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Total Rewards ‘23: Three Big Takeaways From San Diego

Earlier this month, some of the gradar team jetted off to San Diego for Total Rewards ‘23, the biggest rewards event in the world. It brought together over 700 HR professionals, business leaders (and spreadsheet lovers!) from across the globe to dig deep into all things compensation and benefits. Lisanne Metz, gradar’s COO, was there to share our knowledge about rewards management, job evaluation and compensation. From innovations to emerging trends to best practice tips and tricks, there were a LOT of big topics! So, in this post, let us share with you our three key takeaways from our trip across the pond.

Total Rewards '23

Pay Transparency Laws Are Increasing

Pay transparency is a hot topic right now as laws crop up across the US and beyond. Way back in 2021, Colorado introduced the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, requiring all Colorado-based businesses to include expected salary ranges in all job postings.

When New York implemented similar laws in 2022, it was big news. And now, just last week, Illinois published its own Pay Transparency Law. Whilst different states require different standards, a lot of them are making it mandatory to publish salary ranges. So, how is this impacting businesses? 

The new laws have seen many businesses desperately scrambling to establish pay scales; a complex task that depends on a myriad of variables. To help businesses stay ahead of the curve and get prepared for compliances, gradar is helping organizations establish meaningful pay ranges.

Based on objective analytical job evaluation and allowing organizations to benchmark using external data, companies can rest assured that their pay bands are equitable and fair. This means they can easily justify their numbers to current and prospective employees alike, all whilst remaining competitive in today’s job market. 

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Can’t Be Overlooked 

Another topic that had everyone talking? How to ensure diversity and equality when establishing compensation and benefits strategies. 

As countries across the globe make equal pay a legislative priority, it’s more important than ever that businesses hold themselves accountable for recognising and eliminating any pay discrimination within their organization. 

Not only does this work towards quashing pay inequality and bridging the pervasive gender pay gap, but it’s also an essential step in protecting their organization from seriously costly lawsuits.  

The good news is, gradar is helping organizations objectively embody the principle of equal pay for equal work. Our software has a built-in gender pay gap analysis and an analytical job evaluation system that - vitally - stands up as a defense in an equal pay claim.

So, organizations of all sizes can rest easy in the knowledge that they’re playing their part in building a more equitable, inclusive working world. 

AI Is Going To Impact How Rewards Professionals Work

It would have been impossible to attend Total Rewards ‘23 and not hear about AI! After all, it’s a topic that’s dominating headlines and discussions around the world. 

In the world of rewards, HR professionals aren’t going to be replaced by robots any time soon. But - like so many other roles - AI is poised to change the nature of the work they’re doing on a daily basis. 

Generative AI is opening up opportunities to summarize information and pull together huge swathes of data. This means that many of the routine tasks that rewards professionals do can be automated. The result? More of a focus on the creative problem solving and human-facing tasks that really add value to an organization.

gradar already uses AI to power its ground-breaking gender pay gap analysis feature. Now, from September 2023, it will be leveraging generative AI to create unique job descriptions for specific job roles. By scanning each factor description and chosen level, the system can produce a high-quality job description that is manually adjustable. This is set to seriously boost efficiency, freeing HR professionals’ time to focus on finding the best person - and compensation - for the job. 

The Key Takeaway 

If there was one thing we took away from Total Rewards ‘23 - something that was emphasized time and time again - it’s that every organization is unique. This means that reward strategies should be too. 

There’s no magic copy-and-paste formula for compensation and benefits because strategy must fit the unique culture, industry and long-term goals of each individual organization. 

It’s something we’re truly behind here at gradar, too. Whilst it’s our mission to create an accessible, affordable job evaluation system that every business can use, gradar’s far from a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s highly customizable, giving businesses the power to create bespoke solutions to all of their compensation and benefits needs - however complex. 

So, if it sounds like gradar could help your business, get in touch with our team today!