If your compensation system works on a calendar year, you're going to be asked to start a compensation communication plan in September.
If you are going to make sure your compensation and performance management programs are procedurally fair, you've got research, analysis and strategy development to complete. My recent blog encouraged setting this goal for your program. It also identifies three dimensions of your practices that have the greatest impact on perceptions of fairness; these should guide your work. Odds are, your own opinion on where things stand on each of the three will not be enough, so you'll want to have conversations with select managers, at least. If you start on this data gathering in August, you'll have enough time to really analyze the status quo and plan improvements before September due dates.
People tend to be a little looser on themselves and their schedule in August. Your meetings with managers will tend to be more open and candid than if you wait until the jam-packed last quarter -- especially if you can take the managers to lunch. Managers are more likely to support employee focus groups when they are in an August frame of mind, as well.
You won't have to pretend that all managers and employees need the same information and training (even though you know that it is not accurate). Some managers, some divisions, some employee groups, some demographic categories, need more communications efforts because they: (pick one) 1) Haven't allocated the time in the past to do things right; 2) don't want to differentiate between employees; 3) want to spend their whole budget on "star players"; 4) don't train managers to think and talk effectively with employees about compensation and performance management; 5) don't try to be transparent with employees; and so on.
It's time to have a modular communications plan that can be customized to a manager's needs. Core modules on basics, plus separate units addressing weaknesses is a good place to start. Online resources and personal coaching are additional, essential methodologies that can be mixed and matched with the training modules to deliver personalized communication strategies for managers.
Since it's early in the game, you will probably have to pretend that you know the budget that you'll be given, but with a bit of detective work you'll be able to make a good guesstimate. Plus, if you create a cost estimate on your own in August, it can be reviewed with your leadership before they discuss budgets in September, giving you a foot in the door to get the bucks that you need and want.
Last but not least, you'll give yourself the time to think through how to make your work measurable. Think how much more confident you'll feel in front of your executives if you are able to give them results in January that show how much better you did this year on manager skill development and employees' views of fairness than last year.
Margaret O'Hanlon, CCP brings deep expertise to discussions on employee pay, performance management, career development and communications at the Café. Her firm, re:Think Consulting, provides market pay information and designs base salary structures, incentive plans, career paths and their implementation plans. Earlier, she was a Principal at Willis Towers Watson. A former Board member for the Bay Area Compensation Association (BACA), Margaret coauthored the popular eBook, Everything You Do (in Compensation) Is Communications, a toolkit that all practitioners can find at https://gumroad.com/l/everythingiscommunication.
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