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Compensation Consulting Services in Chicago

 
The POE Group is a full-service compensation consulting firm serving businesses and other organizations within Chicago and across the Midwest.
 
While the primary emphasis of our practice is executive compensation consulting, we also provide compensation consulting for all employee segments including total reward systems, base pay competitive analysis, incentive plan design, sales compensation design, and executive compensation design. 

How Are Companies in Chicago Adapting Their Compensation Plans Due to COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a financial and social shock to businesses across our country and the globe. Now is a good time for companies to consider if their approach to compensating their workforce is still appropriate in the changed and continually shifting business environment.

In our latest video, managing consultant Joe Kager discusses how companies can adapt their compensation strategy.

Our Chicago Compensation Consultants Work Closely with Compensation Committees, HR Teams and Executive Management

Clients benefit from our expertise related to executive compensation, employee compensation, sales force compensation and performance measurement and feedback systems. Our clients range from small businesses to Fortune 1000 companies in many different industries across Chicago and around the United States.

We place a special emphasis on working with smaller publicly traded companies, growing private companies, family owned businesses and non-profits.

How Does the POE Group Work With Clients?

We take pride in delivering experienced, independent, and candid compensation advisory services using a collaborative approach. Our client retention ratio is above 90% in the last ten years, indicating the long-term value we provide.

Our engagements begin with gathering quantitative and qualitative information. We develop an understanding of the client’s industry, business drivers, organization, performance, and culture. Data is analyzed from multiple perspectives to provide a comprehensive understanding of an existing program’s strengths and weaknesses. New plan designs are driven by the company’s business strategy and culture.

 

An important aspect of our consulting approach is collaboration with our clients. We have found that this improves results by better aligning our recommendations to the cultural realities of the organization. Our clients consider us thought partners in designing compensation systems that fit with their organizations.

Is your company located in Chicago, in Illinois or in the Midwest? We'd like to learn more about your specific compensation planning challenges.

Executive Compensation Consulting Services for Chicago Companies

The design of an executive compensation plan is a complex process. Each facet of the firm’s regulatory requirements, financial state, and company culture must be carefully considered and integrated into the design of each plan. We help our executive compensation clients make informed decisions by turning complex data into meaningful information.

Companies in Chicago want to know how to design compensation plans for their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) as well as other C-Suite Executives so that they are competitive, incentivizing for the executives and will drive growth for the organization.

Key questions we're asked include:

- What should a CEO compensation package include?

- How much should a CEO in Chicago be paid each year?

- Besides salary, how else can we incentivize our CEO and top executives?

- Can you provide comprehensive compensation analysis for CEOs in Chicago?

- Do you provide compensation design for Private Businesses or Family Owned Companies?

- Can you provide direction to our board compensation committee?

  • Reward Strategy Determination

  • Peer Group Definition

  • Executive Total Compensation Analysis

  • Incentive Design and Governance

  • Short-Term Incentive Plan Design

  • Long-Term Incentive Plan Design

  • Say on Pay Testing

  • Shareholder Communication through the CD&A

  • Board of Director Plan Competitive Analysis and Design

  • Intermediate Sanctions Safe Harbor Studies for Non-Profit Firms

  • Base Pay Analysis

  • Development of Proxy Exhibits and Assistance in Proxy Writing

Chicago's Employee Compensation Consulting Experts

Aligning employee compensation systems to the business goals and culture of organizations is an integral step to creating a high performance organization. There are many approaches to consider, each of which communicates a different message to your employees. We can help ensure the messaging hits the mark.

Productive employees are the cornerstone of any highly functioning business. How do the leaders of a company continually find ways to maximize the return on employee compensation? It's done through well designed compensation plans that focus on the correct mix of wages, salaries, benefits, bonuses and other incentives that are related to employee's efforts.

Key questions we're asked include:

- How can we design an employee comp plan to maximize productivity?

- How do we design a comprehensive plan for our 1000 employees?

- Can you advise us on pay for performance plan strategies?

- How do we account for different employee segments?

- Can you help with indirect compensation planning and equity-based comp plans?

  • Reward Strategy Development

  • Total Reward Consulting

  • Base Salary Plan Development

  • Custom Job Evaluation System Development

  • Short-Term Incentive Plan Design

  • Low Cash / Non-Cash Recognition Systems

  • Incentive Plan Communication

  • Management Salary Administration Training

  • Employee Salary Administration Training

Sales Team Compensation Consulting Services in Chicago

We recognize that a company can have a well-designed sales compensation plan and not achieve desired results. We partner with clients to create a communications plan that takes into consideration the different stakeholders, the timing of the communications, message content, communication channels, and the communicator.

  • Job Design and Alignment of Responsibilities

  • Sales Compensation Plan Evaluation

  • Sales Compensation Plan Design

  • Communication and Implementation

Our clients range from small entrepreneurial firms to large Fortune 1000 organizations. We have experience in a variety of different industries, with both public and private companies. 

Is Your Chicago Based Company Considering Hiring a Compensation Consulting Firm?

If you are considering hiring a compensation consulting firm – or making a change in compensation advisors – please read our article: Time to Hire a Compensation Consulting Firm?

Will the Impact of Covid-19 Affect Payments of Short-Term Incentives?

As the end of the year approaches, companies should consider the impact of the pandemic on short-term incentive plan payouts, and whether is appropriate to apply discretion in order to adjust bonus amounts. We discuss the issue and alternatives here: To Pay or Not to Pay Short-Term Incentives in the Year of the Pandemic?

After Covid-19, How are Chicago Companies Adapting their Compensation Plans?

Now is a good time for companies to consider if their approach to compensating their workforce is still appropriate in the changed and continually shifting business environment. Read more here: Adapting Your Compensation Plans in a Covid-19 World.

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