With the UK economy going through one of its worst downturns for decades and little hope for a swift recovery, just what is the mood of those working in reward and what are their views regarding the future for this important part of the human resources profession?
To answer these and other questions, e-reward has conducted a major survey together with WorldatWork, a human resources association based in the United States, in order to examine in more detail the work experience and perceptions of the people with the most knowledge of existing practice and future prospects – reward professionals themselves.
This research collects facts and perceptions from a broad swath of current practitioners in order to paint a more cohesive picture about the career development for HR and total rewards professionals. We believe this survey data provides valuable information for today’s practitioners and the total rewards practitioner of tomorrow.
For its analysis, WorldatWork drew on more than 2,000 responses from individuals worldwide in more than 1,000 different organisations, whereas this e-reward research focuses on a subset of the overall results consisting solely of replies from those people working for organisations that employed staff in the UK. This included information from 186 reward professionals or individuals that were at least partially responsible for reward in their current or most recent role.
What follows is a full rundown of the results which includes a breakdown of replies to all the questions together with, where significant differences are in evidence, further analysis by factors such as gender, level of seniority and sector.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Overview
Statement from WorldatWork
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose of the survey
Terminology
Survey sample
SECTION 1: THE REWARD FUNCTION – WHO OWNS REWARD?
Extent of reward functions
The reward team
Changes in the reward function
SECTION 2: WHO IS THE TOTAL REWARDS PROFESSIONAL?
Gender and age
Educational attainment
Organisational profile
SECTION 3: JOB RESPONSIBILITY AND REWARD ROLES
Job responsibility
Job titles
Reward roles and responsibilities
SECTION 4: SENIORITY AND REPORTING LINES
Seniority
Reporting lines
Immediate managers
SECTION 5: WHAT DOES THE CAREER PATH OF A TOTAL REWARDS PROFESSIONAL LOOK LIKE?
Experience
Route into reward
Career time in reward
Career time in consulting
Number of companies worked for
Job tenure in current role
SECTION 6: PROMOTIONS
Number of promotions during current employment
Promotions in the past five years
Future promotion prospects
SECTION 7: ACCESS TO CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Views on career development
SECTION 8: KEY KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Views on most important skills, attributes and behaviours
Perceptions of managers’ views on skills, attributes and behaviours
SECTION 9: BUSINESS ACUMEN
How business acumen was defined
SECTION 10: FUTURE PROSPECTS
Drivers of change
SECTION 11: SURVEY DETAILS
Methodology
Survey sample
Number of participants
Workforce size
Business sector
Acknowledgements
LIST OF BOXES
1.1: Do you have a distinct function in your organisation responsible for total rewards?
1.2: Size of reward teams
2.1: Age profile
2.2: Highest educational attainment
2.3: Number of employees in consulting firms and all organisations
3.1: Areas of functional responsibility
4.1: Level responsibility in current or most recent position
4.2: Job title of immediate manager/supervisor
5.1: Experience in areas outside reward and HR
5.2: Were you appointed to your current role as a result of internal or external recruitment?
5.3: Years of experience in total rewards roles overall
5.4: Number of different employers in career as total rewards professional
5.5: Job tenure in current role
6.1: Number of promotions during tenure with current employer
6.2: Number of promotions with current employer by gender
6.3: Number of promotions in past five years
6.4: Number of promotions in the past five years due to changing employers
7.1: Views on career development
8.1: Ranking of knowledge, skills and abilities by total rewards professionals
8.2: Staff and supervisor/managerial perceptions of the importance of various knowledge, skills and abilities
9.1: To what extent does your organisation measure business acumen using each of the following types of metrics for positions like those of your direct reports?
10.1: What do you think are the three most significant drivers of change likely to affect the way the total rewards function develops in next five years
11.1: Total number of employees working for this employer worldwide
11.2: Which of the following best describes your employer?