I NEED 5-7 HR PAPER AND DISCUSSION QUESTION ANSWERED IN 24 HOURS
Running head: NEW AND IMPROVED REWARDS AT WORK 1
New and Improved Rewards at Work
Student XXXXX
Strayer University
HRM 533 - Total Rewards
May 20, 2019
NEW AND IMPROVED REWARDS AT WORK 2
New and Improved Rewards at Work
This paper will explore how the scope of a total rewards program can be improved to creatively
meet the needs of their employees. First, an analyzation of how employee benefit innovations
can improve an organization's competitive compensation strategy. Second, an explanation of
how innovative benefits can be linked to specific jobs and how they can help attract talent. Next,
a critique of the effectiveness of equity-based rewards systems for compensation and benefits.
Then, a discussion about the key elements of integrating innovation into a traditional total
rewards program. Finally, a process recommendation that optimizes an employee-based
suggestion program to routinely refresh an organization's total reward program.
Innovations Improving Organizations
Organizations are always researching new ways to make an impact on the job market.
The companies that are going to grab the attention of the high-quality talent pools are
diversifying their total rewards packages for employees. The trick is to anticipate how the total
rewards modifications will be received by their employees. After all, the value is in the eye of
the beholder. It will take research and trial and error to create total rewards packages that will set
organizations apart. These rewards systems may take more time and thought to plan out, but
once they are implemented, they can almost run themselves if the proper work is put into them
(Wilson, 2003, p.221). The more value that can be added on top of the compensation, the more
desirable the package will be to employees.
The current and emerging talent pool finds more value in being able to move around to
do new things, work in various positions. The days of working at the same position are not
common any longer. So, businesses need to capitalize on this hunger for professional work
diversity and accommodate their employees before the employees look elsewhere for these
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opportunities. Allocating additional funds for employees to return to higher education
demonstrates that a business is interested in helping their employees grow and for their minds to
be stimulated. It is a great way for a business to outwardly display that they care about their
careers and also their personal growth. Some companies can also link the educational goals to
specific work-related opportunities, that may correlate into a promotion or an increase in base
pay.
A company that chooses to be innovative with their total rewards strategy can also
promote that on their career landing portal online and at job fairs. If a company is going to take
the time and ownership in being a cutting-edge rewards provider for employers, they should let
the talent pool know this. That can be a very attractive strategy for businesses. These attributes
are very desirable to a person looking for work because it outwardly demonstrates some of the
active business culture (Wilson, 1999, p.3). Many people want to be on the ground floor and
moving up with companies that are willing to be open to trying new things. They may come with
very desirable perks that are specific to their industry. If an employee is already very tuned into a
specific line of work, then they will be employed by an organization that will help them
maximize their portfolios.
The willingness to be innovative with the total rewards also ties directly into the
organizational culture. If a potential employee is on the outside looking in, and they see that a
company is offering the standard benefits that companies have been offering for years, then that
may not be very appealing. But, if a candidate can observe the standard benefits in addition to
benefits tailored specifically for company employees, then this can increase the interest in
working for the organization. At the very least it may intrigue a candidate to want to learn more
about what the company offers. That will then open the door the company to sell their
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opportunities and organization to the candidates that may have overlooked them otherwise. After
all, this is the talent pools market. Any time a company can share why an employee should work
for them; it is time well spent.
Tailoring Innovative Benefits
As the employment climate changes and new waves of employees come into an
employment market, the types of benefits innovations also have an opportunity to evolve.
Businesses need to increase awareness of the specific people that they want to fill certain
positions within a company. Total rewards programs do not have to be standardized like they
once were. It is imperative to be able to customize and link the total rewards program to the
vision and values of the business (Sizemore, 2018, p.42). Increasingly, employees would like to
have the ability to customize or be apart in selecting how their employment benefits can work for
them.
Organizations can now offer options to employees working in specific job roles, in ways
that they could not have done so in the past. For some roles, such as technology positions, the
employees may not need to be at the business location to perform their job. So, they may benefit
from telecommuting and engaging with their peers via electronic means such as email, chat
programs, and video conferencing. This benefit saves the employee commuting time, allows
them to work from their own home office, and possibly save on expenses for meals.
