Compensation Cafe

Cafe Classic: Are You Adding Value?

Editor's Note:  Chuck Csizmar raises this Classic question and urges us to take an honest look in the mirror to discover the real answer.

Have you ever been asked this question at work? Or perhaps looked at yourself in the mirror one morning and asked yourself? My belief is that we don't consider this question enough, for ourselves and for the employees who work for us. We dance all around it.

In either case above the usual knee-jerk response most of us come up with tends to focus on job performance, on personal competencies and even on having shown a demonstrated loyalty to the organization by sticking around for years. But is that missing the critical point of the question, your value to others, and by missing that point you can mislead yourself - like a slick politician who talks a good game but fails to address core issues.

The Real Question

Shouldn't a more considered response relate closely to what the organization itself considers as to what your value should be, and less about how busy you've been, how knowledgeable you are in your field or even your impressive length of service? You could be a paper pushing administrator occupying the same chair for years and still give yourself a high personal score. "I'm doing a great job."

Chances are that many of us may not be honest with ourselves, and validating that sidestep are many performance appraisal processes that seem to gloss over the value question without zeroing in. Their "What have you done?" query often doesn't relate close enough to those actions, behaviors and achievements that should have been done to advance business interests.

Yes, you have a job to do, and perhaps even a job description that lays out your duties and responsibilities. If you perform as to what the description lays out, is that enough? Is that adding value or is that treading water? Just doing enough. It can go either way, but even the rare job descriptions that are accurate and up-to-date can be very inward focused - not considering the bigger picture of how a job performance relates to and can advance the department, never mind the business.

Or hold things back.

And what about those employees who report to you? Would you be satisfied if one of them told you, "I'm doing what the job description says. Isn't that enough?" Here the unstated follow-up thought is likely, "I'm getting by."

What Defines "Value"?

Your organization, whether you consider the entire business or even the smallest department, has likely laid out a series of objectives for the year. There are goals, there are definitions of success and very likely defined pathways toward the end zone. With that thought in mind it's easy to see that an employee adds value when, in the course of performing their job they assist the organization / department in achieving those goals - helping in even a small way to score the financial touchdown.

In that light, consider that your activity list - you know, the one that ticks off all the accomplishments you've achieved over the course of the year - may actually be aimed in the wrong direction. Being busy can be viewed as the same as walking on a treadmill. You can build up a sweat but you won't be getting anywhere.

So how much value are you adding?

Do You Have What It Takes?

Let's go back to the mirror with a revised question. What are you doing to help your organization / department achieve its goals? Are you playing a leadership role, a supportive role, an individual contributor role or has your train gone off the tracks and down some rabbit hole into clock watching and "just doing the job?"

Leadership would view adding value as being personified by the employee who not only does their job but does it in way that keeps organization objectives in mind. That employee doesn't waste time or resources, understands how their role impacts the business and is engaged in helping the business succeed. Examples are many when one seeks to do their job in a way that helps the greater good.

Is that you? Do you have what it takes to truly add value to your employer? Is that what your mirror says?

Because the "I'm following my job description" attitude is a short sighted response that helps neither your career or your organization.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.

Creative Commons image "Value" by Mike Cohen

 

Four Compensation Predictions for 2022

This is the thirteenth year I have written a post during the last week of the year. I seldom make predictions for an upcoming year because compensation generally evolves so slowly that any real changes take several years to come to fruition. As we head into 2022, I am going to break that tradition and make a few predictions. I think we have a unique opportunity in front of us and many compensation professionals will relish the challenge.

