Wake-up call for bosses in South Africa – what employees want
The workplace is undergoing significant transformations, and with these changes come new expectations from employees as well as shifts in compensation practices.
This is the view presented by Dr Mark Bussin, Master Reward Specialist and President of the South African Reward Association (SARA), who identified 10 key trends that are shaping the global remuneration landscape.
He said that “companies who want to stay ahead of the talent race need to keep abreast of these changes and adapt accordingly”
“These concepts will become more business-critical in the coming years and organisations who depend on skills excellence must embed them deeply in their reward strategy,” added Bussin.
Looking at the top 10 global trends impacting remuneration policies and practices, Bussin said that these include:
- Remote and hybrid work
Bussin said that both remote and hybrid work is increasingly becoming the norm rather than the exception in the modern workplace.
“Companies need to develop flexible reward policies for this model to succeed, especially where employees in different regions face cost-of-living challenges,” said the SARA president.
“A set remuneration package that ignores location could drive critical talent away,” he added.
- Pay transparency and equity
SARA has been seeing greater demand from industry influencers and lawmakers to be more transparent about their pay practics.
“What companies pay and how they arrive at those figures will come under more intense scrutiny, and they’ll be expected to expose, explain and correct gender, race and other pay gaps,” said Bussin.
This is set to become more common after President Cyril Ramaphosa signed amendments to the country’s Companies Act in July.
It requires all public and state-owned companies must now report the average and median total remuneration of all employees, and disclose the earnings gap between the total pay of the top 5% highest paid employees, and the total of the bottom 5% lowest paid workers.
- Focus on holistic total rewards
The focus and desire for holistic total rewards continues to grow, not just in terms of non-monetary benefits above base salary, like wellness programmes, flexible working hours or career opportunities.
“Younger workers also want to contribute to societal solutions through employers who are proactive about their concerns,” said Bussin.
- Skill-based pay and agile remuneration
This sees companies focusing rewards on the skills employees bring to the business rather than their job title, and creating agile reward structures that meet the enterprise’s rapidly changing talent requirements.
“This motivates employees to develop in-demand skills that evolve with their employer’s needs,” said Bussin.
- Variable pay and performance based remuneration
This rewards employees for their performance in relation to their organisation’s success, not just their individual efforts.
“Bonuses, profit sharing, share options, incentive pay and other schemes can all motivate workers to focus on corporate outcomes,” said the SARA president.
- Flexible benefits and reward personalisation
Bussin said that the days of fixed, one-size-fits-all benefits are numbered.
“Increasingly, benefits are tailored to each employee’s particular needs and adjusted as their life circumstances change, such as swapping unnecessary medical benefits for more take-home pay or vice versa,” he added.
- A growing focus on wellbeing and mental health benefits
This “comes from the realisation that, in today’s fast-paced, always-connected digital world, employees are under greater stress than ever,” said Bussin.
He said that mental health interventions, support programmes and compassionate allowances are essential to maintaining productivity in the workplace.
- Sustainability and ethical remuneration
These are becoming increasingly more important to employees, concern groups and lawmakers alike.
The SARA president said that to attract and retain talent, enterprises have to offer fair and equitable remuneration while aligning their business strategy and practices with meaningful corporate social responsibility goals.
- AI and data analytics
These tools are already being used extensively to optimise rewards and will continue to shape the future of remuneration.
This is because they allow HR teams to develop data-driven remuneration packages that are fair, competitive and aligned to enterprise strategy.
Global mobility and expatriate remuneration
These factors have changed significantly over the past few years, said Bussin.
“Remote working, digital transformation and other global developments have unearthed new opportunities and challenges for employers, creating the need for refined remote worker and expatriate remuneration models,” he said
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