Aflac Inc. – Reward and Performance Practices

Aflac offered the traditional components of a typical corporate benefits package including health insurance, profit-sharing and professional development for advancement. Professional development of employees is an investment in the company’s most valuable resource, it’s employees. The employees appreciate that investment and benefits the growth and potential for advancement. Another one of Aflac’s internal strengths is its willingness to promote within. Aflac’s non-traditional approach to enhancing its benefits package was to spotlight the importance of the team’s involvement in the community through volunteering. Back in the mid-2000s this was a growing practice but not as common as it is now. Recognizing employees for volunteering (or any other outstanding action) enhance the employee’s experience in the workplace. This benefit of recognition for giving back also aligns with the company’s core values and mission of being an active member of its communities and providing an enriching and rewarding workplace. Other non-traditions included on-site child care and fitness which shows employees that Aflac cares about an agreeable balance between work and life as well as employees’ well-being.

A well-articulated compensation philosophy drives organizational success by aligning pay and other rewards with business strategy. It provides the foundation for plan design and administration and anchors current and future plans to the company's culture and values (Kaplan, 2006, p.32). Recognizing and rewarding achievement is the cornerstone of the company A’s compensation philosophy. The mission of the company is to attract, select, place and promote all individuals based on their qualifications. The company believes that performance-based compensation helps attract, develop and retain talented professionals. In addition to base pay which based upon local market conditions and targeted to be above market, the company provides the following types of potential compensation to reward performance:

Aflac “strives to deliver quality services to its 4,500 employees while staying competitive in the insurance market” (Reed, 2015). The team determined that part of the employee satisfaction resulted from Aflac’s decision to not lay off its employees during economic

As mentioned, a key L.L. Bean response to their strengths and weaknesses was to provide a mixture of traditional and non-traditional rewards to the employees. In conjunction with base compensation, the organization provided performance-based bonuses, profit sharing, and healthcare benefits as forms of traditional rewards. These traditional awards are closely aligned to monetary awards since these benefits are commonly used and expected in today’s business environment. Although the effectiveness of monetary rewards is questionable, at minimum these rewards provide a direct reciprocity to the employee for their

For example, AFLAC would award its employees who present themselves within the community or volunteer for many charities, with the Volunteer of the Month award. This award can build the morale of the employee and keep them engaged. In the end not only are employees being recognized for their philanthropic work, but also it allows AFLAC to gain rapport due to its continuous efforts in the community. Secondly, AFLAC utilizes sound performance and incentive as an enhancement tool in order to promote and develop employees for the next level within the organization and keep pace with the company’s overall goals and strategies. “Approximately 90 percent of employees were attracted to and remain at Aflac because of company reputation. Employees are happy with the profit-sharing bonus, with 81 percent of employees saying they believe it is better than that of other companies” (p.7). This strategy is a marketing tool that allows AFLACs employees to see endless opportunity, which has allowed AFLAC to retain over 91 percent of it,

Over the last 77 years, Morgan Stanley has been at the forefront of the financial industry. This is from the firm focusing on creating customizable investment products that are sold to retail and institutional clients. ("Company History," 2012) However, a problem is that many competitors are entering a period of flat growth that is at the top of S Curve. This is when a company will grow so big that it becomes difficult to continue increasing profit margins. (Nunes, 2011, pp. 1 5) In the case of Morgan Stanley, the recent financial crisis has made it more difficult for the firm to improve earnings. As a result, a new strategy must be developed that will motivate the sales force to do more. To determine the most effective approach requires examining six features of a total rewards program, the specific behaviors that will be targeted, assessing the value proposition and how to attract registered representatives.

By achieving to provide these reward programs for its company employees it stay in line with two of its guiding principles which is to supply quality service for their agents and provide an enriching and rewarding workplace for their employees. These rewards are also used to attract better qualified employees and to push employees to have a greater impact on their community. The needs of the company’s employees are a driving factor behind Aflac’s total rewards programs. Aflac’s total rewards statements which was originally a one page document is now an in-depth review of the value of the employment compensation and benefits. These are examples of non-traditional rewards that are used by Aflac. Traditional rewards that Aflac uses is that the company has an “Volunteer of the Month” where one of their employees goes and volunteers for a charity of their choice and they get rewarded by the company they also offer bonus, wages, internal promotion, voluntary benefits and paid leave.

Recognize & Reward Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Good performance is rewarded through timely job promotions, special recognition and in some cases monetary rewards and incentives.

Reward Management (RM) has been defined as the distribution of monetary and non-monetary rewards to employees in an effort to align the interests of the employees, the organisation, and its shareholders (O’Neil, 1998). In addition O’Neil (1998) also suggests that a RM system can serve the purpose of attracting prospective job applicants, retaining valuable employees, motivating employees, ensuring legal requirements relating to direct and indirect rewards are not violated, assisting the company in achieving human resource and business objectives, and ultimately assisting the organisation in obtaining a competitive advantage.

Reward and recognition programs must connect the needs and expectations of the workforce with the company’s overall goals and strategies. A program that reinforces important company values and goals will encourage employees to act in line with such goals and emphasize the importance of achieving these goals. Alternatively, rewards which do not connect with organizational goals may convey a misleading message and encourage employees to act in a manner that does not facilitate the

Recognizing employees for accomplishments such as finishing a major project, reaching sales targets or providing excellent customer service can be an important motivating factor. Set goals for workers to strive for and offer rewards for reaching them. This could be in the form of an employee of the month scheme, a bonus, or a promotion. Some companies conduct meetings where employees are recognised for good work in front of their colleagues. This can help motivate all the workers in the business to strive for success.

Cicerone et al (2007) suggests that “Rewarding employees for their job performance that meets or exceeds customer expectations is important because:

There are many ways in which companies can encourage and support motivation. Some of those techniques are: Involving employees in decision making, providing feedback, keeping employees informed at all times, building trust and relationships, and much more.

To motivate employees to work towards reaching organizational goals, managers frequently depend on some form of enticement. Beyond monetary compensation, awards and additional types of acknowledgment can be given, and the ability to choose a work schedule is a possibility. A reasonable pay system, which would be an incentive for individuals and groups to achieve organizational goals, is a hardship manager’s face (Jones & George, 2011). Within the company that I work for, every quarter awards are presented to Customer Service Agents who have maintained a 95 percent or above quality score. Monetary awards are given out as well as time off coupons.