Career development and decision-making are typical employee-engagement drivers, but compensation tops the list at the global level, an industry official said April 30 at the 2013 WorldatWork  Total Rewards Conference in Philadelphia.

“Globally for the first time we have seen pay as one of the top engagement drivers,” said Jane Kwon, vice president of the consulting firm Aon Hewitt. Employees are feeling pressure because of stagnant salaries and erosion in financial security, she said.

According to Aon Hewitt’s 2012 Total Rewards Survey, employers still have high aspirations when it comes to rewards. The top three total rewards priorities include improving employee engagement, talent-retention abilities, and business objective alignment, Kwon said.

High-performing companies have five key attributes with regard to total rewards, Kwon said:

• Clearer reward strategies and goals. Employers may not differentiate pay and benefits, but they can differentiate by helping employees learn and advance on an individual level;

• More analytical inputs for decision making, with greater focus on business alignment versus cost and market position;

• Connecting  programs more to business objectives and creating targeted communication linked to individual employees;

• A different definition of a program’s effectiveness, based on the impact on employees and business outcomes and execution; and

• Higher business outcomes, higher employee engagement, and high value from an employee’s perspective.

Many companies have difficulty with rewards programs. “Less than 25 percent of companies that we’ve talked to say that they have clearly stated strategies,” Kwon said. Different communication is necessary to change perceptions regarding rewards programs, she said.

Top companies rely on various forms of input for rewards programs, especially external input, which includes an awareness of trends and legislation, Kwon said.

Leadership input should also be considered to ensure that programs are aligned to business objectives and the company’s mission, values, talent strategies, and rewards philosophy, Kwon said.

Many organizations claim that they consider employee views when making rewards program decisions, but the reality is that less than 33 percent consider such input as part of the decision-making process, Kwon said.