Total Rewards and Workforce Strategies Course Outline

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After multiple years of emotional upheaval—the pandemic, a war in Europe, inflation and political/social unrest—employees have become more focused on securing their financial, physical and emotional health and well-being.

Many employees now feel empowered to seek bigger rewards and more flexibility with their current (and potential) employers. But it's more than compensation they're seeking. They want mobility options, hybrid work arrangements and benefit programs that fit their objectives. Join us to learn how to balance both employee priorities and business objectives in total rewards. We'll discuss:

  • The basics of a total rewards strategy and how employees are challenging their employers to up the game in compensation, benefit, well-being, development and other programs to address their specific needs
  • The value of flexibility and purpose in a total rewards strategy that supports talent acquisition and retention
  • The role of environmental, social and governance (ESG) programs and how a total rewards strategy can support your organization's adoption of fair and sustainable practices
  • How non compensation rewards programs can help organizations retain talent through periods of economic uncertainty
  • Which workforce strategies are working to attract the right team players to your business.

Wherever your total rewards strategy stands today, you'll take away actionable insights for crafting a relevant and impactful total rewards strategy that aligns to both your employees' expectations, your organization's enterprise strategy and the future of work.

Day 1

  1. The Future of Work—After the Pandemic
  2. Total Rewards and Your Workforce Value Proposition
  3. Total Rewards Strategies and Components
    1. What is "total rewards"?
    2. Total rewards program components
    3. Personal rewards program exercise
    4. Why have a total rewards strategy?
  4. Business Strategy Concepts
    1. Building blocks
    2. Building block #1: Business life cycle
    3. Building block #2: Competition
    4. Building block #3: Culture
    5. Building block #4: External forces
    6. Toolkit: Questions to ask top management
  5. Workforce Strategy Concepts
    1. Workforce composition
    2. Jobs vs. skills
    3. Workplace—On-site/hybrid/remote
    4. Measurements of success
  6. Key Stakeholders
    1. Identifying stakeholders
    2. Stakeholder demands
  7. Defining Your Business Total Rewards Strategy
    1. Total reward strategy attributes
    2. Transactional vs. relational rewards
    3. Drivers of total rewards
    4. Valuing and comparing total rewards
    5. Developing a total rewards "portfolio"
    6. Total rewards tools
  8. Connecting the Total Rewards Strategy to Your Business Needs
    1. What are some business events that may impact your workforce
    2. What are the key business issues?
    3. How will the event(s) change the way the business operates?4. 
    4. What is the impact on the workforce?
      1. Composition
      2. Skills and capabilities
      3. Organization design
    5. What behavioral changes are needed?
    6. How might the total rewards strategy adapt to these business issues?
  9. Aligning Total Rewards Strategies to Broader Business/Talent Strategies
    1. Defining a business strategy
    2. Defining a talent strategy
    3. Integrating business, talent and the total rewards strategy

Day 2

  1. Branding Your Company with a Workforce Value Proposition
    1. Brands that work 
    2. “Branding” your business with a total rewards strategy
    3. How to implement your brand proposition
  2. Workforce Strategy Analytics/Data
    1. Critical workforce segments
    2. Demographic data/generational personas
    3. Linkage of workforce analysis to the total rewards strategy
  3. Developing a Total Rewards Strategy 
    1. Five-phase approach methodology
    2. Guiding principles
    3. Financial impact analysis
    4. Communications/change management
    5. Implementation “dangers”
  4. Future Trends in Total Rewards Strategies 
    1. The changing work order
    2. Total rewards, then and now
    3. The new employment contract and implications for rewards
    4. Market practices and trends
    5. Global rewards
      1. Global total rewards strategy
      2. Global rewards guiding principles

Case Study
Throughout the course, attendees participate in multiple exercises on the various topics that are rolled up into the final case study. The final case study outlines a fictitious company that has expanded into three businesses whose rewards practices are not aligned with the current business strategies of the overall business. Working in small groups, participants will build and recommend a new total rewards strategy that will meet the objectives outlined by the parent company and allow for flexibility to make each unique business successful. The total rewards strategy will require addressing all components of the worker value proposition, including compensation, benefits, work-life, and development/learning programs. All recommended total rewards strategies should look to enhance overall worker satisfaction by delivering a strategy solution using a “human-centered design” approach.


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