Total reward program of General Electric

General Electric’s Vision and Mission

General Electric (GE) is a global digital manufacturing conglomerate. Power generation, airplane engines, and oil and gas extraction equipment are among the company’s offerings, as are financial, medical, and industrial products (General Electric, 2017). Both GE’s vision and mission statements aim to keep the company at the forefront of industrial development. For example, GE’s mission is to become the world’s premier digital industrial business, disrupting manufacturing with software-defined machines and wired, sensitive, and predictive solutions (General Electric, 2017). The company’s mission is to “invent the new modern revolution” by “building, moving, powering, and curing the world.” The organization mainly uses differentiation as its generic business strategy and product development, market penetration, and diversification as its intensive growth approaches. Finally, GE’s total rewards are aligned with the company’s industrial growth and competitiveness. For instance, one of the strategic objectives of using total rewards program is to intensify GE’s competitiveness, research, and development.

GE’s Total Rewards Program

General Electric has a reward program that encompasses aspects such as remuneration, benefits, a balance between work and lifestyle, performance and recognition, and professional development opportunities. According to Mabaso and Dlamini (2017), work benefits comprise of employment practices that supplement the cash compensation given to personnel. They can include health, income security, savings, and retirement plans that ensure protection for staffs and their families. At GE, workers receive numerous retirement and welfare benefits. For instance, the company provides employees with health and group life insurance, as well as long-term and temporary disability cover for injuries and illness (General Electric, 2017). General Electric also finance retirement plans for its employees to ensure a steady flow of income later in life. Also, the company has adopted work-life balance practices such as part-time and flexible work arrangements. For instance, employees can work adaptable hours, with a combination of office, home, and customer sites (General Electric, 2017). At the same time, GE offers a permissive approach to paid time-off that allows workers to be away from work in case something personal comes up. In contrast, GE does not have shift work schedule, a work-life balance arrangement that allows employees to do the same job in periods.

General Electric’s total rewards program also utilizes the performance and recognition component to ensure employees are motivated and committed to the firm. For instance, the organization offers financial bonuses to high performing workers and executives (General Electric, 2017). Other administrators also participate in long-term performance award program. Similarly, the company’s rewards program includes career development opportunities for employees. For instance, the company engages personnel in challenging tasks and world-class training to develop their leadership and technical skills (General Electric, 2017). The program provides employees with an opportunity to advance their careers. Finally, the company’s component of compensation includes plans to ensure fair and competitive wages by considering specific job markets and peer reimbursement.

The Effectiveness of GE’s Total Rewards Program

Largely, GE’s total rewards program has been effective in attracting, motivating, and retaining talent. For instance, GE’s intense research and development (R&D) process have been mainly attributed to the effectiveness of the company’s total bonus policy in attracting the best talent across the globe (General Electric, 2017). Currently, active R&D processes are considered GE’s main competitive advantage, enabling the company to innovate rapidly. Besides, the steady level of productivity also reflects the effectiveness of the company’s rewards program in motivating employees. General Electric has succeeded in increasing its share in industry profits and market share for the past decades, an achievement that can be attributed to effective bonus policies such as work-life balance plans and training initiatives adopted by the organization. Finally, GE’s ability to maintain a superior brand over the past years is an indication of the effectiveness of the firm’s rewards package in retaining the best talent.

Strengths of the Rewards Program and Recommendations for Enforcement

One of the advantages of the total reward system lies in its ability to enhance the reputation of General Electric. The company is arguably one of the best places to work. It has a superior reputation, and people view it with respect, a strength attributed to the total rewards program. High-quality staff and machinery is also a strength that can be linked to GE’s entire bonus policy (General Electric, 2017). The company has been able to use its rewards program to attract, develop, and retain more qualified employees, an attribute that drives the company’s expertise and knowledge. Finally, being financially healthy is also the other strength of the rewards program at General Electric. However, to enhance these advantages, the company should increase employees participation in designing rewards plan to improve their effectiveness (Human Capital Review, 2017). Also, effective communication is crucial in enhancing the strengths. For instance, top leadership should continuously provide supervisors and managers with information on the rationale of the programs as well as how they will work (Human Capital Review, 2017).

Insights Gained From the Design and Implementation of an Effective Total Rewards Program

One of the ideas gained is that it is essential to focus on aligning employee behavior with organization goals while designing and implementing an effective total rewards program (Human Capital Review, 2017). Focusing on alignment is based on the view that high-performing organizations are more efficient at aligning staff behavior with company goals compared to low-performing firms (Mabaso & Dlamini, 2017). Another insight gained is that employers should always ask personnel what they want. Obtaining employee input will ensure that an organization design and implement what is meaningful to workers. In that way, they can influence their attachment to the organization. Finally, it is essential to strike a balance between effectiveness and cost of total rewards program since it is the only way that employers can get to evaluate the success of their approaches (Human Capital Review, 2017).

References

General Electric. (2017). Culture | GE Careers. Retrieved from https://www.ge.com/careers/culture

Human Capital Review. (2017). 10 steps to a more effective total rewards program. Retrieved from www.humancapitalreview.org/content/default.asp?Article_ID=290

Mabaso, C. M., & Dlamini, B. I. (2017). Impact of compensation and benefits on job satisfaction. Research Journal of Business Management, 11(2), 80-90. doi:10.3923/rjbm.2017.80.90