Latest / Beyond the Paycheck / Your Employees Think They Make $100K—They're Actually Getting $140K: Why Total Reward Statements Are the Most Underused Tool in HR
Transcript
- Kelsey Willock (00:00) Welcome Anthony Renella VP of Total Rewards. We are beyond excited to have you, especially as we kick off the new year. To get us started, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience, sharing a bit more about your career and background and where you're calling in from today. Anthony Renella (00:15) Absolutely. First of all, thank you for having me. My background has been in total rewards. been in this space for many, many years. I've worked for many very different types of industries, including media, technology. retail, real estate, and so forth. And I've managed teams globally, all over the world as well. And so I've done total rewards across different industries and also managed folks as well and had pretty large teams as well. Kelsey Willock (00:50) really excited to dive deeper into all the amazing work that you've done. But before we get there, I'm going to get to know you little bit better personally. So if you'll indulge me, I'd love to learn a little bit more about your earliest money memory. Anthony Renella (01:05) Yeah, growing up Italian American, I used to always get envelopes for holidays and birthdays and so forth. And they were always stuck with money. It was always a little awkward when you open up the envelope and the money falls out. So I used to like put it in my pocket and, know, for later. used to... go in my room at night and at the end of calling my birthday, used to count it up and say, okay, how much did I get? And, you know, be excited about it and so forth. But eventually over time, I said, okay, I got to do something with this cash. So I asked my parents, hey, at very young age, could I open up a savings account? I think people put money in banks, right? So, they're like, absolutely. I early memories opening up a savings account and actually seeing it earn more money on interest. So I was excited. So it's kind of fun to monitor. Kelsey Willock (01:57) I think you might be the first person that told their parents that they wanted to open up a savings account rather than the other way around. So from a young age, I imagine you had a lot of, you know, autonomy and self-growth. Anthony Renella (02:12) Yeah, yeah. Kelsey Willock (02:15) What was your first job and what did you do with your first paycheck, if you can recall? Anthony Renella (02:20) Yeah, my first job was in retail at a mall. And when I got my first paycheck, I realized what the impact was for taxes. So it was a lot smaller than I anticipated. So I ended up paying for gas with my first paycheck so I can get to work the next day and hopefully make more money. yeah, that was the first thing I remember doing was able to use the money to pay gas for me to be able to go back to work the next day. Kelsey Willock (02:49) It's always a brutal awakening, understanding that taxes will take quite a bit from you. I remember that exact same moment in my first paycheck. Didn't you owe me a bit more than this? Embarrassing purchase recently. Have you made any? Anthony Renella (03:05) Yes, I mean, I've probably made a few in my day. But more recently, I bought a really expensive pair of sneakers that are so nice. I actually don't want to wear them outside or get them ruined. So they've been sitting in the box. I open up the box, I look at them, I close the box. I have to figure out what to do with them. But I do love them. Maybe I'll put them on display if I'm allowed to. Yeah, so. But yeah, I'm a big basketball person, so I tend to buy expensive basketball sneakers, which I usually don't even end up wearing. yeah. Kelsey Willock (03:37) Yeah, I mean, you know, why own it if you can't use it, but I certainly there's been a couple pairs of clothes that I've purchased, especially shoes that I don't want to wear outside because they're too nice. So I can resonate. How do you think your money story has influenced how you think about pay and benefits for your employees? Anthony Renella (03:57) Yeah, I think you gotta take a holistic approach. It's not a one size fits all. People on different journeys in their career with organizations where they're more entry level, mid level, later in their career. So you got to respect that. knowing that, I think it's, being in a privileged position to help shape that for organizations, I think it's important to make sure that you have the right benefits package that really speaks to folks and making it inclusive so they can leverage that for themselves, whatever stage they're at. It looks differently when you have a family versus not having a family, and how you make benefits elections, for example. And also in terms of pay, you want to make sure that pay practices are fair. You are looking at the best and greatest ⁓ surveys and research data to create the best structures to make the best informed pay decisions. So I always took more of that approach when I look at total rewards package for employees. Kelsey Willock (05:03) You know, it's always great when people can bring in their own life and lived experiences into how they show up at work, recognizing their story might be very different from their employees or might be very similar. But having that holistic approach, I think, leads to just a far better experience for people. They're not just a number on a page. We're looking at that qualitative and quantitative data about them. Anthony Renella (05:27) Absolutely, looking at through more the lens of the employee versus just what others may be telling you what you should be doing for the organizations is always beneficial. Kelsey Willock (05:37) Right. So can we want to shift into talking a little bit more about today's challenges? There's certainly been many, many changes going on in HR landscape. Where do you think compensation and benefits are breaking down most often today? Anthony Renella (05:53) I think it's around probably about transparency and understanding rewards. Comp and Ben, I've been in this for a long time as I opened up with and it becomes a bit of a black hole. I think people know what they're getting paid, but maybe they don't know anything beyond that in terms of how much the employer is actually investing in them and whether it's towards their benefits cost, whether it's for 401k match if they have it, understanding a little bit more how much the companies actually putting towards