Total Rewards Essentials: a Great Idea, Rarely Practiced

Total Rewards might be one of the best ideas in human resources that attracted a lot of buzz but never took off, according to this Enterprise Engagement Alliance Youtube show featuring executives at the front lines of leadership and talent development, compensation, and benefits. The concept cannot gain traction, they agree, without a CEO-led strategic and systematic approach that aligns aspects of total rewards—compensation, benefits, worklife, professional development, etc.—to achieve clear and measurable organizational goals.

Derrick Barton, Chief Talent Leader/CEO, Center for Talent Solutions at http://Keeppeople.comm and founder, Incredible LIFE Network; Jervis DiCicco, Chief Engagement Officer of ProsperBridge at http://ProsperBridge.com, and Darwin Hanson, President & CEO at Talent Management Evolution at http://TMEvolution.com all agree: despite some progress over the years, no more than 15% of organizations have a strategic approach to Total Rewards. Despite the proliferation of employee engagement surveys and feedback mechanisms, rewards and recognition platforms, and an entire industry of benefits, and thousands of compensation experts, most organizations fail to apply a strategic approach designed to maximize retention, engagement, and willingness to refer.

Session highlights:

• Without a strategic, CEO-led approach focused on clear goals, purpose, and metrics, Total Rewards is just another bright shiny object.

• Employee engagement has not risen over the last two decades since the Total Rewards concept first arose because companies continue to manage people in a reactive, ad hoc, poorly measured manner, rather than proactively with clear measures.

• Total rewards has never taken off because only a small percentage of CEOs and senior management have actually considered people a profit center as opposed to a “sunk cost.”

• The increased interest in human capital management, measurement, and reporting, along with new Securities & Exchange Commission reporting requirements, and the push by the Business Roundtable and World Economic Forum for meaning reporting, may cause more senior management to address the issue, but the jury remains out as to how many and how fast.

• While CEO leadership is required, the Total Rewards approach has to flow down through all levels of management to the front lines with clear performance measures tied to organizational goals, including the bottom line.

To Contact the Speakers:

Derrick Barton: Derrick.barton@keeppeople.com

Jervis DiCicco: Jervisd@prosperbridge.org

Darwin Hanson: Darwin@tmevolution.com