Compensation & Benefits
Overview
Pay is one of the largest costs in any organisation and one of the strongest signals of what it values. This compensation and benefits course explains how to build fair, competitive and affordable reward systems that attract and keep capable people. Poorly designed pay creates inequity, disputes and turnover, while a clear reward strategy supports performance, motivation and sound financial control.
Participants learn to link reward to strategy, use job evaluation and salary surveys, design grade structures and pay ranges, manage allowances and benefits, and connect pay to performance. The programme suits HR and reward specialists, payroll managers and finance staff in companies and government bodies. Participants leave with practical tools, a framework for reviewing their own pay policy and a personal action plan.
Who should attend
HR managers and specialists, compensation and benefits officers, payroll managers, finance and budget staff, and HR teams in ministries, municipalities and public bodies reviewing pay scales.
Training methodology
Interactive presentations, practical exercises, case studies, group discussions, role-plays where relevant, and a personal action plan that participants apply in their own work.
Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Align the reward strategy with organisational goals and budgets
- Use job evaluation and market data to price jobs
- Design grade structures, pay ranges and salary progression
- Manage allowances and benefits fairly and cost-effectively
- Link pay decisions to performance with clear rules
Course outline
Day 1Reward Strategy Foundations
- Purpose and components of total reward
- Linking reward to organisational strategy
- Internal equity versus external competitiveness
- Legal and policy considerations in pay
- Reward challenges in the public sector
- Review of current reward practices
Day 2Job Evaluation and Pricing
- Purpose and methods of job evaluation
- Point-factor schemes and job grading
- Using salary surveys and market data
- Choosing comparator markets and pay position
- Common errors in pricing jobs
- Exercise: pricing a set of benchmark jobs
Day 3Grades and Pay Structures
- Designing grade structures and job families
- Setting pay ranges, midpoints and spreads
- Salary progression and step increments
- Handling employees outside their pay range
- Costing structure changes and transition plans
- Workshop: building a simple grade structure
Day 4Allowances and Benefits
- Common allowances and their policy rules
- Designing a balanced benefits package
- Health, leave, end-of-service and retirement benefits
- Flexible benefits and non-financial rewards
- Controlling benefit costs over time
- Exercise: reviewing an allowance policy
Day 5Pay and Performance
- Linking pay increases to performance results
- Bonus and incentive schemes that work
- Communicating reward decisions to employees
- Measuring the effectiveness of reward policy
- Governance, approvals and pay review cycles
- Personal action plan for reward improvement
