The current times have pushed us to adapt, reinvent and look at things in different and new ways. The pandemic forced many organizations to adapt full remote working practices, which were perceived as difficult to achieve before. Small and large businesses alike evolved to meet new demands from people, allowing organizations to continue being relevant.
In the same way, organizations can start looking at their Total Rewards experience in a different way. Historically, Total Rewards have always been viewed primarily from the perspective of employers and have mainly been driven by cost, performance, ease of administration, and behavior change.
But what if we told you that you can shape your Total Rewards strategy differently by looking at it from the standpoint of your Employee Experience (EX)?
Our latest High Performing Employee Experience (HPEX) research shows that the world’s leading companies are increasingly focusing on EX. These companies also realize that EX sits at the heart of delivering exceptional customer experience and superior financial business performance.
Based on our employee survey data from 500 companies and nearly 10 million employees, we found that organizations should take a people-first approach in reinventing their Total Rewards experience. Understanding what your employees need and how it can inform your Total Rewards strategy is important to get a new perspective. We have identified three steps to do this:
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01
Identifying your employees’ challenges
To start the discussion around your Total Rewards strategy, it’s crucial to identify what is important for your employees. It’s about unearthing the answers to their questions such as:
- There’s an increased focus on employee wellbeing during the pandemic – what options and tools do I have from my employer to ensure my own wellbeing?
- I’m not sure what’s the next step in my career. Do I have access to guidance and support for my career development?
- Having competitive pay and benefits is highly important to me, so how do I make sure that I am being paid fairly?
- Our world has shifted and the new realities of today have evolved my needs. Is my employer doing enough to meet me where I am?
Carefully listening to what your employees say will help you pinpoint where your organization needs to focus in your Total Rewards strategy. And, what your employees say about how you listened to them and helped them during challenging times will matter just as importantly. With many organizations already planning the year ahead, now is the perfect time to engage in employee listening activities and look at insights on what your employees have been experiencing.
You can then use these tactics to give you a full view of where you need to focus on when designing your Total Rewards strategy. When your organization strives for fair pay, equitable benefits and career equity, it leads to securing your employees’ wellbeing. All of these enable your employees to bring their full selves to work every day, which then energizes them to win and drive business performance. Ultimately, using employee listening approaches will help you make well-rounded and thoughtful decisions not only in optimizing the cost of your Total Rewards, but in shaping a top-grade EX as well.
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02
Humanizing your Total Rewards experience
Recent times have spotlighted the importance of recognizing employees as individuals with variable needs. An abundance of research addresses how employees should cope with the anxiety, stress and grief brought by the pandemic, how employees need to tend to their wellbeing, and how managers can improve their resiliency so they can better support employees, just to name a few.
The point is, your employees are individuals who have different needs at different life stages. Identifying your employee segments can help you humanize the EX. Think about the employee who is recovering from the coronavirus, caring for an ailing family member, a new parent for the first time, or is looking for the next step in their career. They all have different moments that matter for them, and they turn to you, as their employer, for help and support. By providing the right rewards offering and flexibility, you enable choices that are tailored for your employees.
Your organization needs to listen to what your various employee segments need and make them realize that they are being given a voice and a chance to be heard. Doing this will help you give them a meaningful Total Rewards experience. Your Total Rewards – which shape an individual’s experience related to career, pay, benefits and wellbeing – are key in delivering the help and support employees need and crave. This could mean offering different programs to different groups, enabling (individual) choice, or applying more segmented and/or personalized communication.
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03
Shaping your Total Rewards using HPEX
Now that we have your people at the front and center of the discussion, it’s time to apply the HPEX model to your Total Rewards strategy. We have developed an evidence-based model where companies have specific outcomes laid out across three levels: Essentials, Emphasis and Excellence. A key learning that we found from the HPEX research was that high-performing companies more often achieve the Excellence level – or top row – when shaping the EX.
