Research Insights
Market pricing report
Strategic Pay shares its market pricing report and remuneration recommendations for key roles in one of the world's most enduring and successful organisations...more>>
CEO and executive remuneration
Having just published our inaugural New Zealand CEO and Top Executive Remuneration Report, Strategic Pay is pleased to provide information on some of the key trends and findings from the New Zealand remuneration market...more>>
Getting Directors' fees right
Strategic Pay’s Survey of Directors Fees reports on the criteria directors use to adjust fee levels. It notes that Directors use market trends (derived from surveys), company profits, and CPI movements as the principal guidelines for assessing Directors Fees levels. But does this equate to a defensible rate for the job?...more>>
CEO pay to go backwards?
CEO and Executive pay levels are often a source of contention. Now, as the recession continues to bite, the top job gets tougher, CEO pay levels, however, may be stagnating or going backwards...more>>
How many regulators does it take to manage executive pay?
Regulation from every authority is growing by the day, with no-one feeling restricted by country borders. Where do you sit, given APRA, ASIC, ASX, NZX, the NZSC, the FSA, EU and European Forum and TARP rule?...more>>
Recession-driven change to yield a new era for executive compensation
As the impact of last year's finance sector collapse wreaks its havoc on world economies, governments across the globe are getting on with proposing and passing a range of legislation to tackle the role that executive remuneration practice has played in the debacle...more>>
Who should have a say on pay?
What impact will the views of Barack Obama and John McCain, as well as several European governments who have already introduced Say on Pay legislation, have here? ... more>>
CEO remuneration and performance
Stories about CEO performance and remuneration hit the headlines all the time. What is behind this and what factors do you need to consider when dealing with remuneration at this level? ... more >>
What price a good CEO?
Third in line after company cars and the MD’s secretary’s salary, the most controversial issue in remuneration is the CEO’s pay. Let's look at changes over the last decade. ... more >>
Key Guidelines for Short Term Incentive Plan Design
Over recent years the emphasis on Short Term Incentive Plans has increased, mostly as they have become a more significant part of executive remuneration. In Australia in particular, they have also been used to calculate the number of shares and options to be granted to executives...more>>
Performance management - risks and timeframes
Every week we hear negative news stories about bonuses. A problem for organisations is that this negativity rubs off onto the whole subject of performance management...more>>
The Christmas bonus – to pay or not to pay, that is the question …
As the holiday season rolls around again, one of the age old questions along with “Will we finally get some decent weather these holidays?” and “Do we have to see the in-law’s this Christmas?” is whether or not you should pay employees a Christmas bonus…. more >>
Selling sales packages
The key to attracting and retaining good sales staff is to motivate and challenge them. And if you want good results, motivate the good ones more! Good salespeople are target-focussed and ... more >>
What to expect from incentives
It's easy to lose sight of the big picture when dealing with remuneration and managers pressuring you to recruit ASAP. But before paying out bonuses or incentives, be clear about what you want to achieve, because … more >>
Do incentives really impact retention?
Retention - the hottest topic in human resources today. So the question is – are incentives a smart retention strategy or a bribe? In this tight labour market, employers are reaching for anything which might improve … more >>
Analytical Matching – New Advances in Job Evaluation Technology
Most proprietary job evaluation systems in use today can trace their origins back to, or have in some way been influenced by, the work of Edward Hay and colleagues in the USA in the 1930s and 1940s. They put points factor systems on the workplace map, using job worth criteria (or factors), defined as successive levels, and...more >>
Shared services - a better way or organisation by stealth?
Many organisations and sectors are currently exploring shared services. Some will be suspicious that this will just be another form of organisation by stealth...more>>
Business metrics: returning to return
What do we mean by productivity? Most businesses overtly or otherwise measure the contribution of their employees in terms of productivity – this catchall includes skill, effectiveness and outputs… more >>
Aligning performance management to metrics
"You’re all doing very well." Oh dear. How many times have we heard that? Staff often think that performance management is just HR form-filling. So, why is it so hard to move performance management into that credible space?… more >>
What's your investment in employees - and do they know it?
This month, in line with Christmas shopping, we’ll look more at the investment in your employees. What’s the “I” side of the ROI equation … more >>
Getting to grips with linking base pay and performance
Using performance to determine pay progression can be challenging. What is the best way to embark on this route? it requires a strong commitment to establishing robust performance management and remuneration systems. … more >>
Fairness in remuneration
In an increasingly tight labour market with low unemployment rates and employees challenging employers about their ‘worth’ every day, the pressure is on for organisations to ensure they get it right … more >>
Togetherness in performance and rewards
Team incentives, team-based performance measures, corporate performance, profit-sharing. These are all elements of pay and performance emphasising a similar message … more >>
Making the most of your organisation’s remuneration investment
We’ve heard this before - employees are the single biggest cost to a company. We invest in our people, but … more >>
Managing remuneration out of the recession
While 2010 has been earmarked as the year in which New Zealand will come out of the recession, employers will continue to face challenges as they manage the fallout of the global economic downturn which is still ever present in some organisations...more>>
Public sector remuneration in tough times
Much has been made of the current recession’s impact on remuneration and how organisations can deal with it, including facing a zero percent budget for salary increases. It should be remembered though, that the belt-tightening that a recession requires also offers the opportunity for organisations to consider innovative approaches to remuneration and reward management...more>>
Public sector ROI in a recession
The recession forces every organisation to consider their Return on Investment (ROI) for every dollar spent. For public sector organisations this means being more frugal and efficient in the use of taxpayers' money...more>>
Is redundancy the most effective way to reduce employment costs?
