Category: Benefits and Compensation

Bonus programs are changing. Some offer alternatives to cash, and others tie the cash to preset individual or team goals. If your employees are popping their heads in and out of their doorways this week, glancing down the corridor with an expectant look on their faces, it’s understandable. They’re waiting to catch sight of their […]

Unless they’re finance people … or lawyers … HR professionals often find handling comp and benefits the hardest part of the job. Here’s a way to make it easier. HR Daily Advisor recently provided a downloadable cost calculator to measure the cost of having employees leave you. There are, however, even greater risks that come […]

Merit increases can help target specific business goals, but as workers take one step forward to claim their reward, make sure they don’t take two steps back. A recent Advisor report on the pay raises employers project for 2007 noted that merit increases for exempt employees will average 3.8 percent, compared with general increases for […]

Despite a generally healthy economy, pay increases are backpedaling. What’s taking their place as motivation? Can you say, “variable pay”? The talent war may be raging, but the big guns that often win recruitment, retention, and worker motivation – significantly larger paychecks – have yet to be brought into the action. That was the key […]

Many think executive compensation has gone way out of line in recent years. Here’s a 10-step plan to make it work for the company, and not just the recipients. If any issue has come to the fore during recent corporate scandals, it’s that of executive compensation. The files of investor organizations, and attorneys-general, as well, […]

Web-based providers of salary information, such as Compensation.BLR.com, allow job seekers or workers lobbying for a raise to tell you “what I’m worth” even before you make an offer. Here’s what to do to counter the trend. It used to be that, when buying a car, the dealers held all the cards. They alone knew […]

If you’re making compensation decisions based on national norms, somebody could be coming up short … and it might be you! Here are the criteria you should be using. You’re hiring a payroll clerk or an engineer … or even an HR manager. How much should you pay? If you make that decision on the […]

You may be able to do it by self-insuring. It’s not just for “big business” anymore, says BLR’s Best Practices in Compensation & Benefits newsletter. Self-Insurance Doesn’t this phrase have a siren song, especially when it comes to healthcare coverage? Just think about it. You take the premiums paid to your current health carrier and […]

A recent survey of 585 businesses identified major growth in companies offering high deductible healthcare plans, and noted four ways to restrain cost increases. Once upon a time, if you worked for a good company and you got sick, you went to any doctor, hospital, or pharmacy and handed them your health plan card. That […]

A solid executive compensation program both recruits great new leaders and keeps your present team intact, but be sure it matches your organization’s profile and stage of development. If, as is often said, the speed of the team is the speed of the leader, good executives can supercharge your company’s performance. But if your executive […]