Duncan Brown, director of reward services at the Institute of Employment Studies emphasised to employers the importance of ensuring they adopted a moral and fair approach to reward during the tough economic climate.
Addressing delegates attending the opening keynote session at Employee Benefits Live, held at the Business Design Centre in London today, Brown urged employers to take notice of society and politics, and eradicate unjust disparities in their reward strategy. A fair reward strategy, he said, would have a positive impact on long-term employee engagement.
Brown said it was essential for employers to establish whether there were inequities in the way they offer bonus payments to staff, while also conducting effective job evaluations for employees. It is important, said Brown, for employers to look at achieving equality with executive pay because it sends a positive message to the rest of the workforce.
Brown also said it was critical that employers conducted an equal pay review. “If you haven’t done [conducted a pay review] already, do it, otherwise it will create real trouble,” he said.
“Pay is a barrier to engagement. Only one third of employees believe that their pay is fair.”
In addition Brown said that variable pay was so embedded in the economy, allowing businesses to make significant savings on employment costs, that there would not be a departure from it. He pointed out that variable pay can be used for all types of employees, regardless of their job description and seniority within the business.
“It’s a variable cost that employers are grateful for”, he added.
Find out more about Employee Benefits Live
