Total reward: time to redefine or retire this jargon in the post-pandemic economy?

Should reward professionals consider alternative terms to total reward which might better summarise and communicate reward strategy?

In this paper, Duncan Brown, principal associate at IES, asks whether ‘total reward’ it is becoming an increasingly anachronistic and inaccurate term, and if we need to find alternative descriptors which better characterise the priorities and components that need to be in our reward strategies.

Contents
Total reward?... page 2
Reward and HR ‘heroes’... page 2
Total reward: how we got here... page 3
Total reward: the problems... page 5
Covid-19 and why our total reward approaches need to change post-pandemic... page 6
The move back to reward as security and welfare, rediscovering ‘boring benefits’... page 6
The emphasis on health and wellbeing… page 8
‘It’s the pay – Stupid’; … and fairness and financial wellbeing... page 10
Conclusions on the future for total rewards... page 13