Total Rewards Today vs Yesterday

Lots of employers are looking to intangible rewards in their quest to keep the workforce engaged and to retain high performers when budgets are tight and profits below expectations. Collective Brands in the US, for example, plans to provide much more focus on non-monetary forms of rewards and recognition. In tougher economic times, in general there will be a focus to provide recognition through non-monetary vehicles with most employers especially the mid-sized ones.

"We will keep monetary rewards for special occasions and focus on non-monetary as the norm" says Bernie Matherson of Excalibur Computer Sequencing.

Hard Times for HR

In the recent issue of Workforce magazine the lead article was about HR and the stressful times they have had over the past year. When you think about the issues you face in downsizing, salary freezes, restructuring, performance management you have to think of way to eliminate or reduce the fear employee have of HR. The article says HR has become the "Angel of Death" because of all the actions you have to carry out in your daily duties. There are ways to reduce this fear and I would like to offer some of them since I have had the same moniker place on me and my department over the years. Here are a couple of ideas:

• make sure you walk the floors daily
• interact with employees to minimize the fear by interacting with them
• hold skip level meetings to identify issues and stimulate business discussions
• don't hide behind senior management decisions
• take ownership in driving profitability and stimulate growth by getting employees input
• host management meetings with you as the moderator
• don't say "it was managements decision"
• help employees grow and participate

Think of out of the box ideas to get employees involved so they feel they have a part of the decisions. I know these things work and would think you would too. Email me your ideas on this very important subject. You should also read the article in the June 22nd edition of Workforce or at www.workforce.com.