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Rebalancing the Employee Value Exchange
Abstract
As employers prepare for the future, it is critical that their people strategies include reexamining and improving the strength and balance of their employee value exchange: the combination of rewards employees get (both intrinsic and extrinsic) and the expectations of performance and engagement that employers set for employees. Several conditions make the near-term future a good time to correct any imbalances that have developed in an organization's employee value exchange and prepare for a stronger economic environment:
- Unemployment is high, and it may be years before most organizations can expect to experience an overall talent shortage. As a result, while some roles remain hard to fill, others are more fungible.
- Employees' intentions to leave their jobs and their sense of job security have both decreased. As the economy improves, they may begin to act on their pent-up desires to "find greener pastures."
- Some reward programs that have been delayed or cut back may reemerge. Because employee expectations have been reduced, ineffective programs – those that do not balance the employee value exchange – can be reevaluated.
Sibson Consulting thinks that despite all the challenges, disarray and ambiguity that organizations now face, this is the time to break the mold rather than wait and hope the old formulas will work again. With that in mind, this article offers an overview of several strategies for rebalancing the employee value exchange.