Publications

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.

This 'how-to' toolkit chronicles the key components of evidence-based reward management: conducting reward reviews; measuring the impact of reward programmes; evaluating that impact; and then developing, implementing and applying reward policies and practices on the basis of the evidence you have assembled.

This report presents the findings from a survey examining practice and opinions relating to the evaluation of reward effectiveness in UK organisations. It explores all the main aspects of reward effectiveness and the process of evaluation, shedding light on this relatively little understood area.

The paper describes how organisations pursue effectiveness in reward management. It goes on to distil the lessons learnt into a model of evidence-based reward management that has the potential to enable line and HR managers to make better reward decisions and inform confirmatory research.

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 paper examines how performance-related pay (PRP) has evolved in recent years. It uses real-life case studies to demonstrate how new techniques, closely linked to the organisation's unique characteristics and needs, can successfully act as a lever to improve individual performance and organisational effectiveness.

This paper reviews the factors influencing specialists' pay and evaluates pay determination techniques. It concludes that an analytical approach is necessary to provide both the transparency and objectivity required to defend an equal value claim, as well as provide staff with the reassurance that pay decisions are based on impartial criteria.

This paper examines how to handle reward systems through periods of business change and looks at what issues need to be tackled and how. Case studies from recently merged companies illustrate different approaches to handling reward strategy, pay and benefits.

A simple model of firms' decisions to pay workers performance related pay (PRP) is tested using company level data for 1,001 UK private sector businesses. From the basic sample statistics we observe that, on average, 26.5 per cent of workers are covered by PRP systems. Yet this hides the fact that only 50.5 per cent of businesses have any workers at all covered by PRP.

There is evidence that sales force compensation has changed very little over the past few years, even though the role of many sales professionals has done so. The majority of UK companies use a combination of salary and commission for their sales staff because they assume that incentives linked to performance outcomes will stimulate effort. However, over-reliance on variable pay, or a poorly designed incentive scheme can create problems, especially if based on transaction volume but not customer satisfaction.