organizational success

The employee experience is more complex than at any point in history. As the world shifted to a post-pandemic landscape, employees realized the components of their work that made them happy—and unhappy. Millions of people voluntarily left their roles for greener grass elsewhere, but it wasn’t just about more pay. Many organizations now face a new set of challenges in their recruitment, retention, and engagement strategies due to misalignment between their workforce and their purpose in the wake of The Great Resignation.

Not engaged or actively disengaged employees totaled $1.9 trillion in lost productivity in 2023.

What are employers really up against? — Three Truths and a Lie

TRUTH 1

Having the right elements in place to attract and retain employees, ensuring they feel valued, supported, and motivated, leads to a strong and positive company culture. Are you looking beneath the surface at the issues impacting your pay and benefits practices?

Compensation: This the hardest element to differentiate for most organizations. More than just base wages, compensation challenges include competitive market pay and pay transparency challenges; job description and architecture issues; long-term incentive program effectiveness; and industry-related compensation structures.

Benefits: After being paid appropriately, employees and candidates alike want to feel you support their health, their family’s health, and their financial future. In exchange for their expertise and skillsets, employees look for a company’s commitment to their unique needs and well-being. And with one of the most diverse workforces we’ve ever seen, one-size-fits all benefits translate to a pervasive culture of presenteeism or worse.

TRUTH 2

To be in alignment with today’s landscape, your employee experience must transcend the paycheck—and it starts with creating a workplace that resonates with employees.

In addition to competitive compensation and benefits that meet the needs of multiple generations, other important elements of total rewards include:

Well-being programs: Whole person wellness includes physical, emotional, mental, financial, and environmental factors—all of which result in enhanced productivity and increased motivation. Examples of these initiatives might include remote and hybrid work schedules; physical health programs; community service involvement opportunities; and dependent care programs, including elder care.

Advanced growth and development: Programs like mentoring, coaching, industry conference tickets, and tuition reimbursement provide opportunities for your employees to advance their skills and progress within the company.

Recognition: Focusing on employees and their contributions, programs that cultivate gratitude and validation for employee efforts are also impactful and a part of the larger picture.

TRUTH 3

U.S. labor statistics show there are currently 83 workers for every 100 open jobs. As American businesses continue to create hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, we are facing more than just low labor force participation—increased job openings coupled with high quit rates have created a perfect storm. As eligible employees remain in search of improved work-life balance and flexibility, increased compensation, and a strong company culture, your organization will continue experiencing high turnover if your EVP is missing the mark.

There are effective approaches to attracting the right people with programs that help you keep them. From the desks of our people and rewards experts, an effective EVP strategy includes:

Stakeholder Interviews: An innovative and desired organization recognizes its workforce as a diverse mix of cultures, backgrounds, experiences, and generations. Reinventing your EVP starts with learning about your people and what they value in the workplace.

Conjoint Analysis: Creating and managing a process that allows your staff to understand their priorities and what they value within your organization is a roadmap to your own HR, rewards, and benefit strategies.

Custom Job Architecture: Working with a total rewards expert can help you create a detailed framework that supports career development and progression across your organization. Providing staff and managers with a clear path of growth gives them the confidence they need to focus on the long term.

Incentive plans aligned with intentions and capabilities: Your incentive program is as unique as your organization. Aligning your incentive plans, your business objectives, and what your people want is critical to ensuring your programs are both practical and achievable.

Strategic pay assessment and design: Generic approaches work for generic companies. A competitive compensation program that incorporates your perspective of your market ensures growth, equity, and transparency while minimizing turnover and boosting overall performance.

What does your organization stand for?

We believe every organization has a unique culture and path to success. Charting a new course to total alignment between your people and your business objectives isn’t as far away as you may think. A mature Total Rewards program can differentiate your organization in a saturated market, attract high-quality talent, and keep your current employees—and your business—on a trajectory of growth.

ABOUT ALLIANT HUMAN CAPITAL
Alliant Human Capital aligns unmatched expertise with what today’s workforce needs to deliver powerful, unique, and innovative people-focused strategies to help build you a better tomorrow. That’s the difference between standing still and moving forward.

To find out more about creating engaging Total Rewards programs, we invite you to watch our recorded webinar. Utilize this password to access: .Nx4w!g?