the employee and investment helps. For example, if you're making, let's say, $100,000, you're saying, OK, I'm getting paid $100,000. But if the employer is putting in 30 % towards your medical, And if you get a bonus or if you get different types of incentives and, and so on, looks more like perhaps like 130, $140,000. So I think it's important for employees to know that because it's just beyond, beyond the paycheck, if you will, and what they're getting, it's actually, you know, if you take more of a total rewards approach, I think you could really help to understand a little bit more what goes into the investment in the person. So I think that does help. So. creating total report statements and publishing them and giving that to folks I think helps that story so organizations should probably be doing that more and more. ⁓ I haven't seen as much as I would like over my years but I think it's something we you know need to drive towards. Kelsey Willock (07:24) Have you found specific tools or have you found building these types of total reward statements in-house is the best way to more effectively communicate total rewards? Anthony Renella (07:35) Yeah, I think leveraging your HRS system and being able to pull data from the vendors and automating that is beneficial. ⁓ That way, and also payroll, leveraging your payroll. Folks get incentive pay or they get ⁓ some perks. Being able to pull that and putting that into a reward statement and embodying that into the HRS system has worked well. Kelsey Willock (08:01) And have you seen a difference between folks that really effectively understand their total reward versus people that really just think it's whatever my salary is my salary and that don't understand their entire benefits package? Do you see a difference in how they show up at work, those being the ones that feel empowered versus stuck, the ones that leave? Anthony Renella (08:23) Yeah, I think people are surprised sometimes to see that number ⁓ and how much more is being invested in them. And the breakdown, it's a little bit more telling. And also, I think they'll appreciate it a little bit more. ⁓ Even if I've seen it where, my company matches X, but my friends, they don't get a company match, or they get a lot less, and so forth. Or there's a certain perk that the company offers that we don't, maybe others don't have. So it makes a little bit more clear and if they feel better knowing it, kind of like knowledge is power and it makes them know that, okay, my organization that I work for is doing this for me, ⁓ or maybe I haven't gotten that in my previous employment or I haven't talked to others, maybe they're not getting it. So I think that is the difference that I'm seeing. Kelsey Willock (09:22) So shifting a little bit more into leadership and action, I'd love for you to share with us something that you're extremely proud of in terms of a change you've enacted that you've seen move from just attracting talent to really transforming the lives of your employees. Anthony Renella (09:38) Yeah, that one's actually pretty easy for me, I have to say. It's around cultivating ⁓ recognition. So I've had the privilege of designing and developing recognition programs for two very large global companies. And recognition, being praised for the work that you do, goes a very, very long way. Kelsey Willock (09:45) Mm. Anthony Renella (09:58) well beyond Compton Bend. People knowing that their work is being valued and recognized is tremendous shift in making them and how they show up and wanting them to come back. And I've had the privilege of seeing a lot of unsung heroes that have not been appreciated, if you will, for many, many years. And then once you have something, You have a really good sound recognition program that works well ⁓ and being able to give out recognition, whether it's peer to peer, top down, left, right, and having the tools in place to do that adds tremendous value. And also taking the time to really appreciate that person is tremendous. So it really does help cultivate a different type of culture. And a lot of organizations also tie that with their values. So that brings the values more to life. So it's just not words on paper. It really is cultivating that environment that you want. Kelsey Willock (10:54) I love that example because we so often hear from individuals, I want to make an impact. And it's really hard if not thought of really creatively and methodically, how do I help that person know that they have made an impact? And recognition, I imagine, is so key. Are there ways that you found recognition to be success or is it more, you know, a leadership cultural movement? Is it, you know, giving people awards and putting them on a stage and saying XYZ has done a phenomenal job, reached their sales goals? What does that look like? Anthony Renella (11:28) Yeah, a little bit of all the above. think you... The I've seen it where we've used tools on where you get like a social feed where people get recognized and people add to it. Let's say it's a group project and there were four or five folks that got recognized. You have people write an antidote about the project and the long nights and maybe the weekends and them collaborating and them thanking each other. ⁓ So I think that's definitely having a bit of a reward speed helps. think of it as like any other social media outlet, it's on a platform. Also used apps where people can do on the spot recognition. So you can go, if you see something, know, someone's done some great stuff, you can nominate them right there and then, and get approved. And usually it could be points-based, cash-based, depends on the, it's got to be appropriate, but at some point, even a simple thank you note, it has been ⁓ advantageous for people just to receive. So many, many different ways to do it, but more importantly, being able to bring forward that energy and effort to doing it is paramount. Kelsey Willock (12:40) And what's the measurable impact you're looking for when introducing a program like that? Is it engagement? Is it retention? Is it something else? Anthony Renella (12:49) Yeah, definitely is definitely engagement. And also. Honestly, I've tied it to performance as well. Like if you have someone who's getting a lot of awards, let's say, know, Jane, for example, who's gotten seven recognition awards and she's doing really well as well. The department loves her. She's, you know, has very high performance rating. Kind of tying that back is beneficial as well. And