May 28, 2010

Coming in June: Strategic Compensation with Sharon Koss

By Staff Writer

How do you push for better compensation planning at your company? How can you analyze your company’s current compensation philosophy, improve it and then communicate those improvements to upper management?

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Strategic compensation planning questions like these are high level ones that are best answered by a seasoned compensation professional. That’s why Compensation Today is proud to host a new column this June by compensation expert, Sharon Koss, SPHR, CCP, where you’ll get high level answers to the most complex strategic compensation planning questions.

Ms. Koss is the founder and president of Koss Management Consulting. She has over 30 years of experience in human resource management and is also the author of Solving the Compensation Puzzle: How to Link Performance with Pay, published by the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM).

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Up until this point, Compensation Today has sought to bring you in-depth articles on compensation plans that include the basics of compensation planning and related HR topics. Now, we’ll go beyond the basics and help you improve your strategic approaches to compensation planning and offer you better input on how to communicate that knowledge to your peers.

When asked why she’s offering this new column, Ms. Koss says, “Once I’ve helped a client work through a complex compensation challenge, the information I’ve given them is valuable, but limited to a small audience. I want to share that knowledge and use it to help other HR professionals do their jobs better.”

Ms. Koss’s column, which will run on the first and third Friday of every month starting in June, will draw upon her experiences as a compensation consultant, as well as address readers’ questions. She hopes to include as many HR tools as she can in her posts so readers can grow professionally and make a bigger positive impact at their company. This will include forms, quizzes, and other downloads.

Ms. Koss says, “HR is being asked to practice more strategic approaches to compensation planning because companies can’t afford it otherwise.” She went on to say that only large size companies with several hundred employees or more can afford to have a compensation professional on staff.

When reflecting on her many years of experience in strategic compensation planning and the nitty gritty of HR, Ms. Koss said off-hand, “If you put me on a national HR Jeopardy show, I could win. I’m not being immodest; I’m just telling you the truth.” HR Jeopardy? Maybe one day. For now, we’ll enjoy an exclusive, colorful, informative, and challenging bi-monthly post from Ms. Koss on strategic compensation planning.

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