Searching Pondering Equity-Based Long-Term Incentive Plans on page 49

Short - and Long-Term Rewards By inviting the professional’s full span of contributions into the workforce, including the soft skills that too often go unnoticed, and by upholding employee-centric boundaries around mental, physical and temporal space, teams are positioned for fast and lasting rewards.

She is responsible for partnering with clients on a wide array of Compensation projects including base pay structure design, job architecture, incentive plan design, and compensation analytics.

“The evolution of AI will expand to reward design, pay equity analysis, plan creation — what I call the advanced levels — and it could potentially be a game changer in disintermediating what reward professionals do and do not do,” he said. “ For example, it could potentially reduce the need for transactional rewards roles, resulting in only the most senior level incentive design to being done in house by a person, Piker said.

Even so, Section 125 does not require a plan to allow for mid-year election changes other than the special enrollment rights, so ensure you know what your plan documents say on allowable mid-year changes, as these are the rules your plan must abide by.

You’ll walk away with the tools to create long-term solutions that protect internal equity, boost retention, and keep your business performing at its best.

Fred Whittlesey, principal consultant at Compensation Venture Group SPC , said the current interest around crypto in compensation plans reminds him of the stock plans craze in the 1990s.

Apart from a minimum wage, there also are provisions in BC’s plans for expense coverage, tip protections, destination transparency, suspension and termination decisions, and workers’ compensation coverage.

Access a bonus Workspan Daily Plus+ article on this subject: ;Don’t Underestimate the Power of Non-Financial Rewards; Key findings from the compensation software and data company’s report include: ;Participating organizations plan to give, on average, a 3.5% pay increase in base salary in 2025, down slightly from last year’s 3.8%, with smaller organizations leading with higher raises.; ;47% said they are experiencing increased tension between ensuring fair pay and optimizing spend.; ;A significant 31% of organizations identify unfair pay as the primary reason for losing talent, highlighting the damaging impact of pay inequity.; ;While investment in pay equity has declined 5% since 2024 , it has increased 19% since 2020 and remains a focus for most organizations (57%).; “In 2025, the tension isn’t just economical — it’s emotional,” said Alicia Scott-Wears, a compensation content director at WorldatWork.

Meantime, the motivation to plan for retirement is there, suggests Fidelity Investments’ 2022 State of Retirement Planning Study, and it surpasses the drive to plan for other financial milestones like owning a home or planning a wedding (see Figure 2). 80% of people with a strong understanding of longevity save regularly for retirement. 2.

However, Mason noted promotions, are not a quick fix to solve for internal equity concerns, as long-tenured employees often fall behind the market over time since organizations do not differentiate merit awards enough to ensure those employees lower in the range are earning a sufficient pay increase to move them to the market (midpoint of the pay range) fast enough.