The Total Rewards Manager administers, analyzes, and continuously improves the organization's compensation, benefits, wellness, recognition, and rewards programs.
This role ensures Total Rewards programs are competitive, equitable, compliant, and aligned with the organization's talent and business objectives. The Manager partners with HR, Finance, and business leaders to deliver programs that support employee attraction, retention, engagement, and overall employee experience.
Key Job Responsibilities
Total Rewards Strategy
- Partners with and provides subject matter expertise and guidance to executives and people leaders regarding Total Rewards
- Develop and execute a comprehensive Total Rewards strategy aligned with business and talent objectives
- Establish a rewards philosophy that supports organizational culture, workforce planning, and employee value proposition
- Monitor market trends and recommend innovative rewards programs to maintain competitiveness
- Ensures compliance with all local laws
- Maintains governance practices related to pay transparency, equity, and rewards administration
Benefits
- Oversees health, welfare, retirement, and leave-of-absence programs
- Evaluates current programs and determines the best approach for common platform programs that optimize employee value, utilization, and cost effectiveness
- Recommends new programs that enhance wellness initiatives supporting physical, emotional, financial, and social well-being
- Manages relationships with benefit brokers, consultants, and vendors
Compensation
- Leads the design, implementation, and administration of base pay, incentive commission, executive compensation, and/or any other pay-based programs offered by the company
- Conducts market pricing analysis and benchmarking to ensure competitive and equitable compensation practices
- Defines pay structures, job architecture, pay equity analyses, and annual compensation review processes
- Partners with key stakeholders (Finance) to support budgeting, forecasting, and compensation planning (such as merit planning and bonus rollup and payouts)
- Leads the annual compensation cycle, including salary review, merit, bonus planning, and market benchmarking processes
- Prepares compensation recommendations and analyses for HR and business leaders.
HRIS
- Serves as key stakeholder for HR systems and technology projects, influencing process design and system optimization
- Drives continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the HRIS platform, driving the model to a self-service model
- Leverages technology to implement automation in standard HR processes such as talent acquisition, onboarding, benefit enrollments, and other best-practice methods
- Develops dashboards and reports to support business and HR decision-making
- Analyzes trends related to company metrics (turnover, engagement, etc.) and provides recommendations on continuous improvement methods
Recognition and Employee Experience
- Supports wellness, well-being, and employee recognition programs
- Recommends enhancements to improve engagement and the overall rewards experience
- Coordinates reward and recognition initiatives that reinforce company culture and values
- Assists in developing employee communication strategies related to Total Rewards programs
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources or related Business field required
- 5-7 years of designing, implementing, and managing compensation, benefits, and HRIS programs
- Strong expertise in compensation strategy, benefits administration, and rewards design
- Proven success with applying total rewards philosophies and concepts to help address business challenges with attracting and retaining talent
- Strong understanding of applicable global labor, benefits, and compensation concepts
- Experience with system implementation(s) – ADP is a huge plus.
Key Competencies
- Influential
- Strategic Thinker
- Ability to and comfortable with balancing tactical vs. strategic work
- Data-Driven decision maker
- Employee-centric mindset
- Communication with all levels of the organization (hourly to Executive-level)
- Urgency and responsiveness in service-driven environments
Success Metrics
- Competitive market positioning of rewards programs
- Employee engagement and retention outcomes
- Pay equity compliance metrics
- Benefits utilization and cost management
- Achieves annual objectives
Travel Requirement
- May travel up to 20%
Total Rewards Manager in Chicago at Hydro, Inc.
This position is listed as full time and onsite. It was posted yesterday.