Publications
Crafting the Ideal HR Leadership Team: The Essential Guide for Newly Appointed CHROs
In the post-pandemic landscape, the need for commercially viable and people-centric HR strategies is greater than ever. The world of HR has rapidly evolved in response to seismic shifts in how people work, and businesses operate. For incoming CHROs, the challenge is no longer about “demonstrating return on investment” within a 6-12 month timeframe. Organizations now need swift and effective responses to the ever-changing social and economic landscape. The traditional 100-day “listening journey” no longer suffices; CHROs are expected to bring immediate change, transformation, and a clear vision. Planning the ideal HR leadership team is an essential step in this process.
Hiring the leaders that support the very heart of your organisation
For many organisations the biggest challenges they face often relate to two intrinsic causes – People and Pay. TRS was formed to offer executive search services initially in the field Total Rewards. We understood that attracting, retaining, and engaging people was at the very heart of an organizations success, and we therefore worked with clients to find market leading professionals to support them through this journey. As our unique service offering developed we understood that alongside Total Rewards the CHRO and the CFO often worked together as a cohesive unit to address the core organizational issues. A leading CEO once referred to these three disciplines as “the beating heart of any high performing organisation”; and from this our purpose was founded.
How to build a strong Total Rewards Team
The Total Rewards Sector is facing an unprecedented talent crunch, with demand continually outpacing supply across Compensation, Executive Compensation, and Benefits. Over the past two years, many companies have invested in hiring skilled Total Rewards leaders, only to encounter challenges in structuring a robust function. Consequently, the burden on CHROs and Heads of Total Rewards has intensified. Drawing on our expertise in strategic appointments within this sector, we’ve created this guide to aid you in streamlining your hiring process.
How to hire a Head of Total Rewards
In the Total Rewards field, we’re seeing a significant talent shortage with demand consistently exceeding supply. The influx of IPOs, mergers, and acquisitions has spurred an incredibly active recruitment period unlike any in the past decade. Traditional talent acquisition strategies have often fallen short, leading to hiring processes that extend beyond nine months. A fresh approach is needed in this highly competitive, talent-scarce market to meet the unique challenges.
Leveraging our unparalleled expertise, we’ve created a strategic guide. This isn’t a mere temporary fix – it’s a fundamental shift aimed at transforming your hiring process, turning challenges into opportunities.
How to hire the ‘right’ Executive Compensation professional – North America
The Executive Compensation sector faces a severe talent shortage due to surging demand driven by recent IPOs, mergers, and acquisitions and drawing on our expertise in strategic appointments, we’ve created this guide to streamline your hiring process.
Most organizations seek an Executive Compensation professional experienced in cyclical challenges (such as authoring the CD&A, filing the proxy, 10k’s, 8k’s) who can dual an operational and strategic style, engaging Executive stakeholders. This role is an important partner to the Head of Total Rewards. At the same time, they’re expected to be able to work highly independently.
Compensation challenges and trends for 2023
2022 has been a story of two halves for compensation professionals in the US. Q1 and Q2 experienced economic growth as Covid 19 concerns and restrictions were lifted globally. When the market kickstarted with dramatic labor shortages and rising inflation, we witnessed unprecedented base pay increases across nearly all sector verticals. Average wages increased by 4.2% but felt more like a reduction of 3% with rapidly rising prices. Compensation professionals faced the challenges of increasing pay universally across organizations, retaining talent in a highly competitive and labor-short market, and managing the stock market volatility, which adversely affected performance based LTIPs.
Benefits Trend for 2023
Employee Benefits throughout 2022 have been a story of two halves. As the US emerged from Covid restrictions, benefits in Q1 and Q2 focused on return-to-work strategies, workplace safety, employee testing requirements, and the thorny issues of vaccination status. Strategies around office layouts, hybrid working, and post-Covid fallout due to increased mental health issues were very much at the top of the agenda. This was set against “The Great Resignation” and a labor shortage, meaning staff retention and engagement were at an absolute premium.
September 2022 Salary Survey / Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia
How we collected the data
For September 2022 we collated data from 428 individuals operating within the Compensation and Benefits specialty across the above states. We gathered salary and package breakdown information and cross-referenced this with all offers that Total Rewards Search received for candidates in these states from the start of 2022. This allowed us to create market ranges that consider the salaries organizations are currently paying and willing to pay for talented individuals.
January 2022 Salary Survey
How we collected the data
For 2022 we collated data from 371 individuals operating within the Compensation and Benefits specialism across the New York and Tri State area. We gathered salary and package breakdown information and also cross referenced this with all offers that Oakleaf Total Rewards search received for candidates throughout the full 2021 financial year. This allowed us to create market ranges that take into account the salaries clients are currently paying and indeed willing to pay for talented individuals.