GEICO Total Rewards Program Analysis - Essay Example

? A view on GEICO’s Total Rewards Program Careers.gieco.com Introduction: GEICO has transformed into an all-inclusive rewarding organization. Its main aim is to provide an earnest care to its associates. In fact this program has been designed to be way of the future that defines a revitalizing social and financial solution to its associates. Present social and economical cycles of our lives have not remained impregnable to the unfortunate changes in our ambiance. Thus to curtail such a domino effect, the program offered, concentrates on many domains that cover well being of a full time GEICO associate. Of a lot number of benefits, even few elements shall bring, aspirants, home about the benefits they can enjoy. Health and well being, that is in itself a complete program, is a well designed plan for its associates. The well being and health of the full time associate is covered 360 degrees making it perfect set of benefits. Education and training program, with, GEICO, is a lifelong learning opportunity that cares for career development coupled with trainings, tuition reimbursements and even family scholarships. Finance and retirement benefits are reinforced by astounding plan of profit sharing and variety of plans with over 20 investment options. For holidays and other leaves GEICO provides a plan that can help contentment for its associates. Similarly, family and life program and other perquisites along with a bunch of amenities are a great convenience. At GEICO the notion that family requirements should be understood to create affinity among the company and the associate is a way to integrate its associate well. The dependents of associates are also cared for and numbers of programs have been formed for the purpose. In these programs, long term care insurance plan, adoption assistance, associate assistance program are few that need a mention. Under associate assistance program GEICO provides up to three phone and/or in-person counseling sessions without any cost. AAP also includes work-life balance programs, baby welcome program, day care and elder care referrals, counseling for stress, anxiety and depression, and financial counseling, aid during crisis situation and legal consultation. To evaluate such perks are not only important for integrating its associates with the company, but also to make them realize that the relationship is symbiotic. In this paper a comparison of GEICO Total Rewards Program is being made with top advantages of Total Rewards program. Total Rewards program is now, known as an integrated part of HR best practices with a view of employee retention and satisfaction. The World-at-Work Handbook of Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards by John Wiley is perhaps a definitive guide to compensation and benefits from modern HR professionals. In accordance with the best practices, the management must be vigilant enough to attract, motivate and retain quality employees. This manual provides for an indispensable method to make HR professionals comprehend and implement Total Rewards concept (Bus.iastate.edu). GEICO plan in comparison to Total Rewards Program: In Total Rewards program organizational culture, business strategy and Human Resource strategy are key players that shape overall planning, initiated through this program. It includes above mentioned plans that primarily attract, motivate and retain employees. It is an employee centric program that causes satisfaction and dedication only for the purpose of better business and performance results. It can be seen from the offers under this GEICO Total Rewards Plan that the initiative is more likely to achieve “benchmark and standards of Total Rewards Plan”. They are far sighting and can be termed as closer to an excellent level (Awlp.org). To analyze the program, let us see the advantages that are important for an organization to maintain its integrity and lead: No single element is left isolated, meaning that all elements are taken care of, yet certain “elements are prioritized” according to the plan. To understand this practice let us see an example. We see that the salaries are given higher ranking that contribute to a sense of fulfillment for an employee. This can make difference in a sense that whether an employee stays or leaves. Similarly some employees have focus on matters like growth, environment, job security etc. Thus for certain strategies and locale priority may include salary only, but in Total rewards plans non-financial matters are also prioritized (Humancapitalreview.org). The next advantage of the total rewards plan is that it provides a way to understand needs of the GEICO associates. This is directly related to motivation and satisfaction of the employees. It helps in taking initiatives for understanding certain organizational problems. These include matters like how well the organizational hierarchy exists and those matters that are related to its interactive model for horizontal and vertical communication. It also provides for the assessment process that has been made bidirectional rather simple appraisals, which were not all-inclusive in nature during the past. Thus, total rewards program is more than a specialized approach for managing procedures of compensation and benefits problems. Another advantage of Total rewards program is the use of a market surveys. This helps in maintaining that the remunerations and perks that are being offered are market competitive. To have maximum retention and satisfaction within, it is important to achieve such a program integrated in “HR strategy” (Raj, 2010). Over burdening and over expecting can lead to dismantling of the employee’s retention and motivation. The assessment strategy is all inclusive to make wiser assessments of the associates. To the problem of flexibility of the plan, offers within the Total Rewards plan are of great importance. It is pertinent to have employees at ease, as far as the committed perks and privileges are concerned. Such offers are also a successful way that will be able to increase the turn-over and greater hiring and retaining capability. It has not only reduced overall cost of exercises related to transaction of employees, but has also helped in revisiting of the components of the program. Evaluating GEICO’s Total Rewards Plan: Total Rewards Plan as offered by GEICO is an epitome to the practical application of the above mentioned advantages. Yet there is always room for improvement. The sectors that may include improvement are designing of the assessment procedures and the planning for the offers within the plan. It can also offer performance driven plans. It will not only boost the confidence of the employees but also provide a chance for them to be high achievers. To understand the notion, a real case scenario of an uneasy associate should be used who is specifically worked up by the choice of plan and assessment methodology of the program by GEICO. In such cases these two areas can be focused upon for further improvements. Areas of Improvement: The plan offered by GEICO is a well plied upon plan that is with flexible offers. It can be said that HRM will be able to utilize best use of this strategy for compensations, benefits and improving work experience. Work experience is an area that calls for constant improvement and caring. It also directs balance between work, personal life, development of career and personal and the environment. The point here is to accentuate the importance of working environment and experience. It is deemed as far more powerful for an employee to keep intact as an associate. GEICO’s plan should evolve and focus into environment related matters. In one way or the other targeting the “turnover issues” that usually sprout due to ineffective leadership, poor relationship with the peers, other work related problems should be part of the plan. If these issues are addressed by making the plan even more enhanced by putting a grading system and KPIs based offers, it can in fact revolutionize the concept of TRP (Americanbar.org). It will not only increase the confidence of the associates but will also help in fostering a healthy competing environment among them. With such improvements, it could be made possible that the business strategy, human resource strategy and organizational culture can forge a very successful combination for a robust and resilient business goals and objects. References Careers.geico.com (n.d.). GEICO Careers | Total Rewards Program. Retrieved from http://careers.geico.com/about-geico/total-rewards-program/ Bus.iastate.edu (n.d.). Total Rewards and Compensation. Retrieved from http://www.bus.iastate.edu/emullen/mgmt471/Ch12powerpoint.ppt Awlp.org (n.d.). What is total rewards: Alliance for work-life progress. Retrieved from http://www.awlp.org/awlp/about/html/aboutus-whatis.html Humancapitalreview.org (n.d.). Human Capital Review - The top five advantages of a total rewards approach. Retrieved from http://www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?Article_ID=291 Raj, P. (2010, October). HR Matters | The Benefits of a Total Rewards Approach. Retrieved from http://www.hr-matters.info/feat2010/2010.oct.07.htm Americanbar.org (n.d.). YourABA: April 2012 | Five reasons for employee turnover and strategies for overcoming them. Retrieved from http://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/youraba/201204article04.html Read More