1. Base pay increases in many industries will be far higher than we have planned.
   if you have planned a 4% budget for 2022 and use a lag, or lead/lag, strategy, please expect to lag from very early in the year. The market is unlikely to cool. Executives are being held to high standards when it comes to growth. Investors have put a ton of money into the market. All of these will factor into increases that will continue to rapidly outpace what has become the 3% norm for the past decade and beyond.
2. Survey providers will be pressured, and perhaps forced, to address the inaccuracy of LTI data in surveys.
   This is especially true in private company data, but expect to see more demand for global granularity, award details like vesting and performance criteria, and better explanations of how values were determined. This is a weak point in the world of compensation and companies are rightfully impatient to see better data.
3. Survey providers will begin categorizing positions into “onsite”, “hybrid”, and “remote”. Survey data without this level of specificity is putting every competitive company at risk. Expect to see the first “pulse” or “spot” surveys on this topic before the end of Q3. Expect this to be a normal part of survey submissions before the end of 2022.
4. Expect to see more companies visibly break the Base/STI/LTI paradigm that has dominated compensation philosophies for 15 or 20 years. At some point, you cannot differentiate your offers with just a bit more base pay. Short-term incentives will likely become shorter to address that speed with which pay is changing. LTI programs are already changing. Leading-edge companies explored more new vesting schedules and LTI plan design elements in 2021 than in any year in recent memory. This information will become more well-known and inspire hordes of other companies to move away from the lock-step adherence to stock options with a 4-year vesting schedule or RSUs that are similarly designed. If the long-time programs worked as advertised our ability to attract people would be higher and our turnover would be lower. It’s time for a change.

I am sure we will see other changes, just like I am sure at least one of the above will prove to be completely wrong. 2022 is sure to be another interesting year. In 2020 we just did our best to react to a world that became almost instantly unfamiliar. In 2021 we weathered a push for hiring unlike any year in recent memory. In 2022, we will get our feet underneath us, gather up our balance and leap forward into a new approach to pay that may provide a foundation for the next 10 years. There is no reason to wait. The future is yours to create.

Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He works as Managing Consultant for FutureSense. Dan is a leading expert on incentive plans and equity compensation issues. He has written several industry resources including a 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.

Cafe Classic: It Really Is the Thought (and Effort) that Counts

Editor's Note:  A good time for Classic advice on giving ... both the tangible gifts of the season and the gifts of showing our gratitude for the work and efforts of others.  Thank you, Derek Irvine!

'Tis the season of gift giving and, for some, anxiety over the choosing of those gifts. That’s particularly fraught in the workplace. Do I give a gift to my close friend at work? How would that be perceived? What about giving gifts to everyone on the team? How about the boss? Can I give a token holiday gift or would that be perceived badly by others? Do we give the boss a gift from the team? What if the boss doesn’t give us a gift, and we’ve now made her feel awkward?

To whom can we look to relieve the anxiety? Scientists, of course! This advice from Arthur C. Brooks helps overcome the anxiety of gifting by reminding us just why we give gifts in the first place – because we care about others.

Brooks’ advice boils down to three points, which I’m adapting for the workplace and what I know best – the gift of gratitude.

1. The best gifts are intrinsically valuable – Cash and utilitarian gifts (vacuums, socks) don’t meet the human need for emotional connection we gain through experiences with others.
2. Give what means most to you – Brooks lets re-gifters off the hook. Re-gifting is good if you are re-gifting something you find valuable in the first place.
3. Go the extra step – Wrap your gifts nicely. Even a terrible gift is redeemed somewhat when the effort is given to wrap it well.

The thought given and the effort expended both count for good gift giving. The same is true for giving good messages of gratitude. In line with the tips above:

1. Think about the experiences you’ve shared together. Recall and express the meaning and impact of those experiences on you, the team, and the company.
2. Gratitude is the true gift that keeps on giving. A client of ours once told me, “‘I see somebody doing great. It makes me feel good. So I recognize them for their work, and that makes them feel great. And then they send me a ‘thank you’ for thanking them and recognizing them. Then I feel great all over again.” Set a positivity loop among your colleagues by simply saying “thanks.”
3. How do you wrap gratitude? In specifics – don’t stop at merely saying “Thank you.” Go the extra step to specifically express what your grateful for, how that affected you, when this occurred, and the impact the recipient of your gratitude has had on you.

