Compensation Strategy

Identifying the role of compensation in attracting and retaining great employees.

Compensation Strategy

Identifying the role of compensation in attracting and retaining great employees.

Client Challenges

Company pay is reactive or subjective, and should be proactive and strategic.

Each division/department has its own pay practices and there is no over-arching company strategy.

Recruiting is too focused on base pay dollars and not focused enough on selling your brand and work culture.

You need to prioritize how to spend the very limited pay increase dollars available.

Your pay programs are not aligned with the compensation elements that employees value most.

Employees are too focused on base pay and have little appreciation for the value proposition and total remuneration offering.

Clearwater Can Help...

Develop a company Employment Value Proposition (see articles below)

Create a compensation philosophy and strategy that reflects your Company's unique competitive positioning

Identify which geographies and departments should be paid a premium or discount, and how big the premium or discount should be

Conduct an on-line survey of the leadership team to help formally identify compensation priorities

Design a compensation toolkit/resource guide for managers so that pay programs are better understood and effectively utilized

Articulate the role and purpose of base salary versus base pay increases versus incentive pay

Fun Fact- Compensation Strategy

"We will hire five people to do the work of ten, and pay them like eight."

- Compensation strategy of Nucor Steel

Clearwater in the News

“Pay should provide employees with a fair return on their investment of time, skills and energy, but ideally, it should not provide them with the fundamental reason they come to work each day.”
— Workspan Magazine

Articles and Related Content

Following are articles written by, or featuring, Clearwater consultants.

Developing the Employment Value Proposition: Eight Lessons Learned

Workspan Magazine article (January, 2020) describing lessons learned from developing Employment Value Propositions over 15 years.
Total Rewards: The Employment Value Proposition

Workspan Magazine article describing why your organization may be better off thinking through an “Attraction Philosophy” or a “Retention Philosophy” than a “Compensation Philosophy.”
New Rules for Managing Compensation in a Recession

Workspan Magazine cover story outlining 10 ways to better manage compensation in an economic downturn.
Personal Impact Maps Chart the Course to a Shared Vision

Workspan Magazine article describing how to motivate and inspire employees by connecting their day-to-day efforts to the organization's vision and goals.
A Two Component Approach to Compensation

Personnel Journal article suggesting that organizations should reduce their salary increase budgets and increase their incentive pay budgets to better align pay and performance.
Your Salary Administration System is Out of Date

HR Magazine article explaining that responsible pay administration must examine total pay (base pay plus incentives), not just base pay.