Themes and Takeaways from Total Rewards 2018

Several members of the Compdata Surveys & Consulting team recently attended the 2018 World at Work Total Rewards Conference and Exhibition in Dallas.  While at the conference, we had a great time talking with many you about your total rewards initiatives and your concerns regarding total rewards and the workforce you support. Some themes and hot topics surrounding compensation and benefits planning emerged from our conversations with you and the sessions our team attended.

• The primary challenges facing most organizations are addressing turnover and the current workforce shortages. With unemployment at historically low levels, it is hard to recruit the people you need and there are many options for your employees outside of your organization.  The speaker from one session noted there are now more jobs than qualified people available to fill them in the United States.

• Total rewards programs need to evolve from a one size fits all approach or only needing to implement what is working well for other organizations. The design of programs should focus on “best fit” instead of “best practice.”  Total rewards programs need to be agile and designed around specific employee groups.

• Employees are not satisfied with current total rewards programs. One statistic cited during the conference was that only 15% of employees would recommend their organization’s total reward programs.

• A sense of urgency exists to find solutions to the pressing issues of turnover, total rewards program design, and improving the level of satisfaction with current programs. We had many people asking us very specific questions about our pay practice, benefits, and compensation data as well as our advice regarding their current issues.

This sense of urgency will likely be facing total rewards professionals for a while. As you seek solutions to your organization’s total rewards initiatives, do not hesitate to reach out.   We are glad many of you did at the conference and we look forward to continuing those conversations.  We also look forward to starting new conversations with those of you who were not at the conference. Compdata Surveys & Consulting is here to help you find the solutions you need today.