From a macroeconomic perspective, job and income losses will only worsen the economy. From the perspective of a struggling employer facing decreased customer interest, this may seem academic. But with unemployment predicted to rise 6-7% in 2009, there are two key reasons to keep redundancy as your very last tactic...more>>
The CPI impact on remuneration spend
There’s no hiding from the news that costs are on the rise. The CPI has risen 4% in the year ending June 2008 and is now well above the Reserve Bank’s permitted inflation range. What needs to be taken into account when reviewing salaries in your organisation? ... more>>
Is remuneration the retention scapegoat?
While pay is often cited as the primary reason for leaving, a number of industry studies suggest differently. When you dig behind the scenes, the most common reason is … more >>
Managing a Zero Increase Salary Budget
Half of the 50 or so respondents of our recent pulse poll are facing a zero to 1% salary increase budget. As CEOs and HR managers, what's the best approach to managing and communicating this?...more>>
How should your remuneration management change in tough times?
In the wake of the global financial crisis, excessive pay and bonuses have caused a furor. Let's look at the pressure on Remuneration Committees and your remuneration "Warrant of Fitness" status...more>>
Can you afford your current remuneration strategy?
A perfect storm is brewing in some areas of the public sector concerning the setting of pay rates for staff covered by collective agreements. While the move to market rates, with its attendant annual movements in base pay, has been mutually acceptable to employers, employees and unions, the current recession poses a serious question about affordability. ... more>>
Budgeting and planning for the salary review
Bubbles have burst spectacularly at the start of 2008, and as we observe the messy remains, we will be fascinated to see if remuneration levels follow suit. It’s the time of year when many companies review their remuneration spending and plan their budgets. This year, this process is occurring against a background of wall-to-wall reports of low quality lending exposure and consequent CEO departures. … more >>
Cash or benefits?
As employers try to attract younger workers, it's a tough call deciding whether to offer a nice fringe benefits package or simply offer more cash in the hand. The trend toward cashing up benefits began with the introduction of FBT and accelerated in the late 1990's as health insurance premiums increased exponentially. There are a lot of arguments in favour of cashing up, most of them centering around … more >>
Total rewards: comparing apples with apples
Create transparency, improve performance and avoid double dipping. Historically, remuneration practice focused on base salary as the core remuneration for staff. Benefits such as employer … more >>
Making the most of salary reviews
Are you delivering value to your organisation? The annual salary review requires a lot of organisational … more >>
Employment changes and your business. Had enough or ready for more?
Are you ready for further changes to your business? Or are you still catching up and trying to budget for recent legislative changes?… more >>
Tapping the taxi talent
Recruiting overseas talent might seem like the perfect solution for your staffing requirements, but it might also be a recipe for blowing your remuneration budget for no real return. So, what do we recommend? … more >>
Sharp Drop in Wage Increases: Poll
Press Release: Employees Can Expect Lower Increases
Market Trends: June 2010
After many years of what appeared to be ever-increasing salary movements, the 2009 – 2010 movements have dropped to lows not seen since the late 1990s...more >>
Market Trends: February 2010
In our November 2009 newsletter we anticipated that our early 2010 surveys would reflect the impact of the recession in remuneration statistics, and that they would show the degree to which wage freezes, if not actual pay cuts, and reduced levels of staff turnover, have acted as a brake on wage growth...more>>
Industry Sector Update: Utilities
Earlier this year business confidence across all sectors in New Zealand was at a record low, with 44% of surveyed businesses experiencing reduced trading activity. To counter this recession most took the opportunity to review and slash where possible, their expense budgets and cut staff costs by not replacing non essential roles...more>>
Market Trends: November 2009
Historians are likely to look back on 2008-9 recession as our most serious economic shock since the 1930s. The economy officially grew by 0.1% in the June quarter, which media analysts hailed as an end to the recession. We look back on four quarters of rising unemployment, falling interest rates, housing market decline, lower retail spending and marked restraint in wage growth and employment patterns...more>>
Market Trends and Data: Financial Services
With the August publication of the 2009 Financial Services remuneration report we’re starting to see the impact of the recession on salaries...more>>
Market Trends and Data: July 2009
Cost containment in salaries and benefits, especially cars, along with retaining top performers is where most employers are focusing their energies...more>>
Market Trends and Data: May 2009
Market movements are taking their time to come off the boil, but indications are that the slowdown in wage growth will be dramatic... more>>
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Solution to May puzzle:
- Not enough to go around
- Putting the cat amongst the pigeons.