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, to regulators, and in litigation. We build in FLSA compliance review, pay equity analysis, and documentation standards that ensure your 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
Custom surveys let you focus data collection on the roles and job families that matter most to your organization. Instead of estimating from general market data, you get compensation benchmarks for the exact titles, responsibilities, and performance levels you are trying to retain - with the sector and geography specificity that generic surveys cannot provide.
- 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 your organizational goals. A well-designed incentive plan makes the behaviors you need financially inevitable - 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 non-cash 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, non-cash 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 your managers need to have honest, effective compensation conversations with employees.
- Total compensation philosophy and strategy design
- Base and variable pay integration framework
- Benefits valuation and total rewards documentation
- 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 is the process of structuring, within your organization, an employee's career development path -- defining the knowledge, skills, and experience required to progress from one level to the next, and connecting that progression to a clear and 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
Defining the job families, levels, and progression criteria that form the structure of your career framework - specific to your organization's roles and growth expectations.
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.
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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
