With Halloween right around the corner, it got me thinking of what potential spooky tie it has to compensation and this is where the nostalgic “trick or treat” may very well be causing a mini terror in how we approach total rewards.
Figures around employee burnout are staggering, which begs the question as to whether our pay programs are inadvertently tricking us into treating behaviors that are no longer conducive to meeting a well-balanced work life.
Too often, we stress the importance of seeking total rewards and business alignment. The intention here is to ensure staff are performing to levels and expectations that are going to drive the business forward and meet set objectives. However at what cost?
Are the overwhelming needs and demands of meeting team, departmental and organizational goals becoming too much? Quite possibly, yes, the increased pressure to deliver and take on more work can be seen as one of the contributing factors leading to the recent crescendo of the great resignation. It is not hard to miss the fact that delivery and execution are at the expense of one’s ability to act and perform successfully at it.
Done well several successive times not only feels good but seemingly will nab the attention of management leading to some form of recognition and reward. Receiving this acknowledgment for most increases the need and desire to feel it again and, more often than not, we feel obliged to take on more work. Sometimes the rewards follow suit as they keep coming, however, this may not always be the case.
All too often the delivery of the reward ceases, it is not valuable enough, or it no longer correlates to the one thing that continues to persist, which is the work and there is a lot more of it! At one point or another, something will have to give in; the increased volume of work, the corresponding escalation of expectations, the demanding pressures with the need to balance existing and new tasks will simply be unrealistic to sustain.
While it is not fair to say that employers are purposefully “tricking and treating” employees where they seek to derive more work out of them, it does put caution to the wind. As demands increase, something will have to give way. Collectively, we need to ensure a sense of value and purpose is reciprocated, and as work is delegated an emphasis of drilling down on what is priority vs. not will need to be communicated. Equally important is managing realistic expectations from both a supply and demand standpoint. It is easier said than done like most things; however, it's fair to say that a true treat bears no tricks and no ambiguity!
Reena Paul (CCP, GRP) works as a Senior Compensation Consultant. She is passionate about all things “total rewards” and has experience in dealing with all stakeholders of an organization and strategizing optimum client-focused solutions. A lover of data and the story it tells, Reena enjoys the exploration of presenting and discussing compensation with a fresh perspective. Connect with Reena directly on LinkedIn.
Image source: Unsplash image with credit to Nick Fewings.
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