If more than 80% of businesses don’t have a strategy, this could be the one thing that puts you ahead of your competitors.  Pay is a big issue for employees right now, so its more important than ever to have a plan.

I speak to lots of businesses who have spent many hours putting in place the HR strategy and making sure it aligns to their business’ plans and will support them in managing the challenges ahead.  Many of them are focussed on the people and the recruitment, training and development, and terms and benefits that they will be offering.  But they are not always focussed on the reward strategy and what that will mean. We always recommend for those that haven’t got a specific reward strategy they should take some time thinking about the plan and the impact of their pay practices.

A well designed reward strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how you will use your pay and benefits offering to attract, retain, and motivate your employees. Like all good strategies, it should be aligned with the business plan and values, and should be communicated clearly and transparently to employees to build trust and engagement.

The most frustrating experience for our clients is when their reward practices don’t meet the business needs. We are most frequently invited in to speak to clients when they realise that their salaries/salary structure no longer fits the bill; because they can’t recruit on the current pay scales, or managers and staff alike complain about the lack of transparency, or even because some benefits operate counter to their values and don’t deliver expected behaviours.

We work with our clients to identify the values and core principles that will underpin and drive decisions behind the strategy. Then we help them start work on the issues they are trying to resolve and get to where they want to be. It’s not aways an easy process but getting the right stakeholders involved and giving those stakeholders a voice will always reap benefits from their engagement with the process and engaged stakeholders will sell your strategy for you.

Here is a link to our case study outlining how we have helped one of our clients build their reward strategy.