Searching Compensation on page 26

Pay for performance is a good way to ensure there is equity when it comes to compensation, but compensation is often one piece of a larger puzzle when it comes to motivation.

For WorldatWork Members 4 Reasons Performance Ratings Aren’t Vital to the Compensation Cycle , Workspan Magazine article;Compensation Structure Policies and Practices , research;Salary Benchmarking , tool; Conducting more than one annual compensation cycle can help organizations address a variety of issues — and more of them are choosing to do so .

In general, non-qualified deferred compensation is compensation that an employee earns in one year but that is not paid until a later year.

For WorldatWork Members ;Teaching Employees About Pay Helps Avoid Transparency Problems , Journal of Total Rewards article; ;Answers to Common Employee Questions on Pay Transparency , Workspan Daily Plus+ article; ;How Employers Can Structure and Communicate Appropriate Pay Bands , Workspan Daily Plus+ article; ;2024-2025 Salary Budget Survey , research; One of the top three challenges organizations face in implementing pay transparency is a lack of manager capabilities to understand and explain compensation programs and practices, according to Mercer’s Global Pay Transparency Report.

Workspan Daily article;Executive Compensation Immersion Program , education; Median public company director pay rose a modest 3% in 2025, according to the 27th annual Director Compensation Report produced by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and executive compensation advisory firm Pearl Meyer.

Workspan Quarterly 2ND QUARTER 2023 In the Q2 issue of Workspan, we explore how to elevate your retirement plan with SECURE 2.0, solve executive retiree compensation challenges, craft a total rewards makeover that delivers results, and more.

Additionally, since Jan. 11, 2016, Executive Order 11246 has prohibited federal contractors and subcontractors from retaliating or discriminating against employees and applicants for inquiring about, discussing or disclosing their own compensation, or the compensation of any other employee or applicant. 

Sal DiFonzo, the managing director of compensation and rewards consulting at Gallagher, and a member of WorldatWork’s Compensation Advisory Council, stated labor market supply and demand typically drive base pay increases.

In terms of how to approach determining compensation, no single solution for every organization, but purely market-based structures should be abandoned.

This starts with helping ensure that people leaders can speak to the intricacies of compensation throughout the year — in particular, during the annual compensation review process.