How Covid-19 is impacting Total Rewards
By Xavier Baeten
Professor of Reward & Sustainability
The Covid-19 pandemic is not only shaking up business thoroughly, it also has a high impact on reward management. In a series of 3 ‘Business Watcher’ videos, Professor Xavier Baeten explains how we need to (re)think about the key dimensions of total rewards, being pay, benefits and non-financial rewards. For each of the underlying dimensions, he explains which decisions need to be taken, enriched by a number of examples. His insights will help you to take an encompassing perspective, as well as a systematic approach. In order to turn that knowledge into action, he has developed – together with Hudson and Claeys & Engels – a downloadable Total Rewards Checklist.
1/ Total Rewards – Pay
The Covid-19 crisis has an impact on different subdimension of pay, such as base pay, variable remuneration and different types of allowances and premiums. Will there be a pay cut? What should you do with short-term and long-term incentives? Does homework have an impact on cost allowances? These are some of the questions that are being addressed.
What is the impact of Covid-19 on pay?
2/ Total Rewards – Benefits
Pay cuts and / or temporary unemployment might have an impact – or should at least bring a number of decisions to the table – on pension plans and insurances. But besides the impact of a pay cut, also other benefit dimensions should be looked at, such as employee vitality and mobility.
What is the impact of Covid-19 on employee benefits?
3/ Total Rewards – Non-Financial Rewards
Apart from the impact on compensation and benefits, we also see a number of very important thoughts to be made related to non-financial rewards. How to deal with holidays when people are not allowed to travel? How to avoid that people are ‘saving’ their holidays, and cannot use them when the business picks up again? How to take care of employee involvement in times of distance working? What about the physical work environment? This video provides you with a number of answers.
What is the impact of Covid-19 on non-financial rewards?
Get to work with our Total Rewards Checklist
The video series only gives a limited number of answers to the questions you may have on Total Rewards. Within the Centre for Excellence in Strategic Rewards we have developed together with Hudson (Partner) and Claeys & Engels (Member) a practical checklist that goes much more in-depth.