Publications

This IES report presents the findings of a review of the Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Review Body (DDRB) pay comparability methodology, conducted on behalf of the Office of Manpower Economics.

This IES paper for the Local Government Association is based on a brief literature review and is aimed at councils considering their approach to reward. The paper aims to help councils frame their reward strategy in the context of their organisational challenges.

Duncan Brown (IES) and Steve Munday (KPMG) ask why job evaluation still thrives and whether the opposing positions on job evaluation and pay management can be reconciled.

This compilation of bite-sized essays by leading thinkers confronts and expands on existing thinking, plans, and practices in HR and employment. It will help HR leaders think about, plan for, and deal with these ‘known and unknown unknowns’, challenging modern fads, reinforcing some long-standing truths and offering original and practical insights.

Evidence-Based Reward Management presents an analysis of the current failure of organisations to assess the effectiveness of pay and reward practices. It considers the reasons for this and outlines the damaging consequences. By examining developments in human capital information and measurement it looks at how HR can construct effective reward for improved performance, both for the individual and organisation. The authors present the tools and techniques that can be applied to practice evidence-based reward management, including a four-step model which sets strategic goals, reviews current policies, looks at how to pilot and make changes and improvements and explains how to monitor and adapt on an ongoing basis.

The aims of the research were: to see whether organisations were responding to economic problems differently than in the past; and if so, to consider why they were adopting these strategies; to assess how well the strategies had worked; and to consider whether such initiatives might have longer term beneficial impacts, not just on the bottom line but on factors such as employee engagement and workforce flexibility.

The HR team at IES reflected on some of the priorities for organisations as they started to emerge from recession and looked to the future. In these short articles topic leaders provided insights that had emerged from recent consultancy and research practice across the public and private sector.

Even before the controversy over MPs' expenses broke, five Anglican bishops had attacked the government for lacking moral direction and increasing the gap between rich and poor. This opinion paper argues that HR functions need to be highly mindful of the shift in public sentiment towards internal equity and fairness.

This article profiles an IES research project on reward effectiveness and the early findings. Despite the contemporary focus on the effectiveness of certain reward practices and the spread of evidence-based management techniques and balanced scorecards, it describes how very few UK organisations seem to systematically evaluate and produce robust evidence to justify their reward practices. It considers the reasons for this, including the complexity of rewards and their assessment criteria.

This paper explores the pros and cons of the different types of group reward schemes: starting with individually-focused incentives and team-based rewards, which focus effort on clearly defined goals, and culminating in company-wide profit-sharing and share schemes that reward the combined contribution and cooperation of everyone across the business. It includes real-life examples and key messages which guide readers towards good practice in their operation of group reward systems.