It is this ever-changing world that is altering the business environment at such a rapid rate and employers are having to come up with more creative incentives for employees – hence this new term Variable Remuneration.  Craig France, Executive Consultant for 21st Century explains what Variable Remuneration actually is and why it is a necessity in today’s competitive business atmosphere. 

“Remuneration has always meant getting paid for a job that you do, however, in today’s business world where your good employees are being poached, are easily distracted by the social media platforms and what else may be out there, or are not feeling adequately appreciated, remuneration has had to change and evolve and now needs to come in various forms – hence the term Variable Remuneration,” explains France. 

“It is, however, very difficult for an employer who has to manage and direct a business in its entirety, every day, to think up creative, valuable and appropriate rewards for their employees.” Hence the meteoric rise of 21st Century – a Variable Remuneration driven consultancy that assists employers in effecting proper solutions that will not only keep the employee career driven but will also motivate them to do better, strive further and achieve more. 

At 21st Century, France consults on anything to do with Variable Remuneration.  “There is so much jargon these days and so many changes, but it is important for everyone – employer and employee to properly understand this new phrase.” 

“It is used to motivate and drive behaviours towards achieving a company’s strategic objectives. These vary from the very short-term, such as achieving monthly sales targets (via sales commissions), to the short/medium term, such as achieving annual profitability targets (via bonus or profit-share interests), to the longer-term, such as delivering superior returns to shareholders (via phantom or physical shares).”

“I have financial qualifications as well as experience in the corporate world of finance and tax. These skills and experience equip me to understand a client’s strategic objectives, and then to build financial models that can do a “deep-dive” into a company’s financial performance scenarios and then design incentive plans that will deliver the appropriate levels of reward for the levels of performance delivered.  My tax experience is also vital as there are strict tax laws that employers need to properly understand when giving this Variable Remuneration – hence the importance of using an experienced agency such as 21st Century.”

“You need to understand that every client is different, they all have unique needs – even companies in the same industry need different strategies and objectives. This means that no two solutions are the same and I am continually having to be creative and deliver a bespoke solution for each project. This adds to keeping 21st Century at the cutting edge of all that we do.”

An employer should never be complacent, should never assume and should never neglect their employee’s needs – the needs of the team affects the needs of the business, and an unappreciated team will reflect an unhappy business.“If you think about it Variable Remuneration is important in any relationship – a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates for your loved one never did any harm!  And business is all about relationships – keep those flourishing and your bottom line will follow,” he concludes.

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Issued By: The Lime EnvelopeOn Behalf Of: 21st Century

For Media InformationSarah Martin / Bronwyn LevyTelephone: 011 467-9233/8998E-mail: sarah@thelime.co.za / bronwyn@thelime.co.za