Workforcematters Homepage

Cabinet Office website
|

Main navigation

Total Reward logo

History of Reward in Your Organisation

When considering potential changes to the Total Reward offering, it can be useful to have an understanding not only of current reward policies and practices within the organisation, but also of the history of Total Reward - what has been tried, what succeeded, what failed, and why.

If you have been in your organisation for a period of time, you may well know the answers to many of these questions. Otherwise, you may need to ask your manager, your predecessor (where possible) or someone who has been in the organisation for a long time, whether a manager in another department or an administrator who has worked closely with key decision-makers.

All questions should be considered against the relevant parts of the Engaged Performance® Framework:

It may also be helpful to consider these questions in conjunction with those in your Current Reward offering.

These questions are not intended to be exhaustive, and may not all be relevant to your situation - look at those questions that are reasonable in the context of your organisation. However, the answers (where known) should give you a starting point to finding out what has gone before.

1. What salary, benefits and non-financial rewards do you currently offer? 4. What is currently in place but not used or understood?
 
  • When were they implemented?
  • How many people use them?
  • How much is it worth? (Per employee? Per user? Total?)
  • How many people use it?
  • How much do they value it?
  • What would be the likely impact of removing it?
  • How well does it fit with your Reward Strategy? HR Strategy? Organisational Strategy?
 
  • What is the plan/benefit?
  • Who designed it?
  • When was it implemented?
  • How much is it worth? (Per employee? Per user? Total?)
  • How many people use it?
  • How much do they value it?
  • How is it currently communicated?
  • How have circumstances changed since this was introduced?
2. What has been considered in the past and not implemented? 5. What, if any, reward 'taboos' exist in the organisation? (e.g. around performance-based pay, or private medical insurance)
 
  • What was the plan?
  • When was it last considered?
  • Where would it have been implemented?
  • Who designed it?
  • Who took the decision not to implement?
  • Why was it not implemented?
  • How have circumstances changed since then?
  • Is it possible that this could be introduced now?
 
  • What is the 'taboo'?
  • Is it a formal prohibition, an informal taboo or something in between?
  • Where does it come from? Internally? Unions? Central Government?
  • When was it first forbidden?
  • How have circumstances changed since then?
  • Could it be considered again now?
3. What has been implemented and removed?    
 
  • What was the plan/benefit?
  • Who designed it?
  • When was it implemented? When was it removed ?
  • Why was it removed?
  • Who took the decision to remove it?
  • How much was it worth? (Per employee? Per user? Total?)
  • How many people used it? What did they receive in return for the removal of the plan/benefit?
  • How have circumstances changed since then?
  • Is it possible that this could be re-introduced?