Four principles behind
every plan we build.
Compensation plan design is not just about what you pay - it is about the system you build around pay decisions. Every plan we design is built on four non-negotiable principles that determine whether it will actually work in practice.
Aligned to strategy, not just market
Pay should reinforce your organizational strategy - not just reflect what competitors pay. We begin every engagement by understanding what behaviors and outcomes your compensation plan needs to drive, then design the structure backward from those goals.
Simple enough that people understand it
A compensation plan that employees cannot understand cannot influence their behavior. Complexity is not sophistication; it is a design failure. Every plan we deliver is tested against one question: Can the person it applies to calculate what they will earn before they act?
Internally equitable and legally defensible
Every plan must be defensible to employees, regulators, and in litigation. We build in FLSA compliance review, pay equity analysis, and documentation standards that help ensure compensation decisions can withstand scrutiny from any direction.
Built to be administered, not just delivered
Most compensation plans fail in year two because the organization does not know how to administer them consistently. We design the salary administration guidelines, decision authority framework, and annual review process into every engagement so the plan does not erode after we leave.
Salary Structure Design
A well-designed salary structure organizes jobs into grades and ranges that reflect both market value and internal equity. We build structures with clear minimums, midpoints, and maximums for each grade, giving you a consistent framework for hiring offers, promotions, and merit increases - and a defensible basis for every pay decision.
- Compensation philosophy and market position definition
- Market survey integration and benchmarking
- Range penetration and compa-ratio analysis
- Pay grade and salary range design
- Internal benchmark job identification
- Implementation cost modeling and phasing
Incentive Plan Design
Incentive plans are the mechanism through which your compensation strategy either reinforces or undermines organizational goals. A well-designed incentive plan encourages the behaviors you need; a poorly designed one rewards the wrong activity, creates unintended payout scenarios, and often demotivates the people it is meant to motivate. We design incentive plans holistically, integrating base salary, variable pay, and noncash recognition into a total compensation framework that is coherent, motivating, and financially predictable.
- Annual incentive plan (AIP) design and mechanics
- Performance metric selection and weighting
- Spot award and non-cash recognition programs
- Payout threshold, target, and maximum design
- Plan documentation and communication materials
- Feasibility analysis and cost modeling
Executive Incentive Plans
Executive incentive plans have fundamentally different requirements from staff plans - they must be tied to pre-established strategic performance objectives, aligned with board governance requirements, and designed with the governance documentation your compensation committee needs for IRS and regulatory compliance. We design executive incentive plans that motivate key leaders, deliver results for stakeholders, and hold up to the heightened scrutiny that executive compensation attracts.
- Strategic performance objective design and weighting
- Board and compensation committee governance alignment
- Performance-linked payout structure design
- Total cash and variable pay mix optimization
- IRS Section 4958-compliant documentation
- Peer benchmarking and market competitiveness analysis
Short and Long-Term Incentive Plans
Short-term incentive plans drive near-term performance and reward current-year results. Long-term incentive plans align executive and leadership behavior with the organization's multi-year strategic goals, build retention through deferred value, and signal to key employees that the organization is investing in their long-term future. We design both, and the relationship between them - so your total incentive framework drives the behaviors that matter at every time horizon.
- Short-term incentive (STI) plan design - annual cycle
- Long-term incentive (LTI) plan design - multi-year horizon
- Deferred compensation program design (IRC 409A compliant)
- Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP) design
- Retention bonus and stay agreement design
- Plan integration and total incentive framework documentation
Total Compensation Strategy
Total compensation strategy encompasses every element of what you pay and provide to employees: base salary, variable pay, benefits, retirement, noncash recognition, and the intangible value of working for your organization. Most organizations have a total compensation story worth telling but no framework for communicating it. We design the strategy, build the philosophy statement, and create the total compensation valuation tools managers need for honest, effective compensation conversations with employees.
- Total compensation philosophy and strategy design
- Base and variable pay integration framework
- Our total compensation strategy can include benefits valuation, benefits studies, incentive-plan analysis, and total rewards documentation so organizations understand the complete value of the employee package, not salary alone.
- Retirement and deferred compensation plan integration
- Manager communication tools and talking points
- Total compensation statement design
Salary Administration Guidelines
Salary administration guidelines are the documented procedures your HR team and managers need to make compensation decisions consistently, equitably, and in compliance with your compensation philosophy. Without them, every manager interprets the plan differently, and the internal inequities that result are both a cultural and a legal problem. We design salary administration guidelines typically in conjunction with a staff or executive compensation study, ensuring the plan you build is also a plan your organization can manage going forward.
