Project ACS: Agile Compensation Strategies
How to Incent Breakthrough Performance in Turbulent Times
An enterprise's approach to total compensation of key employees can help drive motivation and productivity - or it can lower employee production and morale, raise turnover and labor cost, and imperil overall performance in times of rapid business change. Project ACS will help executives build more effective and flexible total compensation programs.
Project ACS features the participation of Gary Kons, a nationally recognized expert in the field of incentive compensation with over 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, and Bruce Jackson, a fifteen-year veteran of total compensation strategies and technologies and the Vice President of Total Compensation Solutions. They will be joined by Mike Dover and Ian Da Silva, leaders of complementary research on reward strategies for "Net Generation" employees. Andy Shimberg, an authority on service transformation and leader of the nGen Talent business segment, will serve as Research Director for this project. A panel of subject matter experts from academia and business will also advise this project.
Project ACS begins on June 5, 2008 and concludes October 3, 2008. Participation is included in membership in the HR Concours program. For other nGenera clients, the participation fee is $7,500, and for non-clients, the fee is $10,000. For more information, please contact us at 281-359-3464 or info@nGenera.com
Total compensation encompasses incentive compensation, bonus and merit pay, salary planning, and pay-for-performance programs. With the right total compensation strategy, organizations are able to motivate and reward talented people whose performance is directly aligned with the goals of the enterprise. They are able to attract, acquire, and retain top producers. And they can nimbly influence behavioral changes to realign performance as market conditions change.
With the wrong total compensation strategy, organizations institutionalize misalignment. They create confusion or even distrust among key staff as the number of compensation issues and appeals grows inordinate. They inadvertently create a fear of change and restrict their ability to adjust compensation strategies with the business climate. And the problems are compounded when misaligned compensation processes get automated - encased in what amounts to electronic cement. Turnover rises, administrative costs go up, and both individual and company performance suffer.
The stakes are higher amid rapid business change and turbulent economic times. Often it is at precisely these times that top performers look for opportunities elsewhere. Companies that are slow to react or are unable to make adjustments to their compensation strategies can face rapidly deteriorating performance. In contrast, the most effective companies anticipate changes in market conditions, make agile adjustments, and maintain alignment of compensation plans with enterprise goals. Through simulations and modeling, these companies anticipate the impact of business scenarios and proactively develop tactical and strategic plans to incent and maximize performance.
In this research, we will explore organizations' maturity in their approaches to total compensation. Companies will be able to diagnose where they are on the journey toward comprehensive and anticipatory compensation strategies, and, more importantly, target where they need to go next. Participants will learn the typical traps and "sticking points" that other companies have encountered and how to avoid them. And we'll explore how to keep compensation approaches flexible. This research will enable participants to address specific issues such as:
- How should we articulate and communicate the objectives of our total compensation strategy and keep them aligned with enterprise goals?
- How can we best assess our approaches to total compensation and determine the actions needed to improve them?
- How can we determine the best mix of performance measures to incorporate into the design of a total compensation plan?
- How should we measure the performance and results of our total compensation strategy? What are the most effective leading and lagging indicators?
- What are the downstream consequences of our total compensation plan on key talent, customers, and company performance?
- How can we incorporate enough flexibility and anticipation into our total compensation process to keep pace with business change without incurring excessive administrative costs?
- How can we leverage compensation automation technology in meeting our goals?
- What are the common pitfalls in total compensation design, implementation, and management - and how can we avoid them?