Sales Force Compensation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sales Force Compensation - Assignment Example The company deals in beauty, fashion Jewelry and apparel. It has one of the largest salespeople in the world approximated at 6.5 million. The company has over 120 years in the industry with a strong financial background and resources to pull its operations. With a clear, well structured, multi-level compensation plan, the company has continued to attract and retain its salespeople making it a highly competitive firm. In order to motivate the sales force to produce the highest number of clients, describe six (6) features of an effective total rewards program. Rewards for many decades have been used primarily as a necessary evil in the attraction and retention of employees. However many studies suggest that there is no direct link between rewards and employee performance although research shows that the absence of it demotivates employees (Robillard, 2008: O'Halloran, 2012). This has thus led to the need to implement total rewards strategy that could be used to drive business success. Such a program could be used by the organization in addressing some of the challenging issues in the 21st century such as aging workforce, competition in the market place, influence of globalization on firms and the need to operate effectively in different business strategies such as in mergers and acquisitions (Armstrong, 2010). A total rewards program includes the overall value proposition that a firm provides to its employees. Such a package includes compensation which includes: basic pay, short term incentives and long term incentives; benefits which include health, retirement, work/life benefits; and careers which include such things as training and development, lateral moves, stretch assignments and career incentives (Manas & Graham, 2003). An effective total reward system has the following key features: first it has a mix of both monetary and non-monetary rewards (Asinof, 2006). The monetary rewards include compensation in the form of base pay, overtime pay, short term and lo ng term incentives, cash profit sharing, bonuses, commissions among others. The non-monetary rewards include such things as benefits which entail health and group benefits, retirement, paid off, work/ life programs, death benefits and prerequisites (Moynihan & Wells, 2011). Secondly, such a strategy must be aligned to the business strategy of the organization. Depending on the nature of the business strategy adopted by the organization, the strategy should be effective. A reward strategy has the power of minimizing on driving organizational performance and thus an effective total reward strategy must be able to support the overall business strategy to ensure performance. Third, such a strategy must match organizational resources and capabilities. It would be ineffective to design a total reward strategy which is overboard and which organizational resources cannot support. It would also be demeaning and inappropriate to have a strategy that is below what the organization can offer in terms of financial resources and capabilities. Fourth, an effective strategy is one that delivers rewards that drive specific behaviors necessary to achieve organizational objectives (Zingheim & Schuster, 2004). If for example, Avon Products, Inc. has a target of selling one million cosmetic products in one month, the reward strategy should be designed such that it motivates the salespeople to find clients. This could be through bonuses, incentives or a paid holiday trip! This communicates something to