Top corporate leaders
want human resources professionals to focus on rewards programs with direct business results and not
be concerned with best practices, two consultants said April 29 at the2013 WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference in Philadelphia.
Patricia Zingheim and Jay Schuster,
who are partners at the compensation and total rewards consulting firm Schuster-Zingheim
& Associates in Los Angeles, said they interviewed 21 chief executive officers from large companies
across the country to determine what top managers want from human resources professionals and rewards programs.
CEOs are not concerned
about best practices, Schuster said. Instead, they want rewards programs that
are customized to fit a particular organization as well as having the programs
adding to the company’s return on investment, he said. In addition, most CEOs
said they thought human resources departments were too focused on best
practices and providing fairness for all employees, regardless of performance
level, he said.
“They have a sense that you get what you pay
for,” Schuster said. “CEOs want rewards to attract, retain, engage and reward
high performers who add the most value to the business. They would rather
humanely manage low performers out of their workforce.”
Human resources professionals
should determine how a rewards plan would best suit an organization to help drive
business results, Zingheim said.
“They want us to be more proactive in figuring
out what the business needs instead of being reactive,” Zingheim said. “To some
extent, we need to provide market data, but it can’t be the be-all and end-all.”
Before changing a
rewards program and bringing it to upper management, Zingheim and Schuster said
human resources professionals should consider a six-point checklist:
- How does the change reflect real
business success, and does to reward right people?
- Does the change add value to the
business, and is it cost competitive to other organizations?
- Would the change accommodate future talent?
- Can the business acquire and retain viable,
reliable and quality workers?
- Does the communication make sense to a
discriminating workforce?
- Is the change more responsive to
workforce needs?
The checklist focuses
on business measurements and key talent, not competitive or best practices,
Zingheim said. Changes to rewards programs
should be compelling for a business while helping the business to be successful,
she said.
“A lot of reward
programs are really employee centric,” Zingheim said. “Then there are business
metrics. The two have to be thought of as integrated.”
By Laime Vaitkus