2019: a totally rewarding year?

IES Perspectives on HR 2019

What can employers and policymakers do to make total rewards a reality for UK employees?

In this paper, IES head of HR consultancy, Duncan Brown, analyses trends in total rewards, UK workplaces and the wider economy to consider the state of play in UK total reward.

He argues that, in order to succeed in engaging employees to high performance through total rewards, employers should recognise that a total reward offer will be judged by what employees perceive and receive, not on what is provided or promoted to them. Paying attention to the wider political and social environment in which we live is also necessary, as to contextualise the organisation's approach to reward management.

The success of total reward therefore requires a recognition of a wider responsibility to employees, management of their rewards, and to wider society.

Part of IES' Perspectives on HR series, the paper offers six areas upon which employers and policymakers should focus their efforts:

• Base-pay levels.

• Real-pay and career progression.

• Pay and reward policies aligned with wider HR, talent and diversity management practices.

• Greater joining up of government and employer pay and employment policies.

• Linking reward policies for staff at all levels of organisations.

• Attention to mental health and employee financial wellbeing support.