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• Incentive Plan Delivers Improved Reporting & Compensation
  Company wanted to align the contributions of officer-level employees with divisional performance and reward employees accordingly. Corporate Compensation recommended that more than 1,200 non-sales officers be placed into a structured incentive plan rather than the annual discretionary bonus plan. Division executives were resistant to make the change.
  Developed an objective-based incentive plan, which aligned individual contributions and rewards with the success of the entire division; established target ranges via market pricing to ensure market competitiveness. Automated Administration to improve accuracy; developed and distributed communications to executives and participants to explain the new policy and plan.
  All officers were placed onto the new objective-based incentive plan. The plan and automated tool allowed for better reporting, ease of administration, and ensured that officers were paid equitably and competitively with the market.
• Risk Management Assessment Produces Certifications
  Due to company's downturn, employees responsible for Compliance and Risk Management in Corporate Compensation were no longer with the company. Corporate Compensation's remaining staff was inexperienced or overworked and unable to take on additional responsibilities.
  Volunteered to manage the Compensation Risk Management assessment in addition to regular responsibilities and led certification of internal controls for Compensation. Delegated responsibilities to other staff and studied tools the company used for the departments.
  Risks were identified and certifications completed 30 days prior to the corporate deadline.
• System Automatically Tracks Acknowledgement of Terms & Conditions for Variable Pay
  Legal challenges and complaints regarding incentive compensation payments were increasing. The company needed to ensure all employees eligible for an incentive, bonus, or commission payment understood the Terms and Conditions under which such payments would be made. No process was in place to ensure that eligible employees received and acknowledged corporate Terms and Conditions. No method was in place to track and report acknowledgements.
  Developed an automated system to identify eligible employees by generating notices and Terms and Conditions to employees, as well as capture the employee's electronic acknowledgement of the documents. The system also tracked the delivery and electronic acknowledgement and generated regular reports.
  After three months, 98% of employees eligible for incentive, bonus, or commission payments had received and acknowledged the corporate Terms and Conditions; action resulted in a significant decrease in successful legal challenges.
• Process Eases Transition Following Acquisition
  Company needed to transition a recently acquired insurance company into the corporate compensation program, including updating and writing new job descriptions, evaluating jobs, and placing employees into salary ranges. The company was in a period of rapid growth and did not have adequate resources for the transition-related workload.
  Volunteered to lead the transition work, in addition to existing responsibilities; worked with the insurance company's managers to update or create more than 100 job descriptions, classify, evaluate, and place jobs into appropriate salary ranges, and ensure that employees' compensation was equitable.
  All tasks were completed within three months.
• Process Improvements Slash Late & Missed Payments
  Incentive Compensation's commission and bonus payments for sales people, managers, and officers were not always accurate, resulting in errors, missed, and late payments. Data used to calculate payments was provided by client groups and was often not available in time to perform quality control checks and secure verification/approval for payments from management prior to the payroll deadline.
  Collaborated with client groups to create a calendar and schedule for the client group and the Corporate Incentive Compensation group; implemented methodologies that identified internal process problems and possible solutions. Recommended and implemented selected solutions and communicated new processes and schedules to client groups and managers.
  Errors, late payments, and missed payments were reduced an average of 30% in 12 months.
• Process Improvements Facilitate Rapid Expansion
  The company's rapid growth included hiring 20,000 new employees in four years, or 33%, which resulted in a 20% increase in requisition, salary, and promotional transactions requiring review by corporate Compensation. Staffing levels did not increase, but the department needed to continue reviewing and processing transactions in a timely manner.
  Reorganized the Compensation department so Compensation assistants handled transaction-related duties and escalated issues as necessary; implemented methodologies and analyzed the process; recommended and executed solutions to increase efficiency and decrease processing times.
  Decreased review and process time for new hire requisitions from three days to less than one-and-one-half days, and promotion/salary increase forms from five days to less than three days.
• Departmental Reorganization Eliminates Rework
  Department was noticing errors, which increased processing time for ordering and billing functions. The department was hesitant to update processes and believed software would be necessary to resolve the issue.
  Consulted with department members to develop/clarify mission, vision, and values; analyzed and restructured key business processes.
  Reduced processing and cycle time for ordering/billing function 30% and increased customer satisfaction 40%. No additional software was purchased or developed.
• Relocation Fosters Improved Morale & Flexibility
  Company was attempting to cut costs by relocating staff from California to Arizona to lower labor costs. Corporate Incentive client groups were reluctant to relocate the Corporate Incentive Compensation employees. Relocation was perceived as a loss of control and support from the employees.
  Calculated the potential cost reduction, which would have been more than 10% of operating budget. Negotiated with executives and client groups to relocate the employees and offered the employees the choice to relocate or stay, with the majority opting to relocate.
  Negotiated relocation of 10 employees supporting 20 divisions and saved more than $250,000 annually, which was 10% of operating budget; clients reported no loss in satisfaction from level of service provided after the move.
• Improvement Plan Transforms Morale & Reduces Turnover
  Incentive Compensation department faced morale problems, high turnover, high error rates, and customer service complaints. Department function was decentralized and no processes were in place on how company wanted the corporate group to operate. Recruited to lead the department and resolve issues.
  Met with divisional Incentive Compensation leaders to discuss issues; identified strengths, development opportunities, and career goals with corporate staff members; developed job family and career ladders, conducted regular department meetings, delegated more authority to staff members as needed, and worked with staff to analyze process deficiencies and recommend solutions.
  Turnover was reduced to 10% and employee morale improved within six months. Error rates also decreased.
• Department Aligns Job Tasks with Skill Sets & Talents
  The Corporate Compensation department needed to adopt a consultative, value-added approach and move away from the current administrative focus. Some employees lacked the necessary skill sets to be consultants and all were overwhelmed with administrative tasks.
  Reorganized the department to better align staff with talents and abilities and allowed for future growth. Delegated administrative duties to two assistants and collaborated with the remaining six staff in consultant roles to develop appropriate skill sets to focus on relationship building and consultation.
  The Compensation department's reorganization resulted in increased efficiency of staff placed in administrative roles. Staff placed in consultant roles developed new skill sets to effectively and proactively consult with client groups.
• Strategic Relationships Ensure HR Compliance
  The Capital Markets division handled their HR-related issues with little corporate oversight or interference, resulting in many policy violations and complex HR issues. Corporate leadership needed to ensure that corporate HR policies were followed, but were reluctant to issue mandates for adhering to the policies.
  Cultivated a number of strategic relationships with key executives in the division as the corporate HR business partner assigned to the group and garnered trust; gathered key information such as offer letters and compensation plans that were not available to corporate HR. Identified issues and counseled employees on ways to achieve business needs and follow relevant laws and policies.
  Division offer letters and compensation plans were standardized within three months, saving time and money on employee relations and legal complaints; met compliance with many corporate policies and federal and state laws. Staff reduced time on HR issues 20%, saving approximately $75,000.
• Performance Improvement Plans Reduce Grievances
  The University faced increased numbers of employee and labor relations issues, which resulted in grievances and counseling. Managers were not knowledgeable about policy and labor agreement interpretations including recent changes.
  Consulted with managers to communicate the interpretation of policies and labor agreements; mitigated company liability by training managers on various topics related to employee and labor relations, ensuring uniform application of policies. Collaborated with managers to structure performance improvement plans, counseling, and terminations where necessary. Led internal investigations on a broad range of employee relations issues and the grievance-resolution process as needed.
  Reduced grievances and employee relations issues with no need for arbitration; the number of employee relations complaints decreased 20% within one year, and the number of union grievances decreased 10%.