Wednesday, May 27, 2015

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"The Power Of Good Morning"



It's Wednesday after Memorial Day and it's cloudy and rainy here in North Bend. I could use a pick me up. Sure, I have my coffee, but this is more of a spiritual pick me up.

"The Power of Good Morning" is a TEDxKirkland talk by Ali Ghambari.

I've known Ali for over 15 years. When I had my office in Pioneer Square I would go to Cherry Street Coffee House almost everyday and Ali was always there to say "Good Morning" and that would be a great start to the day. Even now, when I visit him years later, he remembers me and asks about my dad and shakes my hand and says "Good Morning, how are you today my friend?" and that puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

Do yourself a favor and watch Ali's TEDxKirkland talk. I think it will put a smile on your face for the rest of the day!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

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Powers Of Ten

I just ran across this tonight and I have a vague recollection of seeing this many (many) years ago. It's so incredibly well done. I feel very small after watching it. The universe is truly amazing.

Charles and Ray Eames' seminal Powers of Ten video 

Powers Of Ten Screenshot

Thursday, August 14, 2014

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2014 Rewards NW Early Bird Pricing Ending August 29th

I wanted to let you know that the Northwest Compensation and Rewards Forum (NCRF) in conjunction with the Columbia-Willamette Compensation Group (CWCG) is presenting a one-day three track Total Rewards, Compensation, and Benefits conference entitled Rewards NW.

Full disclosure: I'm the 2014/2015 NCRF Board President, I'm also presenting at the conference and NEXTCOMP.NET is a sponsor!



Sign Up Now!

Early Bird Registration ends August 29th! Register today for the best rate. If you are a NCRF member, you will also receive a special $50 discount* by entering the promotional code. Contact me for the code!

WHEN:  October 7, 2014 7:30 am to 5:30 pm
WHERE: DoubleTree by Hilton, 1000 NE Multnomah St, Portland, OR

Rewards NW is an all-day three-track total rewards, compensation and benefits conference begin held in Portland on October 7th. There is a great line-up of professionals who will share their total rewards expertise in sessions throughout the day. We will kick off the event with an inspiring keynote from Kevin Ames, Director of Speaking and Training, O.C. Tanner. You do not want to miss this exciting opportunity to Be an Expert, Grow, Connect and Engage. Information on professional program and tracks is available at Rewards NW (www.rewardspnw.com).

Consider a package deal with Introduction to Sales Compensation!

Attend this course and receive a special $75 discount off registration for Rewards NW on October 7th, 2014.  Visit Rewards NW to register and use promo code WORLDATWORK for the discount.*   

WHEN:  October 6, 2014 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
WHERE Care Oregon, 315 SW Fifth Ave Portland, OR

Sales compensation is a mission-critical pay program. Done well, it helps guide sales personnel to exceed revenue, profit, account and product objectives. Changing sales tactics require regular updates to the sales compensation program.

During this one-day event:

  • Learn how sales departments provision and execute their sales missions.
  • Examine how sales departments use sales compensation to help drive strategic sales goals.
  • Review the common sales compensation models and their application.
  • Understand how to audit, revise and implement aligned sales compensation plans.
  • Discuss issues facing your company.
  • Enjoy peer-to-peer learning.
Take advantage of this special opportunity to learn from David Cichelli of the Alexander Group Inc., one of the leading experts on sales compensation.  



*Only one discount code applies.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

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Updated NEXTCOMP.NET public website

Styles change on the web just like they do in fashion. Just maybe not as quickly.

The www.nextcomp.net public website was starting to look a bit dated and some of the information and pages were less relevant now then in the past. Things change and so I'm happy to announce a new design for the site.

Here's a preview of the header for the pages.



The site is responsive so it should look good on various size screens and different devices.

Note: I'll be tweaking the layout of pages to get everything just right on all those different screen sizes, but it's looking good already. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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"Seattle's 100 Best Companies To Work For" by Seattle Business Magazine

The July 2014 issue of Seattle Business magazine has a list of the top 100 Best Companies To Work For as determined by a survey of employees run by Fieldwork Webwork. As the magazine article itself states "Firms that make the list get there because the people who work at those businesses like their jobs, their bosses and their benefits." In other words, the top 100 businesses have great Total Rewards as expressed by their employees in this survey.

There are a couple of notable omissions from the first paragraph of the article which starts on page 35...