Figure 1: High-Performance Employee Experience modelExcellence INSPIRATION
I'm totally inspired by our vision, we’re a socially responsible company”DRIVE
We’re agile, focused on our customers, with leading products & services”GROWTH
I’m excelling in my career and achieving my potential”TRUST
“I'm confident in leadership, they treat us with dignity & respectAreas where only a few high-performance companies excel – and, in doing so, see financial returns Emphasis INCLUSION
“We support diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity”VOICE
“I have a say in what we do”CAPABILITY
“I’m developing skills to progress my career”COLLABORATION
“We help each other, and work across boundaries”Areas where some companies begin to pull away from the global average Essentials UNDERSTANDING
“I get what we do and how I fit in”ORGANISATION
“We’re efficient, flexible, and continually improving”FAIR PAY
“My pay and benefits are fair and offer stability”SUPPORT
“My supervisor supports us and builds the team”Basics all companies do reasonably well and which don’t especially differentiate high-performance – yet are high risk if you get them wrong
Purpose Work Total Rewards People When we apply a Total Rewards lens to the HPEX model, we create two ways to shape your strategy:
- Your employees’ perception of your Total Rewards experience. What Total Rewards experience do your employees want, and what experience are they actually having today?
- Your organization’s perception of a Total Rewards experience. What type of experience do you currently provide to your employees and how does it compare to your organization’s desired experience?
Figure 2: Using HPEX to design your Total Rewards experience by applying a Total Rewards lensExcellence INSPIRATION
“I am inspired and empowered to be my best self, in both life and work.”DRIVE
“I am energized to fully apply my skills to deliver excellence for myself and my company.”GROWTH
“I am motivated to fulfill my potential, confident my contributions are valued and appreciated.”TRUST
“I know my company genuinely cares about me and provides meaningful support for my total wellbeing.”Emphasis INCLUSION
“I have access to Total Rewards that align fully with who I am”VOICE
“My company actively listens to what’s important to me about our Total Rewards offerings.”CAPABILITY
“I can maximize my rewards to meet my needs today and tomorrow.”COLLABORATION
“We share experiences about the best ways to get the most out of our Total Rewards offerings.”Essentials UNDERSTANDING
“I understand the basics of my Total Rewards.”ORGANISATION
“I understand how my role contributes to the success of the company.”FAIR PAY
“I am rewarded fairly for the work that I do.”SUPPORT
“I have the guidance, programs and tools I need to manage my Total Rewards.”Purpose Work Total Rewards People To make it more tangible, we have translated this into real experiences people have with Total Rewards and identified different experience levels, which we call a maturity curve. When looking at these levels of experiences, your company can start thinking around these questions:
- Where are you at the present?
- Where do you want to be in the short term, midterm and long-term?
- What areas should you prioritize as you shape your Total Rewards approach?
- Can you identify different groups with different needs in your organization?
Figure 3: Maturity curve. Describing the different experiences people have with Total RewardsMy Total rewards
Excellence
Informed
My Total rewards are clear and understandable
Safe
My Total rewards meet my basic needs
Competitive
My Total rewards are comparable to companies like ours
Accessible
My Total rewards are there for me
Foundational
My Total rewards include a wide range of separate programs
Compliant
My Total rewards check the box on required standards
Emphasis
Engaged
My Total rewards compel me to take action“
Cared for
My Total rewards give me comfort because I know I am protected and valued”
Differentiated
My Total rewards reflect the needs of me and my colleagues”
User Friendly
My Total rewards are easy to find, access and use”
Relevant
My Total rewards work seamlessly together and are valuable to me”
Creative
My Total rewards expand beyond just my essential needs
Excellence
Empowered
My Total rewards inspire me to be my best”
Unburdened
My Total rewards free my mind to focus on work and life”
Personalized
My Total rewards are tailored and customized to meet my unique needs“
Optimized
My Total rewards provide proactive support for the best experience and results”
Purpose-driven
My Total rewards align with a greater meaning, inspiring how I work and live”
Agile
My Total rewards grow with me as I evolve”
The answers to these questions, including the employee input on the HPEX model, are a great starting point in redefining your Total Rewards guiding principles, which will help shape your strategy. These insights will also help you build a roadmap towards your organization’s and your employees’ desired Total Rewards experience. From here, you have the foundation to create and deliver on a tactical roadmap that will shape a Total Rewards EX that sets you apart and helps drive success.
