COMPENSATION & BENEFITS     EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION

Singapore - There are still certain gaps in the way HR practitioners communicate their organisation's compensation programme to managers and this lack of transparency could derail employee engagement.

Speaking at the Human Resources Insights event yesterday, Samir Bedi, performance consulting solutions leader for global human resources firm Hewitt Associates Singapore, says it's important for HR to "close these gaps as soon as possible". It's critical for HR to educate managers about the reward programmes the company has or is planning to put in place, he adds. This is the key to keeping top talent and solid contributors in the organisation engaged, Bedi explains, because managers might be conveying the wrong message to key performers. For example, managers should be saying "You would be recognised and rewarded in pace with your impact and contribution" and not "We want to give you more money but HR won't allow".

Research from Hewitt's survey on employee pay communication showed that currently what companies are communicating to employees on pay practices is far from what is desired by employees. Seven of ten employees polled want to know the salary range or band of their grade. However, only 22% of organisations surveyed are open about communicating this info. Furthermore, 57% have said they want to know the benchmark their company is positioned against the market or its competitors. Yet only 27% of their organisations polled are willing to share the percentile.

But even if companies are willing to become more transparent when communicating reward programmes to employees, HR practitioners must first understand the reasons for doing so, says Bedi. "If we are doing this, why are we doing this? What is the culture of our organisation?" he says. "What are the capabilities of our managers in our organisation? Can we share our salary ranges and some of the practices to become more transparent in our objectives?"

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