1) There's no mention of the sample size or how the sample was determined. 

After some more digging there is a statement on page 44 that states that "thousands of employees" were surveyed on the topics of "benefits, communications, corporate culture, hiring and retention, leadership of executive, performance standards, responsibility & decision making, rewards & recognition, training & education and workplace environment." So benefits is specifically called out. I'm not sure what performance standards is supposed to relate to, is it employee performance, organizational performance, some other type of performance? I don't know. And I guess pay is lumped into "Rewards & Recognition". 



In Total Rewards parlance, there are five key factors: pay, benefits, recognition, learning & development and culture & work experience. I believe the survey's "rewards & recognition" actually covers all the other items in their list. But I digress. 

2) There's no mention of pay!

Holy smokes, no mention of pay in an article of the "Best Businesses To Work For". 

Well, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. Most recent surveys of employee satisfaction point to things like working relationships and benefits packages as more highly engaging than pay. I always think of pay as the keys to entry. In most cases the base pay has to be competitive before other things like work life balance and working relationships come into play.

The survey reports results for three major categories of business: 

Small = 1 to 30 employees
Midsize = 31 to 99 employees
Large = 100+ employees

I'm thinking that "humongous" firms such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon were not part of this survey if large is considered to start at 100 employees. 

The listing of the top businesses begins on page 44. A "top scoring category" is included for each of the top businesses. Here's a tally of the "top scoring categories" for the small, midsize and large lists.



Interesting that two top scoring categories across the board are "leadership of executive" and "work environment". The "performance standards" category didn't show up once. Maybe they should define that category a bit more. Benefits shows up in third place a couple of times. "Rewards & Recognition" barely makes a blip.

Here's a visual breakdown of the top scoring categories by business size.

Small Business


Midsize Business



Large Business



These surveys always catch my eye and I end up buying the magazine. So kudos to Seattle Business. They achieved their goal. Also kudos to the firms that are on the list. Seriously, great job, because you're doing something right. It's no small feat to get outstanding results from a survey of your employees. 

So what conclusions can we draw from these awards. People that go to work for smaller firms definitely value a specific mix of total rewards. An emphasis on great leadership, charisma, vision mixed with a great place to work with like minded individuals is going to succeed in garnering great feedback from that group. 

I would guess that as the organization grows in size and the access an employee has to "leadership of executive" diminishes then other factors come into play. Factors such as stability and affordability of benefits, consistent and meaningful performance evaluation, and setting of clear and achievable work goals and measures. There are lots of examples available in magazines, journals and on the web to support this thinking but I'm primarily giving you my reaction based on 20+ years of experience. 

For me it all comes down to creating a mix of total rewards that expresses the business philosophy, culture, goals that will attract, retain, and motivate employees to drive success of the business. It's different for every organization. Every organization, whether it's stated or implied, has those factors in place. The key is to manage the total rewards elements in a way that actually does support and drive success. 

Sunday, May 25, 2014

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"Top Companies for Compensation & Benefits"

A new survey by Glassdoor puts Google as the number one place to work with Costco coming in second. The technology news site The Verge has a summary of the survey...

If a big paycheck is what you're after, Google is your best option among potential employers in Silicon Valley. In fact, the company also bests non-tech businesses when it comes to compensation and benefits. Google ranked first in a new survey from Glassdoor, coming in ahead of Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe and others. Engineers in Mountain View enjoy an average base salary of $128,000. Facebook’s engineers make slightly less at $120,000. Microsoft and Amazon round out the list of top tech firms, paying base salaries of $111,000 and $105,000.

Based on discussions I've had with people that work at Costco, I can back up the the claim that it's a top organization when it comes to compensation. Not just base pay though, they have a great benefits and work-life balance. Costco is a big-box store that I feel good about spending my money because they treat their employees with respect as evidenced by the excellent total compensation they offer.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

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"Here’s What Female And Male Journalists Actually Make"

Here's a survey that I don't think I've ever seen done. It's a small sample size relatively speaking (900 journalist), but I think it's large enough to draw conclusions. The article has some great displays of data as well. Depressing but not unexpected findings given the dearth of surveys of other industries and job types that arrive at the same conclusion.

Senior female journalists make about 80% of what their male counterparts make.

Is progress been made to close this gap? I don't know. I thought so and maybe some progress is occurring in specific industries or job types. I hope so.