In one bold move, North America’s two chief compensation associations just took the word “association” out of their names.
Together the Canadian Compensation Association and its parent the American Compensation Association announced at the end of May that they had changed their names to “WorldatWork,” and expanded their mandate to better meet the needs of compensation and benefit specialists worldwide.
WorldatWork will continue to provide the same information, education and services in compensation and benefits, but with a new facet it dubs, “the work experience.” (See sidebar, page 12). It contends that competitive packages require a “total rewards” approach that involves “softer” elements of HR — work-life, development, recognition and culture — as they impact pay and benefits practices.
The change is not intended to net a different membership or shift direction away from the 45-year-old associations’ purpose — to help pay and benefits practitioners play strategic roles, says Wayne Glover, Canadian director of WorldatWork.
“Instead of focusing on compensation and benefits only, we will now include total rewards being that there is more to attraction and retention than just pay and benefits.
“We are not going to look into what, for example, training and development should be. The ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) does that. But rather how it and those other softer issues impact how you set up indirect and direct pay packages.”
WorldatWork contends that simple compensation and benefits programs need to be strategically designed. And that the third component of total rewards, the more intangible elements of work experience, has not received attention, “as important components of the entire attract-retain-motivate proposition.” Information packages have been mailed to all members.
The Canadian arm of WorldatWork will remain not-for-profit with headquarters in Kleinberg, Ont. Global headquarters are in Scottsdale, Ariz. Fees and services will not alter, however, the workshops and seminars organized by the nine regional extensions (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax) will incorporate elements of “the work experience.”
No changes are being made to the associations’ certification programs that are offered in Canada and the United States, says Glover. Certification still requires completion of nine courses and an examination. Currently, there are 389 Canadian Certified Compensation Professionals (CCP) and five Certified Benefit Professionals (CBP). The CBP was developed only three years ago while the CCP has been available in Canada for 15 years.
Also remaining the same is WorldatWork’s mission, says Glover — to help compensation and benefit professionals play more strategic roles in corporate objectives. The organizations are simply moving with the times, expanding mandate to recognize that compensation and benefits specialists need to include new “softer” facets of HR to provide packages that are competitive in recruitment and retention.
Pay professionals are being required to create packages that include balance and trade-off between compensation, benefits and factors like flex-time options and personal development variables. Total rewards is about mixing and matching more than dollars and benefits to make employees happy, contends WorldatWork.
“All we have done is mirror what the leading-edge members are doing anyway,” says Glover. The balance of the work experience facets in pay and benefit packages has become of proprietary and competitive value to companies, he adds.
About 1,800 of WorldatWork’s 25,000 global members are Canadian. Glover says that the Canadian focus of programs and services will not change with the global extension the name change implies. “We will continue to recognize the differences in legislation and practices in Canada.” However, the two groups felt it was time to “officially” go international, though they already have members worldwide.
“We recognized that the information we have put together in North America is wanted around the world. ACA in-house programs were being requested and offered around the world.”
This is not the first time the organizations have made progressive, entrepreneurial moves into new areas. About 10 years ago, both groups added benefits to their mandate. At the time, there were concerns the groups were biting off more than they could chew, potentially compromising their strengths in the area of compensation. “These fears were unfounded,” says Glover.
The addition of the benefits mandate also pressured the groups to reassess words used to describe their roles in the pay-practice community. They tested variations of a number of possible names, including “total compensation,” but found people did not understand the difference. With “total reward,” the WorldatWork incorporates compensation, benefits and work experience into its mandate.
ACA previously launched a short-lived spin off called the “Global Remuneration Organization,” six years ago, which was disbanded about a year ago. Glover says the separate entity cost too much. Now WorldatWork itself can fulfill international goals efficiently, he says.
Glover says the new name was tested with members, and chosen because of its global implications. But he recognizes there is concern members’ employers may not buy into the name. “We realize this is going to be a bit of an education process for employers. It is bold move in that there is no word such as ‘association’ or ‘society’ in the name.” He added that the groups felt limited by such verbiage.
“We are still an association and will continue to provide information, product and services for members,” and there is no intention to provide consulting services, he added.
Before the change, the groups conducted extensive focus groups with American and Canadian members. “Every time we told a member about the change, they said it was good, that it reflected their day-to-day work. We got very positive reactions.”
Some recent successful projects include the launch of rapidly expanded WorldatWork Web site, www.cca-acr.org, which Glover says includes the “Resource Pro,” “the most authoritative information database on compensation and benefits anywhere.” The groups also plan to increase proprietary research.