Attracting talent for specific jobs based on innovative benefits programs can also apply to
salesforce positions. These positions can have specific benefits that are based on their
performance metrics to allow for bonus pay rewards. An innovative approach to bonus pay could
be to allow employees to place the bonus pay into their retirement accounts at an untaxed rate.
Employees can be offered an opportunity to select how they would like percentages of their
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bonus pay allocated during their upcoming pay periods. This enables employees to still have
their base pay, and then their bonus pay can be split up as they see fit. Employees that are more
interested in the financial savings will find this to be an attractive option.
The talent market is also very diversified. There are all age ranges of people seeking
employment. Having an innovative benefits program should be mindful to include options that
are attractive to all potential talent. Some candidates may be seeking a flexible work schedule to
accommodate personal or family commitments. Others may value extensive health benefits for
themselves and their family members. Other people that value their educational growth may
specifically look for jobs that offer a tuition assistance program. If an organization is wanting to
find the best talent to fulfill their positions, then they need to have a variety of options available
since not everyone’s needs or view of what is valuable may be the same,
Equity-based Reward Systems Effectiveness
Equity-based reward systems may be another part of a total rewards plan that a company
may offer. Equity is typically a piece of company stock that represents a piece of ownership for
an employee (World at Work, 2007, p.368). Companies that are seeking creative ways to offer
additional options or incentives to their employees may explore how they can integrate equity
into a rewards package for employees. This strategy can be beneficial to both the employer and
the employee, depending on how it is arranged in their plan.
From a compensation plan perspective using equity allows an employer to offer a share
of stock to an employee as a bonus, or at discounted rates. Using company equity in this manner
can be viewed as an innovative way to be competitive in the job market. It all comes down to
finances. If a business creates additional equity rewards for its employees, it can be view
favorably. In most case, when equity is offered as a bonus reward, there may be additional
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strings attached, such as how the stock options are paid out, and the company will set these
parameters. Or just like offering company discounts on the products or services provided by a
company, employees may be offered shares at a discounted rate (Book. p.367). Whichever angle
the company chooses to pursue the awards will be interpreted as how much value they hold for
the employee.
From benefits, perspective equity is more commonplace. Employees are often provided
options to create and contribute to a 401(k) plan. Most companies will then match the amount an
employee contributes, up to a certain percentage. This equity benefit allows companies too
outwardly display investment in their employees every pay period. So, this is often viewed as
favorable by the employees. Building wealth as a result of a partnership between the employer
and the employee also has a silver lining for the organization.
Companies are often searching for ways to get the most productivity out of their
employees’ time with the organization. Providing these equity options can be a key part in
solidifying the partnership with the company. If an employee can be directly impacted by the
actions that they make for the company, it will often be a hidden incentive to encourage
behaviors that benefit the company. I believe this is the major reason why companies use equity
to reward their employees. It makes the employee a business owner. The money that is
facilitating the growth of their investment portfolio can be impacted by the decisions they make
for the company. For example, if an employee is constantly issuing credits for fees to a customer,
this is impacting the company and the employee. Those credits continue to add up and take away
from the bottom line. Since that is the case, it may inspire the employees to come up with other
creative solutions that add value that benefits the customer, the business, and the stockholders.
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This approach is very effective because it forces the employee to think like the business owner
when it comes to making business decisions.
Integrating Innovation
In my current total rewards program, the elements that I would focus on innovative
integration would be talent development, work-life balance, and financial benefits planning. The
total rewards plan can be an integral part of building key behaviors and motivation for
employees (Elwood Gopal & Hoarty, 2013, p.57). The talent development innovation will
include their employees obtaining specific certifications that are desirable to improve the
employee’s knowledge and performance at work. For example, an IT administrator can obtain
their Network Plus certification at the expense of the company. The IT admin will then receive a
five percent pay increase once the certification is obtained. That employee will also now be
eligible to move into additional roles at the organization since they possess this certification.
This ties in the organizational goals with employee development.
Employees also want to be able to have a work-life harmony with any company that they
choose to work for. This may look differently depending on the home life dynamic for the
individual employee. Perhaps one employee commutes a significant distance to work each day.
They may benefit from working from home for two weeks out of the month on a rotating
schedule. This allows the employee to stay engaged with the business culture atmosphere, but
also provides the ability to gain some of their time back each month.
