Upcoming Webcasts

The Institute for Human Resources (IHR) Compensation Best Practices and Trends certification program was launched on February 14/15, 2011, with a two-day virtual event. Subsequent events have been held on September 22nd & 23rd, December 12th & 13th, March 19th & 20th, June 11th & 12th and September 10th & 11th. Archives of events are available on www.HR.com .

To date, over 7,500 HR professionals have registered for the IHR program. The purpose of this introductory session is to provide you with an update on webcast topics and introduce you to speakers that will be presenting on December 3rd & 4th. In addition, for those of you who have not participated in one of these events in the past, you will be shown how to register for any newly-added webcasts and make use of the virtual Exhibit Hall, where you can increase your knowledge on product and service suppliers in the compensation arena. You will also learn how to network with your peers by visiting the lounge.

Goals are an integral part of performance within many job functions, particularly among management employees. Proper goal-setting techniques will ensure that both the organization and the employee benefit from the individual's contributions towards goal achievement. This session will take participants through an exercise in effective goal-setting, an important aspect in the determination of performance for compensation decision-making. This session will cover topics that include:
a) the importance of reviewing job content and correlating the position’s goals to the department/company’s strategic plan and initiatives;
b) the application of goal-setting to the annual performance management process;
c) the proper use of documentation for the determination of performance for purposes of calculating incentive compensation;
d) calculating goal achievement through an objective process; and
e) the importance of clearly written goals for effective communication of expectations.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, financial services firms are giving more attention to deferred compensation as a way to reduce risk and be in compliance with evolving regulations that require transparency and auditability. However, managing the administration of deferred compensation, especially in a compliant way, is complex, and most home grown, Excel-based, and packaged compensation systems were not designed to handle this complexity. This session is aimed at helping those who are tasked with managing deferred compensation and other forms of executive comp to understand what is needed in terms of a compensation system to administer these processes. The system needs to provide an easy way to manage complex schemes that are conditional based on the multi-year performance of the individual, the division, the company and the market over a 3 to 5 year period. It should allow for simulation and scenario building, and needs to provide robust reporting and analytics. All calculations, payouts, and changes must be transparent and auditable. And given that regulations and strategies may be constantly changing, the system needs to be easily adaptable to change in a way that can be handled by the compensation manager. The session will provide examples from some financial institutions who are using new technology to manage deferred compensation effectively.