UK 
United States
Cool vibes aren’t always attached to working in ‘compensation, benefits, and reward’ – often the lonely soldiers at the end of the office plugging away at spreadsheets and only getting a look into the action when employees notice something wrong in their paycheck or when the annual review comes around. Is it simply the loneliest and least fashionable HR job going?
What does a job in ‘reward’ entail?
There’s no prizes for saying ‘payroll’. While it's true that a large part of the job is crunching the numbers and that pay is the largest cost to any business at around 70% of operating expenditure, there is more to the job. Comps and benefits feed into the speed and the ability to hire as well as the ability to keep talent onboard and the competitor's at bay.
Regulations around transparency of pay must be adhered to - while the UK is no longer an EU member state – employing people in the EU does impact British businesses. The EU pay transparency directive requires employers to ensure they meet certain levels of transparency and commitment to how they set and advertise pay.
The idea that reward is HR’s loneliest career is something we see reflected in our research. Reward professionals manage significant financial decisions, often working in isolation or small teams, yet their role has never been more crucial
UK employers with more than 250 employees must already comply with gender pay gap legislation but this does not go as far as the requirements of the EU pay transparency directive. For example, employers are encouraged but not legally obligated to provide a narrative alongside their reporting to reflect on why a pay gap exists and what they plan to do about it.
A job that is wrapped up in compliance, gets a stick poked at it if pay is wrong and can be the difference between scooping the best talent or not - this requires resilience, hard work and commitment. All requirements that can be made harder when working in silo.
