User:Thomas A. Farmer/sandbox

Total Rewards
Total rewards refers to everything an employee receives from an employer in return for their work efforts and contributions. It includes tangible rewards such as cash compensation (salary, allowances, bonuses, etc.) and benefits such as medical, retirement or paid time off. Total rewards also include intangible rewards such as work-life, recognition and growth, which are highly prized by most current and potential employees. WorldatWork, the global professional organization for total rewards professionals, defines total rewards as "the monetary and non-monetary returns provided to employees in exchange for their time, talents, efforts and results."

Total Rewards Principles

 * 1) The function of rewards is to attract, retain and motivate employees.
 * 2) Employers have many rewards to offer employees besides compensation and benefits.
 * 3) Employers should offer a rewards package that best aligns/caters to the needs and preferences of current and future employees.
 * 4) A carefully designed rewards mix can be more attractive, yet less expensive than offering salary alone.
 * 5) Tangible (extrinsic) rewards generally do not motivate most people; intangible (intrinsic) rewards motivate, but only if tangible rewards are sufficient. This is supported by Frederick Herzberg's two factor theory, that extrinsic rewards are "hygiene" factors, while intrinsic rewards, such as job satisfaction and job enrichment, actually motivate people. This principle is seen as well in Maslow' s hierarchy of needs, which states that people are not motivated by higher order needs until lower order needs have been satisfied. When applied to workplace rewards, this suggests that a blue collar employee living from paycheck to paycheck would not be motivated by a new recognition program (aimed at our need for esteem, an intangible/intrinsic reward) until his level of pay was felt to be sufficient.
 * 6) The right mix of rewards is determined by considering
 * 7) Workforce demographics such as age, life stage, gender and diversity, and their likely needs and preferences;
 * 8) Tax laws;
 * 9) Business conditions and strategies
 * 10) Human resources objectives and talent strategy;
 * 11) Industry norms and trends; and
 * 12) Rewards philosophy
 * 13) Rewards philosophy includes
 * 14) Internal equity
 * 15) Market competitive positioning: match, lead or lag market practices and rewards levels
 * 16) Who is responsible for employee welfare--paternalistic philosophy assumes the employer takes responsibility, versus employees share or take full responsibility for certain areas
 * 17) Definition of the relevant market: which employers do you hire from or lose to
 * 18) Pay for performance: extent to which some rewards (incentives) are tied to individual, team or company performance
 * 19) Choice - to what extent should employees have choice in their rewards
 * 20) Transparency
 * 21) Governance - local, regional versus global decision making on rewards; process for approving exceptions
 * 22) Rewards can support a "pay for performance" philosophy of an organization, by delivering larger (or smaller) pay increases or bonuses to individuals, team or divisions that perform better (or worse.)