Another group of employees may benefit from having an on-site or nearby, a daycare
facility for their children. This facility will be linked to the company and will offer subsidized
rates for using the services. This will not only save the employees money spent in childcare but
will also save the employee travel time going to and from another daycare facility each day. A
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company that is willing to help improve the work-life balance will inevitably decrease lost time
from work as well as reducing attrition.
The third element will be the assistance of financial benefits planning workshops. Many
employee’s opt-in to the retirement savings plan that their company offers. A company can help
their employees understand how to maximize their earning potential by offering semi-annual
workshops. The workshops can be led by financial planning experts to assist employees in
understanding how to diversify their portfolios as well also understanding the ins and outs of
how the actions that they take on the investments can impact them. This added transparency and
education when it comes to their finances will be something that employees will view as a life
learning opportunity.
Employee-based Suggestion Program
Organizations can often benefit from gathering information on what is perceived as
valuable from the direct individuals that they impact. Having an employee-based suggestion
program is a powerful tool because it builds a transparent partnership with the employees.
Building reward systems together can be an important integral building block for an organization
(Mahajan, V. & Sarin, S., 2001, p.35). It provides an opportunity for their suggestions to be
heard and then applied in instances wherever possible. The program will be based around a
regularly scheduled employee feedback session that will include a variety of employees,
supervisors, senior leadership, and the human resources team.
The structure for the feedback sessions will be a round table discussion. The roundtable,
led by human resources, will allow each participating member to voice their opinions on one
current benefit included in the total rewards program, and one benefits that they would like to see
included in the program. The human resources team will catalog all of the feedback to keep track
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of the valuable information. This feedback about the current benefits program will allow the
human resource team to discover the portions of the existing plan that may not be delivered at
the desirable capacity.
The feedback that the employees provide that they would like to see implemented will all
be put into a list. This list will then be voted on, and the round table employees will select their
top 5 selections for that meeting. The round table employees will select one employee to be their
Employee Suggestion, the Team representative. The selected employee will then meet up with
the individual teams across the large employee team to present these five options and to gather
their votes. This feedback may be done in person, or via email. The reason for having the
employees vote on the top five options is to have the entire employee team be a part of the
decision making.
The team leader will then gather all of the votes and present them to the human resources
team for their consideration. The human resources team will then present the selections to their
leadership team and put these items into a review process. The review process by the human
resource team will have a few different phases. The first phase will be to catalog all of the items
to retain for future review. The second phase will be to compare these items with others that are
already in place or the pipeline for a rollout. This will include pairing up items that are similar to
enhance them and to eliminate redundancies.
Once the human resource team has taken all of the information and completed their
research, they will lift these items to the corporate offices to determine the feasibility of
implementing any of these items for a short-term trial run. Based on the corporate decisions, the
human resources team will return to the employee team representative to relay their findings and
potential plan to move forward. The important thing about the employee-based suggestion
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program is that there is continuous communication with the employees, and this builds trust with
the team.
Conclusion
Total reward systems will continue to evolve and transform the ways that companies
attempt to gain a competitive edge. There will be trial and error when it comes to out of the box
solutions for rewards that meet the employees and organizational needs. However, the important
factor is that the companies are willing to try something different that the employees may
respond favorably to. Companies that can develop a transparent partnership with employees
about their benefits and compensation strategies will typically end up ahead of companies that
only offer standard benefits. Employees expect more and are willing to do more for a company if
the price is right.
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References
Elwood, L., Gopal, G. and Hoarty, N. (2103). Using reward systems to motivate employees for
in innovation. Global Education Journal. Retrieved from
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ZQ%3d%3d#db=eue&AN=93250993
Mahajan, V. and Sarin, S. (2001). The effect of reward systems on the performance of cross-
functional product development teams. Journal of marketing. Retrieved from
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Sizemore, K. (2018). 6 considerations for designing a total rewards program. Benefits Magazine.
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2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=131479641
Wilson, T. (1999). Rewards that drive high performance: Success stories from leading
Organizations. New York: AMACOM. 1999. Retrieved from
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Wilson, T. (2003). Innovative Reward Systems for the Changing Workplace. Ed.: 2nd ed. New
York: McGraw Hill Professional. 2003.Retrieved from
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WorldatWork. (2007). The WorldatWork handbook of compensation, benefits & total rewards.
Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons.