Adjusting incentive compensation to fit each individual

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Author: Lizzy Wolff

There has been a lot of talk about how companies are supposed to reward their employees. While some people take it for granted that they will get a substantial award at the end of each year, others feel that they aren't being properly compensated for their time and effort. Focusing on the value each player brings to the team can help firms adjust their strategies and cultivate more engaging, positive sales incentive compensation outcomes.

According to HR Reporter, compensation plans are a big part of what encourages the top talent in any organization to give more of themselves. At the same time, not all of these plans are balanced. As a study by Towers Watson showed, about one-fourth of all American organizations still hand out rewards to their CEOs and other executives, despite the fact that they feel these personnel don't meet annual performance standards. Around one-fifth of respondents stated that they handed out rewards to corporate leaders without even paying attention to the quality of performance these individuals offer.

Checking with businesses in both the U.S. and Canada, the survey showed that companies in each country were seeing that their personnel were not as driven by sales incentive compensation plans as they would hope. Around half of all firms reported that their employees were no more or less motivated to succeed, regardless of the kind of compensation plans their companies offer. Part of the problem here, according to the source, is that firms are not meeting staff expectations in terms of what professionals want to receive for their efforts.

Avoiding incentive pitfalls
When people feel under appreciated, it's more likely that staff won't try as hard to meet corporate goals. Entities in every country seem to be seeing problems engaging with their personnel in terms of sales incentive compensation. HR Reporter stated that it's easy for businesses to offer rewards to employees, but the majority of the time, what companies have to offer their workforce is not up to individual expectations.

Avoiding these pitfalls requires that companies create more emphasis surrounding personal performance. This way, whenever a person extends him or herself in terms of individual effort, it is reflected in the kind of compensation they receive. By making compensation plans open and transparent to personnel in all parts of the corporation, it's easy for staff members to see what kinds of actions will earn them rewards. Ensuring this system is fair and balanced will require more intense employee feedback monitoring to verify that everyone in the organization is happy with reward opportunities.