Want to Keep Your Best Employees Onboard? Understand Compensation Trends and Start Planning Now

With Labor Day approaching and summer winding down, now is a good time to look ahead and map out your business strategies for the next calendar year. As you're doing this, FlashPoint encourages you to review your compensation program. You need to assess your business conditions, figure out how much money (if any) you have for salary increases and incentive programs, and develop a budget. The end goal is to offer a total rewards package that is competitive and promotes employee satisfaction and loyalty.

When you're looking at your compensation, it's helpful to know what's going on in the market so you can offer raises and bonuses that are in line with organizations similar to yours. Your situation will be unique, given your industry, your size, your location, and other factors, but FlashPoint has researched some general trends that will help you in your considerations.

Read the rest of the article to learn more. Need further guidance? FlashPoint's consultants have experience conducting compensation research, benchmarking positions, and building and maintaining salary structures. We have tools to help you identify your organization's strategic positions, and we can help structure a creative program to reward top performers. For more information, contact us or visit the compensation page on our website.

Upcoming Events

15th Annual Indiana Human Resources Conference
August 31-September 2, Indianapolis
Join FlashPoint at the annual state HR conference in Indianapolis! Be sure to catch Krista Skidmore as she presents a session titled "Strategically Connecting Talent Acquisition with Talent Management" on September 2 (at 8:30 a.m. and again at 10:15 a.m.). And visit us at our booth before and after the "Everything Legal" workshop on August 31 and during the Exhibit Hall Marketplace on September 2; you'll learn about some of the work we've done for our clients, and you can enter a drawing to win a prize featuring some of our clients' products and services. For more details about the conference, visit the conference website.

Indiana Chamber HR Workshops
FlashPoint sponsors the Indiana Chamber's 2009 HR Training Series. Sessions take place in Indianapolis. More information is available at 800.824.6885 or the Chamber's website.

• Supervising and Managing People Workshop, September 15-16
• Fifty Ways to Leave an Employer: How Poorly Written Policies Allow Employees to Slip Out the Back, September 23
• Unemployment Compensation Insurance Workshop, September 29

In addition, we'll have a booth at the Chamber's Health and Wellness Summit on September 17.

Continuing Education Workshops
Looking for cost-effective training opportunities for yourself or your employees? FlashPoint facilitates noncredit courses through the IUPUI Community Learning Network in Indianapolis. For more information or to register, visit the CLN's website.

• Pump Up Your Communication, October 9

Other FlashPoint Speaking Engagements
FlashPoint regularly presents at conferences and association meetings. We hope to see you at the following events!

• Indiana Chapter of the American Payroll Association--Jeremy King will discuss "Leadership in a Multigenerational Workplace" at the Indiana Statewide Payroll Conference, Indianapolis, September 16 (more information at the chapter's website).
• LEAD-ECI--Jeremy King will lead two sessions for the fall 2009 Leadership Education and Development series: "Consensus Building and Conflict Management" (September 22) and "Communicating with Confidence" (September 29), Muncie (more information at LEAD-ECI's website).
• Northern Indiana Human Resource Management Association--Andrea Cranfill will present a session titled "Building a Case for HR Initiatives" at the "Business of HR" fall conference, Michigan City, October 15 (more information at NIHRMA's website).

Don't Miss Your Opportunity to Participate in The Leadership Challenge® Workshop!

In this issue of eFlash we discuss how important it is to build a compensation program that engages top employees. Other elements, however, are also essential to creating a workplace where people want to join and stay. One of these is quality leadership. Studies show that employees' experiences with management influence their loyalty just as much as pay does.

To help managers improve their leadership skills and better engage employees, FlashPoint offers The Leadership Challenge® Workshop, a twice yearly leadership development program. We're offering it again this fall, and we invite you and your associates to take part. The registration deadline is September 4--so sign up now by calling 317.229.3035 or e-mailing info@FlashPointHR.com.

The workshop is based on the research of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, who have studied leadership development for more than 25 years. Sessions will focus on Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® and on behaviors that support the practices, including:

• Building credibility by ensuring consistency between your personal values and your actions
• Creating and communicating a shared vision
• Aligning employee and team behaviors with strategic direction
• Cultivating new operating methods, taking calculated risks, and acting strategically
• Fostering an environment of employee accountability
• Giving and receiving feedback

The workshop is ideal for mid- to upper-level functional-area managers, plant leaders, or high-potential managers in any industry. Leaders in growing small- to medium-size organizations will also benefit.

Dates: September 17, October 15, and November 19
Time: 8:00-4:30 (breakfast and lunch included each day)
Location: Barnes & Thornburg LLP, 11 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis
Facilitated by: FlashPoint consultants Andrea M. Moore, CPLP, CEC, and Jeremy King, SPHR
Cost:  $1,800 for FlashPoint clients, $2,200 for nonclients; includes the three-day workshop, a Leadership Practices Inventory 360-degree assessment, an hour-long one-on-one coaching session, and more. Send three people and the fourth is free! Also, ask us for details about our discount for charitable nonprofits.
Register: By September 4--space is limited! To register, call 317.229.3035 or e-mail info@FlashPointHR.com.

For more information, view the Leadership Challenge® Workshop page on our website.

Congratulations and Celebrations

The 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America includes 115 attorneys from Barnes & Thornburg LLP, the law firm with which FlashPoint is affiliated. Several of the attorneys practice in the firm's labor and employment law area, and the guide also names Barnes & Thornburg number one in the labor and employment law specialty. Barnes & Thornburg's website has a complete listing of the attorneys honored.