This holiday season, give the gift that’s appropriate in every workplace, for every person – sincere, personal, meaningful, and specific expressions of gratitude to others.

To whom can you give your gratitude today?

As Globoforce’s Executive Vice President of Client Strategy and Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. He is a leader in the WorkHumanmovement and the co-author of "The Power of Thanks" and his articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.

12 Days of Total Rewards Christmas Cheer!

In keeping with the holiday spirit upon us, I figured when better than now, to take on a holiday classic and put a total rewards spin to it?  Stated below is the "total rewards" rendition of the 12 days of Christmas, capturing the essentials any new employee should expect of their total rewards package offering.

On the first day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, one competitive base pay to meet my essential needs.

On the second day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, a double-booked greet and meet between my leader and department VP.

On the third day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, incentive plan eligibility to achieve thrice targets; corporately, as a team, and individually.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, four alarming notifications, calling upon my enrollment to begin my retirement savings.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my total wards package gave to me, access to flexible benefits, rooted in meeting my (1) financial, (2) social, (3) physical, (4) mental, and overall (5) well-being.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, six laying months of foundational onboarding.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, seven e-learning courses helping me progress professionally.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, eight essential documents, requiring my review, acceptance, corporate-wide compliance, and official signing.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, nine-course completion opportunities to achieve my CCP (assuming this is a Canadian Total Rewards Professional!)

On the tenth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, ten leaping days, hours and, or minutes totaling all the time saved while working remotely.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, eleven piping accolades for performing exceptionally.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my total rewards package gave to me, a friendly reminder that working here equals 12 months a year to be authentically me!

Here’s hoping that we take the time to value each other’s contributions and continue to bring each other up both professionally and personally.  By creating inclusive workplaces, and fostering employee diversity and engagement we become one step closer towards building rewarding  work places and cultures. Wishing you all a very happy holiday season this year.

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: iStock image with credit to Cloris Ying.

Cafe Classic: The Value of “Thank You” – Proven Scientifically

Editor's Note:  It's a good day for a Classic reminder about the importance of gratitude and saying thanks.  Thank you, Derek Irvine.

"Could I ask you a quick favor?" “Would you help me out on Project X for just a minute?” “You really know a lot about thingimajigs. Would you fix mine for me?”

Have you ever been on the receiving end of a question like these? What was your response? Did you help out? If you did, were you thanked for your effort? Or did the person just accept your help and move on? How’d that affect your desire to help again in the future?

Wonder no more. Scientists have run the studies for us, proving that receiving a simple thank you increased the likelihood of a person’s willingness to help again in the future by 100%.

The Power of a Simple “Thank You”

Positive psychology tells us we have it within our own power to “self generate positivity whenever we choose.” That’s right. We really can choose our attitude, which affects not just us, but those around us as well.

It’s as easy as saying “thank you.” It’s as simple as saying to a peer, colleague or subordinate, “I notice you and your work. I appreciate what you do. Your efforts are valuable to me, to the team, to the company if we are to succeed.”

What’s the impact of actually extending and expressing gratitude? Studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and discussed on PsyBlog tell us:

“Studies have suggested that being grateful can improve well-being, physical health, can strengthen social relationships, produce positive emotional states and help us cope with stressful times in our lives.

“But we also say thank you because we want the other person to know we value what they've done for us and, maybe, encourage them to help us again in the future. …

“Those who were thanked were more willing to provide further assistance. Indeed the effect of ‘thank you’ was quite substantial: while only 32% of participants receiving the neutral email helped with the second letter, when Eric expressed his gratitude, this went up to 66%.”

If you would just tell me “thanks” for what I did, I’ll happily do it again. It’s that simple. But too many leaders and managers still refuse to do so in the workplace, citing: “But it’s their job to do it. They get paid for it. That’s thanks enough.”

What Value Do I Bring?

Even more interesting, researchers found it wasn’t selfish reasons driving the need to be thanked – not, “Notice me!” but “Oh, good. I’m not bothering you.” (From the same report):

“In fact the experimenters found that people weren’t providing more help because they felt better or it boosted their self-esteem, but because they appreciated being needed and felt more socially valued when they’d been thanked.

