In January, we ran our regular year-start Pay Trends Roadshow. We held five events and spoke to senior HR professionals from a wide variety of different organisations and industries about our predictions for pay this year and the key issues facing those responsible for reward.  In this Pay Trends 2017 blog trilogy, we are sharing the highlights of the Roadshow with you. If you missed either of the first two instalments, you can catch up here: part one, part two.  In this week’s final instalment, we share the five attributes of a high performing employer and how your organisation can create competitive advantage through your employee deal.

Five attributes of a high performing employer

Creating a high-performance environment through engagement continues to be a big focus for HR in 2017. According to research by Glassdoor.com, ‘The best places to work’ employers outperformed the market by, on average, 122%. The employers at the bottom of ‘The best places to work’ league performed, on average 29.5% below the market - it really does make a difference. Reward is a hygiene factor when it comes to engagement; you must get it right before you start, but on its own, it doesn’t drive engagement. We have found organisations that are successful in this area demonstrate the following five attributes:

• Clear leadership: Creating a vision that employees can understand and communicating that vision clearly and often; providing direction, confident communication and decision making during uncertainty (such as Brexit).
• Fairness: Creating an intrinsic sense of fairness within the organisation that everybody has the same opportunity regardless of their gender, race or background; being transparent around pay and levelling, performance management and career progression.
• Articulating the noble purpose: As well as having a clear vision for the organisation, you need a clearly defined purpose. Why does the business exist and what difference does it make to the world? Linking that purpose to individual roles is a real skill, but we find doing it transforms employee engagement.
• Employee voice: Regardless of level or role in the organisation, it is important that every employee feels they are listened to; whether that is through brown bag lunches with the CEO or Exec Team, or team briefings with effective two-way communication channels.
• Autonomy: It isn’t always possible to provide high levels of autonomy in every role, but having some opportunity to decide how you carry out your job is proven to increase engagement.

But how do you take these five attributes and turn them into a valuable and competitive EVP?  You need to individualise your employee deal.

Articulate your purpose: This is core to your proposition, you need to articulate it and represent it through your employee deal.

Re-calibrate your employee deal: Revisit each area: base pay, variable pay, benefits & working environment and recognition.  Do they reflect your purpose? How is each one geared?  Is it achieving what you set out to do and have those needs changed?  Does this deal work for all employee groups including your gig economy ie consultants, contractors, interims, zero hours, apprentices and employees?

Brand it: Work with your marketing team or external resource to create a brand/identity for your employee deal that reflects your noble purpose and culture.

Start to finish: Make sure your brand touches employees before they start, as they join, throughout their career and when they leave. Starting to deliver cultural and brand messages from your job adverts, recruitment conversations and materials, right through to leaving and keeping in touch with your alumni will maximise the impact, and reputation of your employee brand and deal. 

Download our full Pay Trends 2017 paper here and for support or help with your 2017 reward agenda, call us on: 020 3457 0894.

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