BACKGROUND
For the majority of companies out there, their biggest expense is talent compensation. Based on this fact, it is absolutely critical to have a robust and efficient solution to manage and plan compensation cycles, and not rely on email and spread sheets. Many companies have opt for the solution SuccessFactors offers through their Compensation and Variable Pay modules which allows to run comprehensive and accurate processes, ensures engagement and fairness, and allows visibility and insight for the compensation analysis.
PROBLEM
Based on my experience implementing and supporting the compensation module across a wide variety of companies, I have found that after the initial implementation, which in many cases turns to be very expensive and complex, there is not much effort to maintain and enhance some of the new functionality of the module.
This is understandable from the standpoint that if a process is already set in place, and the solution allows the process to run smoothly and with no issues, why would someone look at changing anything on it. Nobody likes change; however, I could argue that processes and software have to be reviewed and analyzed on an ongoing basis to accommodate structural and process changes in organizations and adopt new technologies and enhancements that can help to improve current practices.
One of the newer components in the SuccessFactors Compensation module I have realized not many companies take advantage of is the Compensation Profile functionality.
SOLUTION
The Compensation Profile, just as the name suggest is a profile type screen that displays compensation information about an employee. If we think about it, when a planner gets a compensation worksheet to perform the planning for his/her direct reports, he is able to see the entire team in one screen; however, the actual planning is done person by person.
[COMPENSATION WORKSHEET]
Having the Compensation Profile set up allows to see historical compensation data about the employee, see, in a much user friendly, the information necessary to make an educated decisions about the employee’s compensation, and actually recommend the changes in the compensation package.
The Compensation Profile is composed by 3 sections:
1. Employee demographical information such as Division, Department, Hire date, etc.
2. Salary positioning which displays information related to Compa-ratio and Range Penetration.
3. Recommendation which displays salary information (bonus and stock if applicable), and allows to perform the planning.
In conclusion, companies spend a lot of money licensing and implementing SuccessFactors modules in particular the Compensation Module. It is very evident that many SuccessFactors administrators or support partners do not take a proactive approach to some of the new functionality coming with every SuccessFactors Quarterly Release, resulting in a miss of value for each dollar spent.
The Compensation Profile in particular is a very nice enhancement to the SuccessFactors Compensation Module that allows planners to perform the actual compensation planning in a much more efficient way along with supporting compensation historical data, and a “better” user interface.