In the past three months, must of our businesses have experienced an upheaval of historic proportions. During that period, you may have been challenged with an array of uncomfortable tasks. You may have been involved in laying friends off, furloughing colleagues, cutting pay for executives, putting holds on merit increases, temporarily modifying incentive plans, marketing pricing for newly remote positions, all while working from a dining room table, teaching math, and cooking more food than an average holiday season. And now, just as summer is raising its beautiful head, many of us are planning to return our staff to some version of our past practices. The swirl of tasks and requests can make a compensation professional feel more like they work in air traffic control.
Each action taken in the past three months is like an airplane that was sent into the sky. Fuel is now running low and the planes need to land. You are probably sitting at your desk (or sofa) trying to determine which thing s needs to be brought home first. You only have a few runways, and each task requires new processes, rules, and ongoing communications. You may need to choose between finding the best solution to fix executive pay and finding a smooth transition to paying people who are returning to work. There is no rule book.
Every task may not be able to get the same attention and careful corrections. Some may need to simply be allowed to land on their own, while others may need you to put foam on the runway to soften their landing. Every person at the other end of these transitions is likely to feel that their personal situation is a priority. They aren’t wrong. Some may feel like they are the most important. And in today’s world several of them may also be correct. Similar to when we sat down a few months ago and figured out a new definition for “essential employee”, we must now determine who to handle first when there are several equally important tasks.
The key to success is to schedule things to come in for a landing in a sequence. No matter how much someone insists, two planes cannot land on the same runway at the same time. Hold your ground if you see this happening. The things that are running out of fuel must be landed first. This may be adjusting pay for a job family that has become more critical during this period. It may mean waiting to communicate an important executive plan until your broad-based program has been brought back to speed. The important thing to remember is that you may be the only person at your company who has the expertise to make these decisions.
Air traffic control is not for the faint of heart. People’s lives are literally in your hands. Compensation can often seem pedestrian, but in times like this, your job may be similar. You may be the difference between your company or your staff successfully navigating this transition … or not. It’s time to bring them in for a landing. Who else knows how to do that but you?
I have been collecting information on, and working with many, companies who are making this transition. The issues are similar, but below the surface, the solutions are often unique. Use the comment section to share your thoughts or questions. I am sure there are other professionals who are willing to provide helpful advice.
Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He is a “Compensation Futurist” who works as Managing Consultant for FutureSense. Dan is also a leading expert on incentive plans and equity compensation issues. He has written several industry resources including the only resource dedicated to Performance-Based Equity Compensation. He has co-authored ”Everything You Do In Compensation is Communication”, “The Decision Makers Guide to Equity Compensation”, “Equity Alternatives” and other books. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Or, follow him on Twitter at @DanFutureSense.
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