Amid economic volatility, employers are becoming increasingly concerned with how to maximize recruitment and retention efforts without raising costs. Enter total rewards — a cost-effective concept that can help position your organization as an employer of choice by promoting the full value of your offerings.
What is a Total Rewards Program?
Total rewards generally include three essential components: compensation, employee benefits and the employee experience.
- Compensation refers to employees’ salaries or wages
- Employee benefits include employees’ health plan, wellbeing benefits, voluntary benefits, and any other offerings your organization may provide
- Employee experience encompasses anything outside of compensation and benefits that could be seen as a reward for working for your organization, such as opportunities for growth and development, amenities and perks within the physical workplace, and a sense of purpose in one’s work
When these three elements of total rewards are optimized and working in tandem, it creates a harmonious program that positively impacts employee recruitment and retention, as well as engagement and satisfaction.
Developing an Effective Total Rewards Program
To develop a solid total rewards program, follow these three critical steps: create, communicate, evaluate.
Create
Total rewards encompass compensation, benefits and the employee experience, so it’s important to first determine the current state of each of these aspects in your organization. Is your compensation competitive? Are your employee benefits tailored to meet the needs of your workforce? Is your employee experience enabling the members of your workforce to show up to work as their best selves and do their jobs effectively? Look at each of these elements through a critical lens and identify areas of improvement. Then, optimize them accordingly.
Communicate
Creating an effective combination of competitive compensation, best-in-class benefits and a strong employee experience is essential, but your efforts may go to waste if you fail to effectively communicate the value of these components to your workforce.
Your communication strategy does not have to be complicated — simply ensure it is:
- Catered to your audience
- Composed of short, digestible content
- Inclusive of a wide range of multi-media channels
- Guided by a proactive timeline
- Backed by data analytics
CBIZ’s Communications Consulting Practice can help you effectively communicate the value of your total rewards program through the development and delivery of innovative, engaging materials backed by data analytics. Click here to learn more.
Evaluate
Continual evaluation and optimization of your total rewards program is key to ensuring maximum effectiveness. Employees’ needs change, as does the external environment, so it’s important to regularly check in with your workforce via surveys and focus groups to gather feedback on your total rewards.
Connect with CBIZ Employee Benefits to Optimize Your Total Rewards Program
Optimizing your total rewards program is key to ensuring your organization can attract and retain top talent. For more tailored total rewards guidance, connect with our team at CBIZ Employee Benefits today.
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