- Policy development and procedure documentation
- Pay range and pay band assignment procedures
- New hire starting salary guidelines
- Merit increase, promotion, and reclassification procedures
- Market adjustment and equity review guidelines
- Compensation decision authority and approval framework
Compensation without
career progression is
just a pay stub.
JER HR Group integrates career growth into every compensation study and strategic compensation plan. Career pathing structures an employee's development path within the organization by defining the knowledge, skills, and experience required to progress from one level to the next and connecting that progression to a clear, transparent compensation framework.
When employees can see the path from where they are to where they want to go, and the specific competencies and compensation milestones along the way - engagement increases, voluntary turnover decreases, and your investment in compensation becomes a retention strategy instead of just a cost.
We build career pathing frameworks that are specific to your organization's structure, realistic given your budget, and communicated in a way your managers can actually use in development conversations.
Role and level mapping
Job architecture begins with clear job families, levels, progression criteria, and career paths. We connect this structure with compensation ranges and performance expectations, giving workforce planning a reliable framework for identifying critical roles, capability gaps, future talent needs, and the compensation implications of growth or change.
Competency and skill definition by level
Documenting the specific knowledge, skills, and experience required at each level, so progression criteria are objective, transparent, and consistently applied across departments.
Compensation alignment to career levels
Connecting the career framework to the salary structure - so each level has a defined pay range and employees understand exactly how career progression translates to compensation opportunity.
Manager enablement tools
Providing managers with the conversation guides, development plan templates, and career milestone documentation they need to have honest, productive career development conversations with their teams.
Every plan we design
includes an FLSA compliance review.
Compensation plan design without FLSA review creates legal exposure. Misclassification of exempt versus non-exempt employees is one of the most common and most expensive HR compliance mistakes - and it is almost always built into the compensation structure rather than addressed in it. We review FLSA classification as part of every compensation plan engagement, not as an add-on.
Exempt versus non-exempt classification review
Assessment of every role in scope against the salary level, salary basis, and duties tests required for FLSA exemption - with documentation for each classification decision.
Salary threshold compliance
Review of current salary levels against the applicable federal and state salary thresholds for exempt classification, with identification of roles at risk of reclassification.
Duties test documentation
Documentation of the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, or computer employee duties test basis for each exempt classification decision.
Remediation
planning
Where misclassification is identified, we develop a remediation plan - including reclassification procedures, back pay exposure quantification, and implementation sequencing.
Public sector compensation
intelligence, free to access.
From Content to Capability: Using AI to Create, Curate, Personalize, and Deploy Learning at Scale
The Missing Link Between People, Pay, and Performance: Why Job Architecture Matters More Than Ever
Positive Psychology for Teams
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Compensation Begins Before Pay
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The Leader’s Coaching Mirror
The Missing Link Between People, Pay, and Performance: Why Job Architecture Matters More Than Ever
From Content to Capability: Using AI to Create, Curate, Personalize, and Deploy Learning at Scale
Positive Psychology for Teams
The Playbook for Turning Reviews into Action, Growth, and Accountability
The HR Horizon: What HR Needs to Know for 2027
Build a compensation plan your organization can actually administer.
- JER HR Group is a nationally recognized and awarded leader in compensation plan design. Every plan we build integrates salary structure, incentive design, FLSA compliance, and salary administration guidelines into a complete, documented system, not just a spreadsheet with salary bands.
- Every engagement is led by a senior SHRM-SCP or SPHR certified consultant. CompBldr is integrated into every engagement, giving your team the technology to administer the plan after we leave.
- We work with organizations of every size - from 50 to 5,000 employees, across nonprofit, government, healthcare, financial services, and corporate sectors.
- No long-term contracts required. Engage for a single plan design or build an ongoing advisory relationship for annual reviews and plan maintenance.
LET’S TALK ABOUT PEOPLE, IDEAS, AND SOLUTIONS.
If you want to recruit, engage, develop, and retain the best team in the business, get in touch with us.
NEW YORK OFFICE
New York, NY 10120
NORTH CAROLINA OFFICE
Raleigh, NC 27613
ARKANSAS OFFICE
Bentonville, AR 72712
TEXAS OFFICE
Suite 175 PMB 1024
The Woodlands, TX 77381
