Let's say that you're responsible for developing new or revised compensation programs for your organization.  Perhaps an audit has generated worrisome results, or the latest employee engagement survey showed a large measure of discontent.   Perhaps turnover is rampant, or you’ve just... Read More

As employees ride the wave of the “great resignation”, not all is lost on the side of the employer.  Today brings the onset of a company-wide reset, an introduction of new expectations through a newfound sense of clarity.  Organizations best take this time to redefine who they are as an... Read More

Editor's Note:  What does recognition that inspires and empowers look like?  Jacques Vilet shares her own unforgettable recognition experience in today's Classic.  There have been many great posts at the Compensation Café regarding recognition.  Did you know that 99% of great... Read More

Everyone who has ever worked on sales incentives has heard people refer to roles as “farmers” and “hunters”. These two terms are used to simplify the focus of sales roles and the type of pay they receive. Unfortunately, this clouds the roles of salespeople in many of today’s businesses.... Read More

I've always made it a point to ask about organizational values in every compensation philosophy session and in every discovery conversation at the front end of a problem solving engagement.  The responses can vary from "Values? I can't remember but I think you can find them on our... Read More

Compensation professionals love to throw around the phrase "line of sight", particularly with respect to incentive pay design.  What do we mean when we use it in regard to rewards? And are we using it correctly in understanding reward effectiveness? Line of sight is an expression with... Read More

Research can be found everywhere and compelling research findings can make for profitable clickbait.  We in the HR space, however, would do well to become careful consumers of what is often presented as rewards and productivity research. One example would be an article with an attention-grabbing... Read More

On the plate today: an incentive plan design primer covering the topic of performance gates.   Performance gates (also referred to as "hurdles", "tripwires", "qualifiers" and "knockouts") can play an important role in incentive plan design. When an... Read More

Compensation wisdom and a terrific quote from none other than Maya Angelou! She says: Human beings are more alike than unalike.  Whether in Paris, Texas or Paris, France, we all want to have good jobs where we are needed and respected and paid just a little more than we deserve. I call this... Read More

A recent conversation about management participation in a compensation review brought to mind a client project where we made a big bet on involving managers. I was engaged to conduct a review of the company's compensation and benefits practices.  Managers in one particular division had... Read More