Employers Fall Short in Managing Compensation to Drive Business Results

Authoria Survey Highlights Gap Between View of Compensation as Vital to Achieving Corporate Goals, and Effectiveness in Using It

Barriers Include Lack of Budget, Tactical Focus of Compensation Professionals, and Non-Integrated Talent Management Process

Authoria, Inc., the leader in integrated talent management solutions, today announced the results of a survey that shows disparities between HR professionalsí belief that compensation is important to achieving corporate goals, and their assessment of how well their organizations leverage compensation for business results. The survey identifies a range of impediments that keep organizations from fully exploiting compensation for more strategic purposes.

Survey respondents considered compensation ìvery importantî to business goals including retaining key employees (66 percent), attracting high-quality employees (56 percent), and aligning individual performance with corporate objectives (49 percent). But when asked how effectively their own organizations use compensation to achieve these goals, far fewer responded with ìvery effectiveî: only 21 percent for retaining key employees, 17 percent for attracting high-quality employees, and 15 percent for aligning individual and corporate performance.

Respondents cited a variety of impediments as keeping their organizations from using compensation more effectively, including lack of budget, the focus of compensation managers on tactics versus strategy, HR processes that are not integrated with each other, and inadequate tools. The specific compensation practice most often in use was communicating Total Rewards statements to employees (56 percent), while the least-used practice was aggressive pay-for-performance measures (29 percent).

ìMost of the respondentsí companies consider compensation a key element of their strategy, have a multi-function talent-management strategy in place, and are effective in using compensation for tactical purposes such as compliance,î said Tod Loofbourrow, Authoria Chairman and CEO. ìThey are clearly frustrated, though, in their efforts to leverage compensation for the impact it can have on strategic corporate goals, such as engaging and motivating top talent or aligning individual, group, and organizational performance. As the competition for top talent intensifies, employers who thrive will be those who tightly integrate their compensation process with the other strategic talent-management functions.î

Authoria Salary and Authoria Incentive, the companyís market-leading compensation solutions,

ï streamline planning processes,
ï ensure accuracy and compliance through a centralized and standardized approach,
ï provide real-time visibility, and
ï shorten compensation cycles

for a full range of compensation programs from base pay and simple bonuses to complex, performance-based stock grants. These robust solutions are part of Authoriaís integrated talent management suite, which also includes solutions for recruiting, performance management, succession planning, and benefit/policy communications.

The Authoria survey, conducted in May 2007, compiled responses from 171 human-resources executives at U.S.-based corporations. Thirty-one percent of respondents were from companies with 10,000 employees or more, and 56 percent were from companies with 3,000 employees or more.