Highlighting Value through a Total Compensation Statement

 
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When thinking about financial compensation, most employees only consider salary. As an employer, however, you know that your financial contribution to staff is much greater than that. If you can better communicate the full value of staff compensation, you can improve both employee engagement and retention.

One way to demonstrate the value of your school’s benefits and compensation package to staff is through a total compensation statement. These statements inform employees of both their direct and indirect compensation. Prospective staff should receive this statement with their initial job offer. Existing staff should receive an updated version annually when offers for the upcoming school year are made.

The statement can look like this:

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A total compensation statement typically contains the following categories:

Direct Compensation

  • Base pay/overtime

  • Bonuses/incentive pay

Indirect Compensation: Taxes

  • Social security & Medicare tax

  • Unemployment insurance

  • Paid Family Leave

  • Workers’ compensation insurance

Indirect Compensation: Benefits

  • Health, dental, and vision insurance

  • Life and disability insurance

  • Health Savings Accounts

  • Flexible Spending Accounts

  • Retirement plan contributions

  • Accrued paid time off (PTO/Vacation time)

  • Educational assistance

  • Relocation expenses

It can be daunting to develop systems to gather, quantify and distribute this information in a way that is customized to each staff member. Nevertheless, the amount of time and resources required to communicate the full financial investment the school is making in each individual is worth it. The increase in transparency and quantifying the full extent of compensation is one tool that can ultimately lead to higher staff retention and engagement.

Human CapitalDan Theisen1-30