“This feeling of social worth helps people get over factors that stop us helping. We are often unsure our help is really wanted and we know that accepting help from others can feel like a failure. The act of saying thank you reassures the helper that their help is valued and motivates them to provide more.”

That’s right. People need to be thanked so they know what they’re doing is valuable, especially in cases where they are helping someone else. This has particular ramifications if you’re trying to foster an environment of teamwork and collaboration.

Encourage peers to thank each other for their contributions and their help. You may be astounded by the positive impact on your organization.

As Globoforce’s Executive Vice President of Client Strategy and Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. He is a leader in the WorkHumanmovement and the co-author of "The Power of Thanks" and his articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.

Professional Unions in 2031

It has been ten years since we finally escaped the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We try not to talk about it much, not only because of the human losses but also because of how we allowed people to separate us into factions that were delineated by what each of us seemingly didn’t have. One of the most interesting things was how it changed the way we work and get paid. I sometimes wonder how it could have been today if different choices had been made, but there’s no turning back now.

As the pandemic raged, many of us moved out of cubicles and into our dining rooms and guest bedrooms. We learned of the benefits of working without commutes and someone constantly watching over our shoulders. We also learned that many of us thrived in the social community that our workplace offered us. Most importantly, we finally started to realize what our companies had been trying to tell us (but not show us) about work-life balance.

Many of us were able to pick our kids up from school without the guise of a doctor’s appointment. Some of us no longer missed Friday night football games that we were unable to attend because of our long drive home. Many of us came to embrace our newfound flexibility and, yes, freedom, even as we struggled to figure out how to keep them if our companies called us back into the office.

We adapted more quickly than we would have guessed. By the end of the second year, the 50 and 60 hour work weeks and hour-long commutes that were the hallmarks of success in the 1990s and 2000s seemed pretty dumb to many of us. We had grown up in a world with no middle ground. Either you worked a million hours, answered emails on the weekends, and made your job your “family” or you weren’t successful.

When the call came to return to the office our employers seemed more than happy to return to the old paradigm. We asked for better pay AND more reasonable hours. They sometimes offered the former, but their business and staffing models depended on us working 9 or 10 hours a day. We asked for more time and better equipment to work from home, but many companies would not move away from the “command and control” structure built over 80 years of post-WWII results.

When our requests were not answered some of us refused to work, others demanded change. When our demands accomplished nothing we, for the first time as skilled professionals, rose up and organized. We saw how pay for other “professional” fields like pilots and baseball players raised wages and protected time off. We realized the pact between companies and their professional staff had been broken. We were no longer upper-middle class. We no longer took relaxing, work-free vacations. We no longer worked “full-time” we worked “all the time.” So we organized.

It is funny to look back at how short-sighted and self-interested the leaders of those companies were. It would have been so easy for them to adjust their model to deliver more pay and balance to employees and slightly lower returns to the market and executives. They swore the changes we wanted could not be done. It turns out the success they wanted couldn’t happen with us. In the end, they lost that battle and lost even more in the long term.

Sadly, we also lost in the long term. The current world may provide more balance, but it no longer provides the leveraged upside that some of has had from equity compensation. It is now nearly impossible to start a new company without tons of money in advance. Yes, we have more in some areas, but we all have less in many. It would have been so easy for companies to have made the right moves in 2022 and 2023 to avoid all of this. But we are where we are and it’s time for me to head off to my kid’s baseball game.

Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He 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 a 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.

Cafe Classic: Rewarding The Right Employee

Editor's Note:  Chuck Csizmar's Classic post and question about who you are directing your reward dollars to.

This question may sound like a no-brainer, but when you think of your organization's pay-for performance compensation program, do you feel that you are recognizing and rewarding the right employees?

And who exactly is that, you may ask?

