Total Rewards Project Memo
Congratulations on your appointment as VP of Total Rewards for Business Express. Business Express is an internet office supply company headquartered in Denver Colorado. They have no brick and mortar outlets and derive all of their sales through internet, telephone or sales rep generated orders. Business Express has customers throughout the continental US and Canada. While most customers are business purchasing supplies for their organization about 25% of Business Express sales come from individual consumers.
Business express was founded in 2005 and has grown at double digit annual rates. When the company was founded the HR processes including compensation were not well thought out, defined or delivered. As a result, there is no clear rationale or structure to what employees get paid and whether their compensation package is competitive from both an internal and external basis. In addition, there is a question as to whether the pay practices conform to Federal and State Law. Senior management has concerned that the compensation strategy does not engage employees, does not align and drive performance consistent with company goals and objectives and does not focus employees on customer engagement.
You have been hired to completely revamp the Total Rewards plan for the Company and senior management has given you a great deal of leeway to develop a recommended plan. They are expecting you to develop and recommend a detailed Total Rewards strategy and plan. Senior management is expecting you to present your written recommendation on the last night of class. Your presentations should be a formal, business-style presentation of your Total Rewards Plan. This presentation should be no longer than 15 slides in length.
Your Total Rewards plan should be tailored to address the various, distinct areas (executive management, administrative office, sales and warehouse/shipping) of the company as each area may require a different approach. Your plan should address the concerns raised by management (employee engagement, internal/external parity, drive performance consistent with company goals and objectives, connect employees with customers), ensure legal compliance and employee retention. Though there is no expectation that your plan with contain detail plans of benefits, etc. your plan should contain sufficient detail to thoroughly explain your thinking to senior management. You should include the justification for your recommendation in your written recommendation.
Your total grade potential for this project is 150 points: 120 points for the written recommendation and 20 points for the in-class presentation. Online students in lieu of a class presentation should submit a slide deck that would reflect what they would discuss in an in-class presentation. Grade assignment will be based on the thoroughness and soundness of the recommendation, your justification for the plan and your ability to convey your thoughts in writing to management. The oral presentation should not exceed 15 minutes and will be graded based on your ability to deliver the message to management along with the effectiveness of the communication aids used in the presentation.

As you progress in developing your Total Rewards Plan, management has asked that you provide them with a serious of briefings regarding a number of issues that are implicit in developing the Plan. These briefings should be 3-4 pages in length and are designed to provide management with a working knowledge of the background issues surrounding your project. The written briefings are each worth 50 points and grading will be based on content and writing ability. The following is a brief overview of each briefing along with the respective due date:

Management Briefing #1 – Overview Of Legal Requirements/Issues:. Write a briefing to management summarizing the key legal issues that need to be taken into consideration when determining employee compensation and in building a compensation structure.