Together the Canadian Compensation Association and its parent the American Compensation Association announced at the end of May that they had changed their names to “WorldatWork,” and expanded their mandate to better meet the needs of compensation and benefit specialists worldwide.
WorldatWork will continue to provide the same information, education and services in compensation and benefits, but with a new facet it dubs, “the work experience.” (See sidebar, page 12). It contends that competitive packages require a “total rewards” approach that involves “softer” elements of HR — work-life, development, recognition and culture — as they impact pay and benefits practices.
The change is not intended to net a different membership or shift direction away from the 45-year-old associations’ purpose — to help pay and benefits practitioners play strategic roles, says Wayne Glover, Canadian director of WorldatWork.
“Instead of focusing on compensation and benefits only, we will now include total rewards being that there is more to attraction and retention than just pay and benefits.
“We are not going to look into what, for example, training and development should be. The ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) does that. But rather how it and those other softer issues impact how you set up indirect and direct pay packages.”
WorldatWork contends that simple compensation and benefits programs need to be strategically designed. And that the third component of total rewards, the more intangible elements of work experience, has not received attention, “as important components of the entire attract-retain-motivate proposition.” Information packages have been mailed to all members.
The Canadian arm of WorldatWork will remain not-for-profit with headquarters in Kleinberg, Ont. Global headquarters are in Scottsdale, Ariz. Fees and services will not alter, however, the workshops and seminars organized by the nine regional extensions (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax) will incorporate elements of “the work experience.”
No changes are being made to the associations’ certification programs that are offered in Canada and the United States, says Glover. Certification still requires completion of nine courses and an examination. Currently, there are 389 Canadian Certified Compensation Professionals (CCP) and five Certified Benefit Professionals (CBP). The CBP was developed only three years ago while the CCP has been available in Canada for 15 years.
Also remaining the same is WorldatWork’s mission, says Glover — to help compensation and benefit professionals play more strategic roles in corporate objectives. The organizations are simply moving with the times, expanding mandate to recognize that compensation and benefits specialists need to include new “softer” facets of HR to provide packages that are competitive in recruitment and retention.
Pay professionals are being required to create packages that include balance and trade-off between compensation, benefits and factors like flex-time options and personal development variables. Total rewards is about mixing and matching more than dollars and benefits to make employees happy, contends WorldatWork.
“All we have done is mirror what the leading-edge members are doing anyway,” says Glover. The balance of the work experience facets in pay and benefit packages has become of proprietary and competitive value to companies, he adds.
About 1,800 of WorldatWork’s 25,000 global members are Canadian. Glover says that the Canadian focus of programs and services will not change with the global extension the name change implies. “We will continue to recognize the differences in legislation and practices in Canada.” However, the two groups felt it was time to “officially” go international, though they already have members worldwide.
“We recognized that the information we have put together in North America is wanted around the world. ACA in-house programs were being requested and offered around the world.”
This is not the first time the organizations have made progressive, entrepreneurial moves into new areas. About 10 years ago, both groups added benefits to their mandate. At the time, there were concerns the groups were biting off more than they could chew, potentially compromising their strengths in the area of compensation. “These fears were unfounded,” says Glover.
The addition of the benefits mandate also pressured the groups to reassess words used to describe their roles in the pay-practice community. They tested variations of a number of possible names, including “total compensation,” but found people did not understand the difference. With “total reward,” the WorldatWork incorporates compensation, benefits and work experience into its mandate.
ACA previously launched a short-lived spin off called the “Global Remuneration Organization,” six years ago, which was disbanded about a year ago. Glover says the separate entity cost too much. Now WorldatWork itself can fulfill international goals efficiently, he says.
Glover says the new name was tested with members, and chosen because of its global implications. But he recognizes there is concern members’ employers may not buy into the name. “We realize this is going to be a bit of an education process for employers. It is bold move in that there is no word such as ‘association’ or ‘society’ in the name.” He added that the groups felt limited by such verbiage.
“We are still an association and will continue to provide information, product and services for members,” and there is no intention to provide consulting services, he added.
Before the change, the groups conducted extensive focus groups with American and Canadian members. “Every time we told a member about the change, they said it was good, that it reflected their day-to-day work. We got very positive reactions.”
Some recent successful projects include the launch of rapidly expanded WorldatWork Web site, www.cca-acr.org, which Glover says includes the “Resource Pro,” “the most authoritative information database on compensation and benefits anywhere.” The groups also plan to increase proprietary research.
