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Process

This page gives you a suggested process to follow, and some guidance around managing a Total Reward project. You could choose to approach this in a systematic way, working through each section in the order they appear below, or you could choose to focus on the areas of particular relevance or interest to your organisation. For instance:

• if you are new in the organisation or your role, you might find it useful to gain some background knowledge on the policies and practices that apply;
• if you think your organisation has some issues around reward, and you want to research the opinions of your colleagues;
• if you have recently undertaken some form of Climate Survey, that may have given you some results to action.

How long the process takes will depend on where you start, what process you choose to use, and how much time you (and your team) are able to devote to the project. It will take longer to undertake an all-employee Diagnostic Survey than it will to conduct Focus Groups; it will take longer if one person is undertaking the project part-time than it will if there is a dedicated team.

Policy

To understand how reward operates within the organisation and how to improve Total Rewards, it is important to have a background awareness of:

• Organisational Strategy
• Human Resource Strategy
• Total Reward Philosophy
• Total Reward Strategy
• Reward History
• Current Reward

Perception

We also need insight into how employees view the different aspects of reward, which we can gain through:

• Interviews with the Senior Management Team
• Focus groups with representative groups of staff
• Reward sort diagnostic
• Engaged Performance® Diagnostic

Note that these may be formal documents, or the kind of informal organisational knowledge that comes with longer service and experience.

Practice

Once we understand our policies, and how our employees view Reward, we can begin to take Action.

Communications

Finally, we implement and communicate any changes.

• Communications

Guidance

Understanding your current HR and total reward policies will help you gain insight into how your employees perceive total reward operating within your organisation. Analysing actual total reward practice, will help you gain the organisational understanding necessary to begin to consider what to change and how to change it. This website will assist you in working through Phases I, II, and III, and the Communication element of this diagram.

Your organisation is unique, which is why copying a good idea from another organisation - even one in the same area - may not work. We believe that working through this process will show you what needs to be done and how it can be achieved.

You cannot do this alone, and nor should you expect to. You will need assistance at various stages of the process, and this assistance will come from all over the organisation:

• from senior management, who need to 'buy-in' to any change at an early stage;
• from colleagues in HR, who can provide you with specialist knowledge on recruitment, training and development, and legal issues such as equal pay, diversity and employment contracts;
• from line managers, who will be responsible for the implementation and day-to-day management of change;
• from the employees themselves, after all, the aim of a total reward policy is to increase the engagement and performance levels of employees, thereby improving organisational performance;
• you may also need to obtain the assistance of outside advisors, particularly if your department is already operating at the limit of its capacity, or if there are areas of knowledge in which the organisation is weak. Organisations often find that the process of asking employees for their views on reward, motivation and work actually increase levels of engagement.