Strategic thinking on pay remains limited

REWARD STRATEGY

Strategic thinking on pay remains limited

Less than a fifth of organisations have a written reward strategy, according to a survey by IRS.

Key aims of the strategies cited by respondents include:

  • to link pay to performance
  • to aid recruitment and retention
  • to link reward to the business objectives.

As would be expected, respondents form the largest organisations (those employing more than 1,000 people) were more likely to have a written strategy. Among the smallest companies, just one in ten (11%) had formalised the strategy into a written document, compared to just under a quarter (22%) of the largest.

Equal pay

A fifth of respondent organisations have either conducted an equal pay audit or were in the process of doing so. But a quarter of organisations had no plans to do anything in this area, and a further quarter said they wanted "to keep this informal".

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Title: "Building a reward strategy", IRS Employment Review 823/Pay and Benefits, 13 May 2005.

Sample size: The fourth annual HR prospects survey by IRS drew responses from 487 organisations, together employing 2.7 million people. As many as 49% of respondents were from the private services sector, while manufacturers accounted for 29% of participants and the public sector 22%.

Availability: To purchase this report contact the subscriptions department at IRS in London, tel: 020 8686 9141 or visit www.irsemploymentreview.com