How is HR analytics evolving your reward function?
There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
Why you must pay attention to pay transparency
I wrote a blog earlier last year on pay transparency from an equal pay perspective and why being able to show employees that how you pay not only ensures that you are more likely to pay fairly (and avoid equal pay issues) but also how being open about pay has been shown to increase employee engagement. […]
If you’re a reward manager, no news is good news
One of the odd things about pay is that you know there’s something wrong when people start getting excited about it. The aim of the reward manager is to conduct his or her business engendering as little fuss or emotion as possible. If your people start punching the air with glee when you give them […]
Gulp. Are we “reward people” about to be replaced?
With Terminator V about to hit the big screen, we are being reminded once again of the persistent vision of a future where we are dominated by machines. Even Stephen Hawking is in on the act, claiming that machines pose a threat to our very existence. And now I’ve just come across – rather late […]
Six arguments for executive pay
Consider for a moment that executive pay levels are about right. The figures in the press are surely eye-watering. Recent High Pay Centre analysis puts the average FTSE100 CEO package at around £5 million in 2014. This is almost a five-fold increase since the late 1990s. After some years of reports of rewards for failure, […]
Just what’s a father to do with A Level incentives?
Well, it’s that time of year again when exams are in season and I don’t doubt that the question you are asking yourself is this: should I pay my kids for exam success? As someone who makes a living out of designing incentive schemes, among other things, I naturally assumed the answer to be yes. […]
How will ‘disruptive’ HR practices affect reward?
There is movement afoot to bring credibility and new purpose to the often maligned yet critical function of HR in modern organisations. The CIPD conference last year was badged as ‘High-Impact HR’ and you will have no doubt heard the term ‘disruptive HR’ from a multitude of blogs, articles, conferences and soap-boxes. ‘Disruptive’ comes from […]
Is your bonus money going down the drain?
The use of bonus schemes is on the increase. Often used to align pay with performance, and make it affordable in good times and bad. According to XpertHR, 4/10 employees received a bonus in 2014. However, a £ given as bonus is valued less favourably than a £ given in base pay. This is because […]
UK salaries grow for first time since downturn
Salaries offered in job adverts have increased year-on-year for the first time since the recession, according to new research. The average advertised UK salary stood at £33,873 in July, a rise of 0.9% on the previous year, the report by UK jobs website Adzuna found. The number of advertised vacancies grew by over a quarter […]
Low wage increases in a buoyant jobs market – don’t be fooled!
So, the headlines shout “Wages Growth Lowest Since 2001” alongside messages of record low unemployment and an economic upturn. Should you still choose to fight that battle for an increase in the salary budget? The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported annual wage growth (including bonuses) fell to just 0.3% in the second quarter of […]
Why reward and recognition isn’t optional
Reward and recognition is an important communications tool to reinforce the actions and behaviours you most want to see your people repeat. Ensuring that your employees feel recognised and valued for their work and the contribution they make to the success of your business is not optional, or simply something nice to do when things […]
The taboo of discussing pay – a good or bad thing?
As collaboration becomes ever-more essential in the workplace, some might consider the move towards greater openness inevitable. But perhaps not on pay. Even recently, a salesman at Lacoste in New York was fired for posting his wage slip on social media. Discussing your pay has been a taboo among many businesses for as long as […]
Do highly paid CEOs make terrible decisions?
Just as it emerges an NHS Trust is paying £200,000 to a chairman that works one day a week, a new study from the University of Utah indicates that highly-paid executives may be responsible for decreasing the value of their organisations due to poor decisions. The mechanism in play appears to be an over-confidence in […]
Why Generation Y is changing your reward strategies
Generation Y currently make-up around a third of the global workforce; by 2025 it will be 75%. Each new generation grows up thinking they are different from their parents and the generation before but, in the case of Gen Y it’s certainly true. They have grown up as tech savvy global citizens with debt and […]
News: Firms predict pay increases of 2.5 percent
Private sector employers are expecting minimal pay increases in the near future, according to new research from XpertHR. The survey questioned 127 private employers, employing 86,164 people, about their pay intentions for the 12 months to the end of February 2014. The median pay increase prediction for the next year was found to be 2.5 […]
Redundancies on the up – but so are salaries.
2013 promises a high number of redundancies but also healthy salary increases for UK firms, reports an Aon Hewitt survey. The survey revealed a mixed picture of the jobs market in the UK. More than a third (35%) of UK organisations said they were considering redundancies this year – higher than any other European country […]
Woman crack the boardroom, but not the pay gap
More women have made it onto the board but the gender pay gap has widened, a report by Hay Group reveals. European boardrooms were still dominated by men, the global management consultancy found, with women securing only 17% of director roles. In addition, barely 2% of non-executive chairs in Europe were female. There […]
Blog: why meaningful work is as important as compensation
Recognise this! – Though research indicates this more for GenY, all of us across generations need to know why what we do every day has greater value and meaning. Are employee engagement and retention of concern for you and your organisation? If so, are you equally concerned about how you’re conveying the importance and meaning […]
News: ‘Sign up to ethical code or quit,’ Barclays’ CEO warns staff
Barclays’ new chief executive issued employees with an ultimatum today to either sign up to an ethical code of conduct or quit, as part of the bank’s attempt to try and repair its battered reputation. In a memo sent to its 140,000 staff worldwide, Antony Jenkins warned that, in future, performance would be judged on […]
News: UK’s top gay-friendly employers unveiled
Management consultancy Accenture, housing association Gentoo and the Co-op have been named as the UK’s top three employers respectively for lesbian, gay and bi-sexual staff. Charity Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers 2013 rankings also recognised investment bank Goldman Sachs, which won an award for ‘Employee Group Network of the Year’. The Nationwide Building Society was […]
