Total Rewards

The Issue

Employers make substantial investments in total rewards, often with minimal returns. The common practice of keeping up with the market can result in a “me-too” programmatic focus that leads to poor decision-making. Because total rewards are such a significant element of organizations’ fixed costs, the challenge is to make investment decisions related to rewards with the same level of rigor and discipline that is applied to other important investments.

Our Point of View

• Total rewards are more than just pay – they include compensation, benefits, culture, career and work environment that reflect the unique attributes, objectives and context of an organization.
• In order to remain relevant and effective, rewards must evolve in alignment with their context, including internal elements such as business strategy as well as external influences such as customers, competition and economic conditions.
• To maximize return on investment in rewards, consider that the investment amount and return on investment can vary by element and that the right combination of total rewards results in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Rewards typically address or enhance will-do issues or opportunities (motivation) rather than can-do (capability) opportunities, and should be deployed accordingly.
• Employees need transparency about total rewards in order to fully participate and engage in the rewards program. Communicate ‘why’ as well as ‘what’ and ‘when’.

Our Approach

Axiom’s approach typically involves the following elements:

• Work directly with senior leadership to develop a total rewards strategy that is a component of business strategy, providing guidance for how rewards should reflect culture, respond to competition, and link to performance.
• Apply proven business strategy development and implementation tools to the development and implementation of total rewards solutions.
• As with other important investments, gather relevant data and conduct rigorous analyses to support decision-making. Build on existing processes and integrate data from varied sources to generate new insights (operations, financial reporting, HRIS).
• Develop and communicate an integrated approach that aligns employee and employer compensation, benefits, culture, career, and work environment priorities.
• Establish and apply assessment criteria to monitor results and maximize Return on Investment.

Typical Benefits

• Improved organization results through better allocation of significant investment dollars.
• A performance culture reinforced by communicating to employees what is important, what they need to do to help the organization succeed and what’s in it for them if they do.
• More effective recruiting and improved retention through clarifying and strengthening the employee value proposition.

To learn more, contact us by phone at (312) 523-2123 or by email.