• It is not everyone

• It is not those employees who managers feel need the increased pay

• It is not the employee who has been busy all year

• It is not the employees with the greatest length of service

• It is not the employee that everyone likes

What your definition should be, is that the right employee is whomever has performed well above the crowd of other employees during your rating period.  Those who you can rightly call high achievers.  Those whose resignation would cause you to lose sleep at night.  Everyone else can be an afterthought.

Now that was easy, wasn't it?  Like I said, a no-brainer.

It Doesn't Work That Way

But what's that, you say?  That's not exactly how things work in your organization?  There are other considerations besides performance?  So that perhaps the right employee doesn't always get rewarded?  Or whatever they receive isn't much more than that given to Joe Average?

Why do you do that?  Let's consider the likely culprits:

• Not much money to go around:  This is a common argument when merit budgets are tight; that when you can't make much of a distinction when granting reward percentages, you don't make much of a distinction with your rewards.  Proponents would say, "Let's just push the EASY button and give everyone the same raise."

• Everyone deserves something:  The "It's not my money" tactic, where emotion overrules business sense.  If an employee hasn't seen fired then they should get something for sitting around for twelve months.  Hasn't inflation increased for everyone?

• Performance ratings are overblown:  Here is the current new age thinking, where performance shortcomings are the fault of the system.  That somehow monetary rewards have little to do with future performance, so why should we discriminate amongst employees?  The system is rigged.

• Somebody might quit:  This is every manager's fear, of course,  but in our case this trepidation can lead to greater interest in providing pay increases that would retain the staff.  If an employee quits it's likely going to mean more work for the manager, and potential criticism from their bosses.

• I want to be liked:  An attitude especially prevalent among new managers, who want to build a collaborative team environment ("We're all in this together").  They can be reluctant to play the judge and jury about performance assessments and pay increases for their "team."  Many would rather blame Human Resources.  They don't want to be disliked by anyone.

Making The Hard Decisions

Rewarding the right employee becomes essentially about the manager being willing and able to make discriminatory decisions about an employee's job performance and effectiveness as an employee with the organization.  That is, if you presume that pay increases are not "owed" on the basis of tenure ("It's been twelve months.  Where's my pay increase?").

Because the budget for pay increases is always going to be tight  There will never be enough money for everyone, so an effective manager has to choose how best to spend their available reward dollars in a way that generates the best return for the organization.  Yes, that's right - for the organization.

In some cases this means that Joe Average may not receive an annual merit increase this year, even if their performance has been ok / satisfactory / meets expectation, etc.

Making these decisions is not easy.  But it's not supposed to be.  That's why (tongue in cheek) the managers make the big bucks.  Then again, perhaps if it was the manager's own money being spent the answers might not be so hard to find. 

You know who the right employees are.  Put your money there.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is the founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad-based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.

Creative Commons image,"Business Meeting," by freedigitalpress

Startup Pay is like Guerilla Warfare

It has been proven time and time again that a persistent and committed band of fighters can hold off and even beat the largest and most powerful armies in the world. This is never accomplished by fighting with the same tactics. It works exactly because the tactics and passion for survival are far different than that of the larger and better-funded force.

Wikipedia puts it this way:

“Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military."

Most human resources and compensation professionals are peaceful people, but we are all fighting in the war for talent. It often surprises me how many startups choose to fight that war using the same tools and techniques as their larger combatants. There are, of course, rules that generally must be followed, but they are few and fairly unrestrictive. When you are battling for the existence and success of the company that aligns with your passions and puts food on the table, perhaps you should consider not following the leaders.

More companies should look at the major trends and core market data as examples of what NOT to do. This is the history of startup success. This is the core of rewards elements like 401k, stock options, and great food at work. Each of these things was initially used to provide a competitive advantage for scrappy startups versus large established corporations.

In compensation, we tend to start with market pricing, but it may make more sense to start with establishing the ideal pay mix. Base pay at the 50^th percentile assumes that base pay should play the same role at every company. Short-term incentives that are scaled to match market data ensure that you will be competing against companies with larger budgets using the same tools as they use. That seems counterproductive, and kind of dumb. Granting equity compensation with a 4-year vesting period because it is a “best practice” is kind of like American Revolutionaries choosing to wear bright red costs because the British Army wore them first.

