Compensation and Reward Management (Online)

Excel at one of the most critical responsibilities in managing human resources: compensation and reward planning. Expand and refine your knowledge of key compensation techniques, such as incentive pay and pay based on skill level, seniority and merit. Create a competitive advantage through compensation. And learn to link compensation plans to recruiting, employee selection, performance reviews, and employee training and development.

In this course, you’ll also learn strategies for managing core compensation, choosing employee benefits, analyzing cost leadership vs. differentiation, monitoring capital and operating requirements, adhering to compensation-related legislation, and maintaining labor/management relations. Whether you are instituting new pay plans or looking for a fresh perspective on compensation policies, this course helps you analyze and implement programs both employers and employees value.

What You’ll Learn

Compensation as a Strategic Human Resource Tool

• Ways to leverage compensation as a competitive advantage
• The difference between making strategic vs. tactical decisions
• How to analyze pay programs and their value
• The goals you should strive for as a compensation professional

Contextual Influences on Compensation

• Compensation as it relates to the social good
• Employment laws that influence compensation tactics
• How labor unions and market forces impact compensation practices

Employee Compensation Models

• Traditional bases for pay: seniority and longevity pay
• How to make and evaluate performance appraisals
• Ways to strengthen the link between pay and performance
• Possible limitations of merit pay programs
• The link between various compensation models and competitive strategy

Incentive Pay

• How to contrast incentive pay with traditional pay
• Individual incentives
• Group and company wide incentives
• How to design an incentive pay program

Person-Focused Pay

• How to define competency-based pay, pay-for-knowledge and skills-based pay
• Reasons for and variety of pay-for-knowledge pay programs
• Person-focused pay vs. job-based pay
• Advantages and disadvantages of pay-for-knowledge pay programs

Creating Internal Consistency in Compensation Plans

• Job analysis and evaluation techniques
• Ways to achieve internal consistency
• How internal consistency impacts competitive strategy

Market-Competitive Compensation Systems

• The basic building blocks of a market-competitive pay system
• Pay structure considerations and variations
• Techniques for establishing compensation policies and strategic mandates
• Ways to integrate internal job structures with external market pay rates

Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans and Health Insurance Programs

• Things to consider when selecting health insurance programs
• How to evaluate and implement employee retirement plans
• Defined benefit and contribution plans
• Hybrid plans: cash balance plans
• Consumer-driven health care planning

Legally Required and Discretionary Benefits

• Ways to design and plan a benefits program
• Components of legally required and discretionary benefits
• The implications of discretionary benefits and legally required benefits for strategic compensation

Curriculum

8 Week Course

Intro & Strategic Compensation

• Intrinsic Compensation
• Salary.com In Class Assignment
• Salary.com Debrief
• Strategic Compensation Part I
• Strategic Compensation Part II
• National Culture
• Organizational Culture & Product Life Cycle

Compensation Related Legislations

• Contextual Influences: Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• Contextual Influences: Pay Discrimination
• Contextual Influences: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Wage Laws
• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) In Class Assignment
• OFCCP Debrief

Major Compensation Systems

• Seniority Pay
• Merit Pay
• Merit Pay In Class Assignment
• Merit Pay Debrief
• Incentive Pay
• Person-Focused Pay

Designing Compensation Systems I

• Internal Consistency: Job Analysis
• Job Analysis In Class Assignment
• Job Analysis Debrief

Designing Compensation Systems II

• Internal Consistency: Job Evaluation
• Job Evaluation In Class Assignment
• Job Evaluation Debrief

Designing Compensation Systems III

• External Competitiveness
• Constructing Pay Structure
• Designing Systems
• Pay Level Mix In Class Assignment
• Pay Level Mix Debrief

Legally Required and Discretionary Benefits

• Protection Programs: Income & Health
• Paid Time Off & Other Services
• Social Security Administration (SSA): Unemployment & Retirement
• SSA: Medicare & Workers Comp
• Retirement Benefits In Class Assignment
• Retirement Benefits Debrief

Executive & International Compensation

• Executive Compensation
• International Compensation