|
|
The
SZA Difference
Ask employees at Pharmavite
LLC, a leader in the supplement industry and manufacturer of Nature Made®
vitamins and minerals, about how their performance management program has
helped them understand their impact on the business and in focusing and
rewarding them on achieving business goals and living the Company’s
values. Or ask leaders how the reward strategy and performance management
program play an integral role in achieving business results and helping
the organization progress on the continuum of “good” to “great.”
And let Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (Arizona Public Service), a
high-performance electric utility, talk about their officer compensation
plan that is both reasonable and goal-directed, avoiding any criticism
from shareholders, board members, or customers due to competitive and
reasonable executive rewards.
Solectron, a two-time Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient,
enhances quality and team performance as a result of incentive pay focused
on both quality and production effectiveness. Ask Solectron how
performance actually improved following implementation of a team-based
incentive plan.
Have employees and leaders at TriWest Healthcare Alliance that holds the
10th largest DoD contract in the United States share their total reward
strategy and how all of the elements integrate into a meaningful whole.
They can talk about the role that variable compensation for the entire
workforce plays in customer satisfaction and on focusing and strengthening
the organization.
And ask telephone
customer service representatives at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona
if they appreciate the opportunity to have a fulfilling work experience on
the phones through a career ladder, a team incentive, and
recognition.
Ask employees at Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County, the
second largest non-federal hydroelectric facility in the United States,
how an entire workforce can be focused on key measures of success to
customer/owners that are communicated publicly. And they will say how the
entire workforce can share in the success of a public utility district in
terms of effective rate management and operational excellence while
providing outstanding customer service, environmental stewardship, and
responsiveness to the community.
Ask executives at Giant Eagle how a unionized retail workforce of over
30,000 can be rewarded for key measures of customer satisfaction, sales,
and cost management through effective and meaningful incentive rewards.
Or ask members of the workforce of other clients and they will probably
cite the change in pay systems, among other elements. A pay system alone
doesn’t do the job—but it helps.
Results such as these, with Fortune 1,000 companies as well as small and
medium-sized firms, set SZA apart as the best of the small,
customer-focused firms in the pay and total rewards field.
What's
the Secret?
Actually,
the principles on which we base our work are distinctive, but in no way
proprietary. In fact, we have published our approach in books and journal
articles and explained our methods in various presentations around the
world. It's part of our way of "talking straight" with people.
And an educated and informed client is going to get the most from our
services.
Here are some of the guiding principles:
|
|
|
Total rewards comprised of
compelling future, individual growth, positive workplace, and
total pay form the foundation of the modern workplace. Companies
have the opportunity to customize total rewards to create a
platform for high performance. |
|
|
|
Total pay is one critical
factor among many. When used effectively, pay has a unique power:
it focuses people's energy and talents on goals that matter as
part of the company's overall business plan. |
|
|
|
Base pay gives people a
clear concept of what knowledge, skills, and behaviors are
important for business success and rewards people for their
sustained value-added to the organization over time. |
|
|
|
Variable pay (incentives)
rewards people for the results they produce from applying their
skills and competencies. |
|
|
|
Through goals, people should
be able to see how their results and the results of their smaller
work groups influence performance at the broader unit, division,
or company level. |
|
|
|
Funding for variable pay
(incentives) should come from improved financial performance at
the group, business unit, or company level—not from a
predetermined HR budget. |
|
|
|
While any change in pay
requires extensive involvement from people and line and human
resource managers, a high-quality solution can be developed
quickly and efficiently. The sooner a company has a new solution
in place, the sooner it gains a differential advantage. |
|
|
|
"Formula
solutions" to pay based on "canned programs" or on
rigid applications of these or any other abstract principles
invariably fail. Rather, the solution must be tailored to fit the
company’s other systems and clearly linked to business strategy. |
So
What Makes SZA Different?
Our
core competencies come from understanding your company's strategies and
core competencies and from working with your organization to tailor a
solution, based on the principles listed above, that truly adds value to
your business.
We develop a strong sense of ownership in each solution we help
design—and this feeling of ownership sets us apart from the "sell
and delegate" approach used by others. With SZA you work with the
owners of the business and a team that has been working together for over
23 consecutive years. We are here for you today and tomorrow. We believe
in developing solutions that are durable and flexible and, unlike many
other consulting companies, we transfer our expertise to your staff,
giving them the expertise they need to evolve the solution.
The SZA consultants have worked together in SZA as business partners for
more than 21 years. Our name is on the firm. We are committed to high
quality, responsiveness, and the highest level of ethics in our
profession. You will never hear of SZA consultant involvement in anything
that is not consistent with the highest governance expectations you can
place on a total rewards consulting team.
We measure our success by monitoring the client company's business results
and financial performance after our work is done. SZA’s owners have both
received the 2006 Keystone Award, the highest award from our professional
association, WorldatWork. Only 17 others have received this Award for
contributions to our profession, and we are the first consulting team to
ever receive this Award.
|
