Total Rewards Talk: 10/06/14
The CTRA is starting a series for the total reward professional called “Total Rewards Talk”. There will be a weekly question of interest involved compensation, benefits or a related subject. However, if you feel you have a question or a subject that you would like to discuss online please do not hesitate to email the question to Marc Kroll (mgkroll@earthlink.net) along with your contact information.
This series is offered as way to share knowledge and intelligence about what Connecticut organizations are doing to make their total rewards programs more effective. We urge all to participate.
Question for the week of 10/06/14
Given the limited size of merit budget in 2014 and 2015, how is your organization using their money to differentiate and reward top performers?
Unless the labor market really picks up this is the environment for the foreseeable future. Variable pay will now be the differentiator whether it be for team or individual performance. The other part is that it also forces the organization to keep their top performers satisfied. Expensive to replace and in some job families harder to do. Organizations have to do a better job of balancing cost and talent. Easier to say harder to do!
We don’t use a merit budget at our company but rather salary budget. Annual adjustments are determined by performance and market position. We rely more on variable compensation to differentiate and reward top performers.