Instead, increasing pensions costs has entered the top 10 list of concerns for the first time.
For the second year in a row, the top concern remains that ‘employees don’t appreciate the value of the total reward offering’, and ‘reward not engaging employees’ has moved to second place from seventh last year.
Other reward risks that have become more important include ‘employees don’t understand performance and behaviour requirements’, ‘incentives not motivating’ and ‘inability to communicate desired performance and behaviours’.
Charles Cotton, rewards adviser at the CIPD, said: “It’s encouraging to see reward professionals thinking more strategically about rewarding the behaviours and performance that contribute to business success, but attracting and retaining key talent is always crucial – in the good times and the bad… Reward professionals shouldn’t be too complacent while they wait for the economy to pick up.”
He added: “If the top risk remains that ‘employees do not appreciate the value of the total reward offering’, then HR needs to ask what is doing to manage this concern? HR and reward professionals need to recognise that there are many inherent risks in how employers reward and recognise their employees. The profession must act strategically and collaboratively to identify the various ways in which a poorly designed or implemented reward strategy, coupled with external factors such as changes in the economy or regulatory framework, could put their organisation at risk.”
The CIPD’s third annual Reward risks survey was carried out between 30 July and 7 August 2012. Almost 300 senior reward professionals responded to the survey.
