Communication Satisfaction in the Virtual Workplace - Coursework Example

 Communication Satisfaction in the Virtual Workplace An organization’s compensation strategy generates its potential to attract and retain top talent by differentiating it from others in the job market. This makes the compensation strategy a significant aspect of the organization’s overall human resource (HR) strategy while maintaining control over personnel budget (Hill, Ferris, & Martinson, 2009). To this end, an organization’s overall competitive compensation strategy can be improved by innovations that are designed to be as dynamic as the employees’ changing lifestyles as well as their working environments. Such innovations are capable of engaging, encouraging and supporting employees in their commitment to duty, which ultimately improves performance. By facilitating different approaches towards employees, innovations in employee benefits help the organization improve its overall competitive compensation strategy by enabling it to present itself uniquely from other organizations. Organizations can tie innovative benefits to specific jobs by primarily considering factors such as what the job description of each group of employees entails. Age is also a critical factor. This stems from the understanding that a certain innovative plan may be significant to one group and meaningless to another. For instance, fitness group membership would not be considered as priority for field officers who traverse the width of the state while on duty as it would be for those who spend long hours behind computers. Similarly, young adults below 30 would consider mortgages and car loans or grants to be more significant than healthcare or retirement packages while in contrast, the elderly and less active would be tied to retirement benefits (Swanberg, McKechnie, & James, 2011). Critically assessing the effectiveness of equity-based versus creative-approach reward systems reveals that they both depend on an organization’s communication strategy as well as employees’ personal perceptions. Employees have a right to equity-based rewards since it is basically what they enter into contract with employers to earn. The effectiveness of equity-based rewards is reflected in the manner in which they incorporate the interests of shareholders, organizations and employees (Worldatwork, 2010). The key objectives of equity-based rewards include obtaining tax advantages and conserving resources while motivating optimum performance by employees. On the other hand, innovative benefits include rewards that are over and above directly earned pay. Inasmuch as they may be viewed as additional expenditure by organizations, they are an effective way of building employee commitment. They thrive on their characteristic of affording employees quality time for personal and family life while they deliver extra benefits (Worldatwork, 2010). While both systems are designed to draw (and retain) talent towards the organization, the effectiveness will depend on how each is communicated by the organization and how the employees receive it. Indeed, different employer and employee groups have different interests; others are more concerned with money while others with their personal and family lives. It is up to the organization to create a culture of dual focus, which means the effectiveness will also be linked to individual organizations’ business objectives. Total rewards programs essentially entail retaining at a productive level both employee and financial performance. Since employee talent cannot be alienated from an organization’s success, their participation in the integration of innovation into traditional total rewards programs, which, ironically, did not feature employee inclusion, is imperative. It follows, then, that the key elements to be considered after employee engagement include total compensation, which is made up of base pay and incentives; work-life balance; benefits; and training aimed at opportunities in both personal and career growth. With proper designing, these elements can seamlessly work alongside most corporate cultures (Akkirman & Harris, 2005). Base pay easily forms the most significant element of total rewards strategies and should be made as competitive as possible depending on talent, skills and qualifications. Incentives can be termed as extra earnings on top of what employees, especially in the manufacturing and construction industries, receive for prescribed job outputs. By defining individual activities precisely, incentives can be paid accordingly. Considering the benefits element, employers should provide, for example, social security, medical benefits, short and long term disability benefits, dental plans, holidays and paid time off to employees. If well designed, the benefits element should offer employees an array of alternatives to choose from; be tax-effective; and maintain optimal package costs. Ideally, such a design will exhibit an appreciation of employee interests and the will by the employer to improve their lives (Swanberg, McKechnie, & James, 2011). The work-life balance element offers great flexibility to the organization with minimal indirect costs. For example, some organizations may face challenges paying basic salaries above market levels. In such scenarios, innovations such as telecommuting, flexible scheduling and elder or childcare centers can be integrated into traditional total rewards programs to offer both employers and employees unique and affordable ways of managing both employment and family life (Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). Therefore, the work-life balance element delivered customized benefit plans to individual requirements. The recommended process to optimize an employee-based suggestion program to refresh an organization’s total rewards continually would be based on two key components: technology and a refined reporting hierarchy. Technology would change the way products and services are produced and marketed to consumers. It should be made clear to employees that automation is not a replacement for them but rather, a way of making their work lighter, bearable, safer and enjoyable. This will afford them more time to use their skills to innovate improved products and services of which the same technology can be used in interactive marketing such as email and the internet. On the other hand, the refined reporting hierarchy will be designed to create adaptive frameworks that can fit with both internal and external market forces. Internally, both top-down and down-top communication will be encouraged, which essentially forms a cyclic feedback chain without intimidating employees at any level. Externally, the sales and marketing teams should be given client accounts to which they are committed and manage throughout the business cycle. Progress can then be communicated to supervisors and others along the internal hierarchy, making sure no gaps arise. These two strategies have the potential to develop employees that remain fully committed to their performance, the management and the organization so long as employee participation is encouraged at different levels of decision making. References Akkirman, A., & Harris, D. (2005). Organizational communication satisfaction in the virtual workplace. Journal of Management Development, 24(3), 397-409. Gajendran, R., & Harrison, D. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1524-1541. Hill, E., Ferris, M., & Martinson, V. (2009). Organizational behavior. New York: McGraw. Swanberg, J., McKechnie, S., & James, J. (2011). Schedule control, supervisor support and work engagement: A winning combination for workers in hourly jobs. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(3), 613-624. Worldatwork (2010). The handbook of total rewards implementation and integration. 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