“I DO THINK THAT ORGANIZATIONS WILL NEED TO CONTINUE TO
HAVE A STABLE CORE WORKFORCE, BUT HR IS REALLY GOING
TO NEED TO BE READY AND ABLE TO HANDLE THESE NEW
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS IN GREATER NUMBERS.”
– ALLISON COWAN
BEYOND DIRECT COMPENSATION
“Non-monetary rewards are a really critical piece of the total
rewards package,” said Cowan. “Many organizations invest consid-erable
time, energy and financial resources into their programs.”
The most popular rewards or perks, says Dubé, include compa-ny
cell phones, paid association dues and employee discounts for
products and services, as well as referral bonuses. For more senior
executives, he says business club dues and tax counseling are pop-ular
perks.
“Our national benchmarking survey showed that things like
pharmacy benefits, dental and vision benefits, retirement planning
and financial education are all still very important to employees
across Canada,” said Lemenager.
Organizational health and wellness programs remain popular,
and in many cases are becoming more sophisticated, addressing
a broader definition of wellness that includes the physical, men-tal
and financial.
“Sometimes organizations include health risk assessments and
take an educational approach,” said Cowan, “or they might offer fit-ness
reimbursements or an on-site fitness centre.”
FLEXIBLE WORK
Letting employees determine when and how they work is becom-ing
more and more common, too.
“From our Canadian national benchmarking survey, we’re see-ing
that a number of employers are moving to flexible work hours,”
said Lemenager. “More than half of employers – 56 per cent of
them – engage in some sort of flexible work arrangements. In ad-dition
to flexible hours, flexible days are becoming important to
workers, with 32 per cent of employers offering that as an option.”
Telecommuting and compressed workweeks are also in the mix,
and nearly a quarter of respondents (22 per cent) offer unpaid sab-baticals
as an option, as well.
RECOGNITION
A 2017 Benefits Canada survey found most organizations are al-ready
engaging in another popular reward: 81 per cent of Canadian
employers offer company-wide recognition programs.
“It may seem obvious, but recognition is one of the most impor-tant
non-monetary rewards,” said Cowan. “It might take the form
of peer-to-peer recognition, or a manager-to-employee program.
Or it might be something more informal, like a handwritten note
about a job well done or a word of congratulations in a crowd.”
The critical piece to understand, says Cowan, is that recogni-tion
is personal.
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“It can be challenging to find a recognition program that suits
everyone’s needs and all employees’ desires but there are some
commonalities,” she said. “Recognition should be timely, sincere
and given in the right environment.”
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH
Opportunity for career development is high on many employees’
wish lists.
“In previous years, we saw learning and development was top of
mind for employees, but it’s not anymore,” said Reyes. “According
to Mercer’s 2017 Global Talent Trends Report, right now, em-ployees
are thinking about pay, their careers and opportunities
for promotion.”
For an employer, offering this kind of support can take
many forms.
“An organization can support professional development, pro-viding
networking opportunities where employees can be either
a mentor or the mentee,” said Cowan. “An employer can also offer
increasing responsibilities or the chance to step into a new project.”
HOLISTIC, STRATEGIC AND PERSONALIZED
With everything from mentor opportunities to flexible hours as
possibilities, it’s an HR professional’s role to assess what best suits
an organization and its workers.
“It has to be strategic,” said Reyes. “Everything, all put together,
needs to serve a purpose and be aligned with the employee val-ue
proposition. Choices need to reflect values, belief and culture.”
Finding ways to personalize offerings for each employee is im-portant,
too, says Reyes.
“Employees want organizations that are going to invest in them,
and the idea of investment could mean very different things de-pending
on who you talk to,” he said. “Whether it’s pay, benefits,
health and wellbeing or something else, the days of having one em-ployee
value proposition to meet the needs of the entire workforce
are long gone.”
There’s also a need to look beyond the current employee
population and consider talent mix to chart a course in the
right direction.
“An organization needs to think about what they’re trying to
achieve, what their industry looks like and how well they’re com-peting
for the talent that will help them reach their next steps,”
said Lemenager.
“You need to know where you’re going,” said Cowan. “And you
need to have a total rewards strategy that is agile and able to match
that trajectory.” n
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ FEBRUARY 2018 ❚ 21
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