Topic 2 - Strategic Total Rewards Flashcards
What is a Total Rewards Strategy?
It is the combination of pay forms, plans, policies, and practices that enable long-term organizational performance.
What are the two main components of Total Rewards Strategy?
Content Strategies (what rewards are offered) and Process Strategies (how rewards are designed and implemented).
What does a Total Rewards Content Strategy specify?
The type, level, and combination of rewards offered to employees.
What are the three types of rewards covered in the Reward Forms Strategy?
Salary (cash), Benefits (e.g., retirement contributions), and Intangibles (e.g., safe working conditions).
What is the difference between Reward Absolute Level and Relative Level?
Absolute Level: A fixed reward amount (e.g., $50,000/year).
Relative Level: Rewards compared to the market (Leading, Matching, or Lagging).
What is a Hybrid Approach in Reward Levels
A strategy where an organization leads, matches, or lags the market in different reward categories (e.g., leading in benefits, lagging in hourly wages).
What are the key principles of a Reward Design Strategy?
Transparency, reliance on objective data, and broad input from employees at all levels.
Why is a Communication Strategy important in Total Rewards?
It ensures employees understand rewards, and it provides feedback to improve the reward system before employee dissatisfaction arises.
What is a Role and Control Strategy?
It defines who is responsible for designing, implementing, and managing the reward system (Centralized vs. Decentralized).
What are the three primary challenges of a Global Rewards Strategy?
Centralization, Reward Equivalence, and National Culture.
What is the difference between Centralized and Decentralized Global Rewards Strategies?
Centralized: Uniform policies across locations.
Decentralized: Policies tailored to specific countries or locations.
What factors must organizations consider for Reward Equivalence in global strategies?
Tax laws, cost of living, exchange rates, and perceived equity between expatriates and host country employees.
How does National Culture impact reward systems?
Individualistic cultures may value personal recognition, while collectivistic cultures may prefer group-based rewards.
What is the purpose of the Reward Level Strategy?
To define the amount of each reward offered, either absolutely or relative to the market.
What does the phrase “it’s not what you pay, it’s how you pay it” relate to?
The Total Rewards Process Strategy, focusing on how rewards are designed and implemented.
Why is employee feedback critical in a Communication Strategy?
It helps identify issues with the reward system before they lead to employee turnover.
What is the goal of Total Rewards Process Strategies?
To influence employee behavior and reactions by focusing on how rewards are designed and implemented.
What is the role of Broad Input in designing a rewards system?
It involves employees from all levels to ensure fairness and transparency.
True or False: Total Rewards Strategies are identical across all organizations.
False. They vary in content and process depending on the organization.
True or False: Reward Form Strategies are limited to salaries and legal benefits only.
False. They include salaries, benefits, and intangibles such as safe working conditions.
True or False: Leading the market means offering rewards below the industry average.
False. Leading the market means offering rewards above the industry average.
True or False: A Hybrid Approach allows an organization to lead, lag, or match the market depending on the reward type.
True. Hybrid strategies customize rewards to fit business needs.
True or False: The Reward Design Strategy should rely on subjective data and limited employee input.
False. It should rely on objective data, transparency, and broad input.
True or False: A strong Communication Strategy ensures employees’ reality aligns with the organization’s intended message about rewards.
True. Communication shapes employees’ perceptions of the reward system.
True or False: Decentralized Role and Control Strategies allow supervisors to have full discretion over rewards without guidelines.
False. Even decentralized strategies typically include some structure and limits.
True or False: In a Global Rewards Strategy, Reward Equivalence focuses solely on monetary compensation.
False. It also considers equity, tax laws, and perceived value of rewards.
True or False: National Culture has no significant impact on the effectiveness of a rewards system
False. Cultural differences influence what employees find rewarding.
True or False: Communication in Total Rewards Strategies should flow both to employees and back to the organization.
True. Feedback from employees helps improve the reward system.
An organization’s total rewards strategy is composed of:
A. Pay forms
B. Plans
C. Policies
D. All of the above
D. All of the above
Total Rewards Strategy is the combination of pay forms, plans, policies, and practices that enable long-term organizational performance.
What is the total rewards content strategy?
A. Market-driven levels of rewards offered
B. A negotiation between management and the employee for total rewards offered
C. Type, Level, and Combination of rewards offered
D. Experienced-based rewards offered
C. Type, Level, and Combination of rewards offered
Reward form combination strategy refers to:
A. Rewards (cash, benefits, etc.) and how they relate to each other
B. Rewards (cash, benefits, etc.) and how they differ from each other
C. Rewards (cash, benefits, etc.) and how they compete with departments within the organization
D. Rewards (cash, benefits, etc.) and how they compete in the market
A. Rewards (cash, benefits, etc.) and how they relate to each other
Absolute level refers to:
A. Competitive salary
B. Experience salary
C. Base salary
D. Fair salary
C. Base salary
What is a communication strategy?
A. The plan for sharing coworkers’ salary data
B. The plan for communicating with employees about competitive salaries
C. The plan for sharing the compensation strategy with employees and receiving their ongoing feedback
D. The plan for communicating with other HR professionals to understand market data
C. The plan for sharing the compensation strategy with employees and receiving their ongoing feedback
Total Rewards Strategy
The combination of pay forms, plans, policies, and practices that enable long-term organizational performance
Total Rewards Content Strategy
Specifies the type, level, and combination of rewards offered to employees
Reward Form Combinations Strategy
The reward forms offered (e.g., cash, benefits, etc.) and the way in which they relate to each other.
Reward Level Strategy
‘How much is being offered?’ Answering this question is the goal of the Reward Level Strategy. In formulating Reward Level Strategy, organizations must define what Level of each reward will be offered.
Level
Organizations must define what level of each reward will be offered. The level of reward offered can be understood in two ways. First, the Absolute Level of a reward can be defined. Paying an employee $50,000 salary per year, for example, is a defining absolute level. Alternatively, organizations can define their strategy relative to the market.
Absolute Level
The reward can be defined. Paying an employee $50,000 salary per year, for example, is a defining absolute level.
Relative Level
States the rewards strategy as greater than, equal to, or less than some labor market reference point
Leading the market
A Rewards Strategy in which the firm is trying to provide more of a given reward than its competitors for those employees.
Lagging the market
When an organization provides a lesser amount of the reward than its competitors.
Matching the market
A Rewards Strategy of providing an amount of the reward equal to the market average.
Hybrid Approach
Leading the market on certain forms of rewards while matching or lagging the market on other forms.
Total Rewards Process Strategies
The decisions, policies, and practices that define how Total Rewards are designed and implemented.
Design Strategy
The process used to design the rewards system.
Transparency
Clear information on the who, what, when, and why of the reward system is available to all.
Data
Facts and statistics collected for reasoning or calculation.
Broad Input
Help, advice and thoughts from employees of all levels of the organization.
Communication Strategy
A plan for creating, sharing, and receiving information relating to its Total Rewards Systems.
Role and Control Strategy
The policies and practices that allocate design, implementation, and discretionary control of the rewards system.
Centralized approach
The Human Resources department makes all decisions relating to pay strategy, as well as specific reward decisions.
Decentralized approach
Decisions can be made by the employee’s immediate supervisor or manager.
Domestic Rewards Strategy
Organizations that operate in a single country can define a single Domestic Rewards Strategy.