Can You Spell D E B U N K?

Flavor of the month. That's the term that gets drop kicked when leadership is casting aspersions on HR.

And don't think compensation is immune from this derogatory label. Even though we deal with cash, we get into the act.

Pay is a "hygiene" factor so it doesn't motivate. 

Employees shoulder the burden of pay for performance, hating the carrot and stick.

There is an extreme mismatch between what our employees really want and our efforts at motivating them (through feedback, merit increases and incentives). 

If only we could scrap our current pay practices and start all over again.

The thing is, we seem to be easily distracted by the loud and charismatic, especially when their books sell well. So it was reassuring to find a calm voice confidently citing data, trends and how some people's lust for book sales/academic promotions have helped create myths that we take for science in HR -- and then use to justify our decisions.

What the literature really says -- the video

Want to straighten your head out a bit? Check out this short video on "The myths and realities in Total Rewards"  from WorldatWork, with Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California. Academic research rarely gives us insights into our day-to-day challenges in Total Rewards, I think, but when it comes to compiling and assessing data as well as identifying trends, corporate America doesn't hold a candle to academia's deep capabilities.

WorldatWork gets it on camera

Marcia Rhodes invites the professor to quickly identify his position that, " . . . that the Total Rewards field is filled with deeply held beliefs that have little support in research."  And then he goes right to it. There's something here for all of us.

(And, just for fun, here's a title for some quick summer reading before Labor Day. "Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads." Written by Joel Best, not Dan Pink!)

 Myths and Realities in Total Rewards, WorldatWork

  

Margaret O'Hanlon is founder and Principal of re:Think Consulting. She'll join Ann Bares and Dan Walter of the Compensation Cafe to speak the unspoken -- Everything You Do (in Compensation) Is Communication -- in an upcoming book. Margaret brings deep expertise in compensation, career development and communications to the dialog at the Café. Before founding re:Think Consulting, she was a Principal with Towers Watson. Margaret earned her M.S. and Ed.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University, Bloomington. Creative writing is one of her outside passions, along with Masters Swimming.

Comments

[Jay Schuster]

Gotta love Ledford on this clip!!!!!!

[Margaret O'Hanlon]

Yep, his delivery and what he delivers are both priceless