I appreciate that some of these are slightly tongue in cheek, but equally they have all been said to me in meetings, or written in the media, or hinted at in conversation. Some of these deeply frustrate me and need to be re-thought but for others there is an element of truth but they are fundamentally misunderstood.
- Reward folk in financial services singlehandedly caused the 2008 Global Financial Crisis through irresponsibly incentivising front office staff!
Thoughts:
It is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that negligent reward folk caused the collapse of various financial institutions in 2008. However, one could argue that incentivisation unchecked within a badly regulated and unchecked environment can lead to problems. Taking risk has always been a necessary evil in the banking system in order to make notable returns. You could argue that if you are incentivised to take excessive risk, human nature will inevitably lead you to make bad decisions. So perhaps badly designed reward policies and bonus plans may have played a minor part on the 2008 crisis? Either way, seeing a Reward Professional berated for “ruining the economy” at a BBQ last year did lead me to conclude that this was a common misconception!
- Gender Pay Gap reporting is purely a reward issue to deal with
Thoughts:
This is a big one and an ongoing debate. Reward are of course responsible for the analysis and reporting of Gender Pay statistics, but the common misconception is that this is a problem either caused by Reward or something that reward can solve. It is important to remember that the Pay Gap issue is about Pay Equality, and therefore it is wrong to suggest that it is Rewards fault or problem to solve alone. Reward can come up with the data, but actually when an organisation starts to look at root causes behind a pay gap, more often than not these are wider HR issues around Talent Attraction, the infrastructure to really offer and support flexible working, and supporting parents returning to work and managing their family commitments. Therefore, Gender Pay is most certainly not just a Reward issue.
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