INTERNATIONAL REWARD
New guide on international reward and recognition
New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development finds that a “global pay-for-contribution” approach is emerging among international companies as a result of increased globalisation, intense cost and quality competition and a greater focus on performance.
There is also a desire to standardise and simplify reward policies across multinational borders although quite often there are significant barriers to this goal.
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The report, International Reward and Recognition, written for the CIPD by Stephen J Perkins of the London Metropolitan University, takes an academic look at how employers are responding to increasing global pressures and offers guidance for practitioners wishing to develop business-focused international compensation and benefits strategies.
Questions the report answers
Designed for human resource professionals operating internationally, the CIPD says that the report is intended to help answer questions such as:
1. Structure and management
How are multinational managements structuring and managing organisations?
How will managing reward be affected by the organisational model being followed?
Is physical mobilisation of people essential for the mobilisation of knowledge across multinationals?
How can performance management be co-ordinated across geographical areas?
2. Convergence
Is reward management across different workforce segments and locations converging or diverging?
Can reward management strategies be transplanted without modification when developing the organisation’s operations internationally?
3. Interpretation
How do reward practitioners interpret the variety of influences on how they choose to set a strategic course?
What are the norms prescribed by academics for securing organisational effectiveness and do managers value these?
Are there differences in what people say and how managers prefer to manage?
Format of report
The report has six chapters drawing on evidence from previous research on the subject, survey responses from multinational HR specialists and other case study information.
Among the main chapters are:
International reward and recognition.
Defining employee reward.
Managing reward internationally.
Situating reward and recognition within multinational management practice.
Creating a strategy for international reward and recognition.
Objectives underpinning international reward strategy design.
Organisation structure drivers of transnational reward design.
Action pointers in international reward strategy design.
Managing international reward and recognition processes.
Managing reward in different regions.
Pay for performance standardisation across the multinational workforce.
Recommendations for action.
The future of international reward and recognition.
Communicating with high-performing international employees.
Strategic goals: Managerial choice considerations.
Implications for future practice
The report concludes with implications for future practice including the need to tackle underperformance which past practice may have ignored or overlooked and increasing effort to realise the potential for standardisation in pay systems across multinationals.
It also recommends investing in self-service IT-enabled reward management systems, better managerial education, a pragmatic approach to expatriate reward management and more reliance on ”insider” talent.
Want to know more?
Title: International Reward and Recognition, by Stephen J Perkins, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2006.
Methodology: Research began following ideas expressed at a CIPD International and Reward Forum in autumn 2004. It involved a mix-method approach with a survey carried out in the spring of 2005 and senior HR professionals interviewed in spring and summer 2005. The report builds on a previous report published in 1999 and some of the participants from that research were revisited.
Sample size: 63 survey responses and case study interviews with 16 organisations.
Availability: To purchase the 60-page report, visit the “International HR” section of the Chartered Institute’s site at www.cipd.co.uk.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people and has over 127,000 individual members. To find out more visit www.cipd.co.uk.