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How Transparent are You About Your Total Compensation?

In the last few years, employers have begun to see the value of reporting total compensation to their workforce. For many, this is a strong retention tool that helps employees understand how much the company is vested in their success. Total compensation statements can give employees a clearer picture of how much the company has spent on health and wellness benefits, retirement savings, educational costs, and all the other perks of employment in addition to regular salaries. This effort is an important part of corporate communications that gives employees a greater insight into their contribution to the success of the company.

In the last few years, employers have begun to see the value of reporting total compensation to their workforce. For many, this is a strong retention tool that helps employees understand how much the company is vested in their success. Total compensation statements can give employees a clearer picture of how much the company has spent on health and wellness benefits, retirement savings, educational costs, and all the other perks of employment in addition to regular salaries. This effort is an important part of corporate communications that gives employees a greater insight into their contribution to the success of the company.

The Trends in Open Total Compensation Communication 

While businesses are not required by law to provide employees with total compensation reports, workforce surveys indicate that employers benefit from being transparent about their contributions. Not having a policy to communicate total compensation can work against a business in some unexpected ways.

Jellyvision, a Chicago interactive marketing agency, released the results of their survey of benefits-eligible employees. In this survey, it was revealed that:

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  • 93 percent of employees indicated that they responded well to live benefit presentations, but less than 21 percent of companies use them to communicate total compensation.
  • A little more than 62 percent of employees use email alone to explain compensation and benefit information, but employees prefer in-person communication.
  • One-third of all employees know when they are allowed to make important benefit changes but less than 20 percent know if their employer covers them for catastrophic illness care.

It’s shocking to think that a good number of employers forget how critical it is to communicate the complete picture of compensation and benefits to their workforce. The best results from sharing total compensation come when a company focuses on helping employees understand how their individual needs are met.

The truth is that when an employer effectively shares this information with employees, the average employee will respond positively in kind. Having access to above average compensation options makes for a happier, healthier, and more productive work environment for all. How can an employer be more transparent about total compensation? 

There are several ways that any employer can begin to open the doors of communicating total compensation for the benefit of the workplace. Here are some suggestions for making total compensation more transparent.

  • Provide on-demand access to total compensation statements.
    Instead of a once-per-year total compensation statement being mailed out, why not make this data accessible via a secure cloud-based product? Employees can be provided with more frequent total compensation reports.
  • Make total compensation more personal.
    By giving employees direct access to benefit information and taking the time to meet one-on-one with each employee during enrollment and onboarding periods, total compensation becomes something they relate to personally.
  • Go social with total compensation data.
    Your social media efforts as a company can and should include educating employees about the unique perks they get as part of your corporate team. Your culture is built around the salary and benefits you can offer to your workforce, so why not let it shine? Use your company social network platform to share important benefit and payroll updates and improvements on a regular basis. Gather feedback directly from your employees here too.

Use the above tips to improve transparency in total compensation communication and your company will reap the rewards.

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Tess C. Taylor
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Debra Lemieux
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Debra Lemieux

Thank you for providing me this report.

Augustus Allen
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Augustus Allen

Need San Francisco Bay Ares Compensation information for Sales Order Processor.

Augustus Allen
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Augustus Allen

Need compensation information for Sales Order Processor

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