also being able to, it helps, you know, reduce turnover. People, when they feel valued, they want to stay, they're happier. ⁓ and you know, they're high performance, high achiever. It kind of gives you a little bit more clarity and you know, a little bit more data around that individual or individuals within the organization starts making a little bit more sense. Kelsey Willock (13:37) It's almost so obvious it hurts, but I've interviewed a lot of folks and that's the first time I've actually heard recognition as such an important tool. But as someone that left a previous employer not seeing their impact as directly, I think it makes a ton of sense. And it's a really great example that our listeners can take away tangibly to their own companies. So looking ahead. What compensation and benefits trends do you think will shape the employee experience most over the next year? Anthony Renella (14:12) Yeah, I think the top of my list is pay transparency. I don't think that's going away. I think we need to continue to understand it, whether there's a lot of laws behind it. Obviously, it's been around for a little bit. We want to make sure we're by from legally, also, more importantly too, or equally as important, is to really help folks understand why they're going to pay what they're getting paid. I think we talked about rewards and communication and transparency earlier. ⁓ Folks sometimes say, why am I getting paid what I'm getting paid? I don't understand it. So I think it's important to be able to break that down a little bit. Leaders need to do a better job, managers to explain to their folks, these are pay scales, we have salary structures, this is the midpoint of the range. So I think that helps to do that and being transparent. And also just it starts creating an environment of trust and equity. And it will also, I'm gonna go there, it does expose inequity, which I think needs to be addressed. You could do a lot of analytics and get that data, but unless you act on it and know, have a plan in order to bridge any gaps, what's the point of getting it if you're not gonna act on it over time? So I think those are the areas that will continuously, we need to press on and understand better. yeah, it works both ways. from an organizational perspective and an employee perspective. think pay transparency is one those areas that we could really focus on improving over time. Kelsey Willock (15:55) What kinds of buy-in do you need from leadership to make sure that they're keeping pay fair and empowering and how do you communicate that importance to them? Anthony Renella (16:08) Yeah, I think you definitely want it's culturally based. You know, I think there's this sometimes hesitation, you know, to to expose things and, you know, show things. I think once you get through that and kind of sell the purpose of it, it's not just to it's purposeful. Like we want to be able to see if there's inequities, is there pay gaps and then come up with with a plan. I think sometimes you know, if there is a gap, people are too quick to react and say, oh wait, what do we do? We have to act now. That's not necessarily the case. You wanna have a plan, depends on what it is, and sometimes it can be explained. So maybe, you know, certain pay gaps are justifiable because of experience or someone's new in the role and so forth, which is okay. You wanna be within a healthy range of a comp ratio. If you have a really good... pay philosophy usually you say plus or minus 10 % from a midpoint range. You want to pay between 80 to 120 % of the midpoint. So management, understanding that a little bit more, I think everyone wants to do the right thing. So I think that helps. And having the data to show, we're good, or there's areas of gap here, and having a formulated plan and taking those steps and actions is digestible over time. And it's a bit of a win-win for both the company and the person involved. Kelsey Willock (17:35) specific tools or datasets that you're using to ensure that you're keeping pay fair and equitable? Anthony Renella (17:43) Yeah, there's a lot of pay equity models. It's been advanced quite a bit. So we do have a tool that looks at that. But more so, you know, comes up with recommendations in order to bridge any gaps as well. I mentioned HRS systems as well. I think you want to leverage that. Being able to load your salary structures, being able to do some merit matrices during merit planning time, looking at more of an integrated way of looking at pay helps as well. So yeah, there's a lot out there. There's a lot of different tools out there. So you wanna be mindful which one you pick and which one makes sense. You can get the full range where they do the analysis, the regression analysis, they look at your pay penetration and then make recommendations or maybe organizations wanna just look at, know, potentially if there's gaps and then, you know, leave it at that versus the full suite of options. But ⁓ yeah. That's a tool you probably should invest in if you don't and you should keep that in place for, it's not just a one-time thing, it's a continuous. I look at it where it's just as advantageous as having the correct salary structures to continuously look at pay equity over time. Kelsey Willock (18:59) Anthony, thank you so much for joining us today. I learned so much from this conversation. And as a quick recap, some of the great things I learned from you is that transparency and understanding total rewards can really be a black hole, but it's incredibly important to help effectively communicate to your employee what you as the employer are actually investing in them on a holistic basis. And total reward statements can be a great way to do so. I also loved how you talked about how important recognition can go and even beyond just compensation and benefits alone. And then lastly, you had mentioned that pay transparency is going to be the biggest trend coming over the next year. So we're folks understand why they're getting paid, what they're getting paid is going to continue to be extremely important. So lastly, can you please let our listeners know when and where they can best connect with you after this conversation? Anthony Renella (19:54) Yeah, I'm predominantly on LinkedIn, so that's a good way to find me. Kelsey Willock (20:01) Fabulous. Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week, Anthony, and thank you so much for joining us. Anthony Renella (20:07) Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Take care.