When we start with pay mix, we rearrange how we view our budgets and path to success. For more than 15 years companies have been locked into this idea that startups can only use 20% of fully diluted outstanding shares as their maximum equity pool. This isn’t a rule, it’s a guideline. Smart investors can be educated to understand that giving up a bit more capital now, to win later, makes more sense than hoarding shares and losing.

While cash is limited at startups, annual incentives can still exist and are compelling. I have helped many companies roll out annual programs where the delivery mechanism is something other than cash.

Food was a great differentiator when everyone worked together in a cool shared office location. In a remote, or work from home, environment, we need to imaginatively consider other options. Discounted delivery? Schwann’s truck deliveries? A StarTrek-like “replicator” in every home? Think about what the big companies wouldn’t do and then try and do it!

The goal of every startup is to eventually grow out of being a startup. You don’t need to be Amazon, Google, Apple, or Netflix today, you need to be who they were when they too fought using unexpected and often “unfair” tactics to support their growth. It is a war for talent and your ability to win starts with your ability to fight differently.

Dan Walter is a CECP, CEP, and Fellow of Global Equity (FGE). He 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 a 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.

Are Rewards a Trick or Treat?

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.

Proactive Valuation

This past weekend called for a time of reflection and expression of gratefulness, as many Canadians celebrated our national Thanksgiving holiday.  As employees and organizations come to terms with feeling valued and how to express it, the holiday seemed like the opportune time to assess how we as employers can be better at proactively demonstrating value. 

As a wave of employees experience a paradigm shift, grapple with a sense of belonging and seek meaning in their work, many are already living out this year's buzzword by way of the “great resignation”.  Some however are on the cusp; feeling a bit dazed and confused. Organizations can instill clarity by resetting their “great expectations.”  As work evolved in the how, where and when it was being done, then likewise a sense of disconnect has been created as to whom we are working for.  Leaders must define the values, missions, and goals of the business in today’s context.  What’s more important is the necessity of defining the day-to-day business norms.  For example, what are your expected work hours with a flexible schedule?  When should you be responding to emails and are you supposed to have your camera on during a TEAMS call? These may be the most basic of questions, but all of them are contributing to increased levels of ambiguity and creating a lack of stability; hence the need for employers to articulate newfound business protocols.

By announcing your expectations as a business, you cement the employee and employer business relationship.  To increase the value proposition, it takes data, inside and outside knowledge to ensure you retain the key players in your organization.  With a tightness of skilled workers and competitors poaching talent, you best know what critical roles are at risk, what the emerging ones are, and the depth of your talent pipeline or lack of.  Tapping into your internal HRIS you can get a lay of the land, and overlay this with market insights, to address whether pay levels are competitive or far off.

Recent exit interviews can be the evidence you need to justify off-cycle pay adjustments, particularly for valued employees who are at risk of being offered higher salaries than what you have them valued at.  Base pay adds a level of stability, any top-up to it can be enough incentive for individuals to leave.  For most, we would contemplate our worth and question why our current employer isn’t valuing us in the same way as a prospective company when the offer far exceeds one's current salary.

As an employer, don't be the one waiting on the sideline only to make a move for when an offer is presented by an employee now at risk of leaving, especially if you knew all along that, if push came to shove, you would match it.  For many, the backhanded increase is a perceived hindrance to the once-loyal relationship.  The fact that an individual needs to produce the artifacts to get an employer to nudge is enough to question your worth and their purpose to stay.  Instead, be proactive in your valuation of key performers; retain the merits of your relationship and present an increase in advance (where feasible, of course).  Doing so strengthens the bond between the worker and company, increases engagement and productivity, and will likely save you time, effort, money, and the skill set you would have had to recruit for.  Most importantly, you retain respect.  

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 Simone Maage.