Over the past few years, the company iB4e has underperformed compared with its competitors which enjoy stronger brand recognition. In addition, lots of experienced staff responsible for key customer accounts has left the company. Even though it pays comparable salaries to its rivals, iB4e has had difficulty replacing these staff with outside appointments. This has led to some existing employees temporarily taking on customer relationship management in return for small one-off payments. This has been good for staff morale but the effectiveness of this calculates as a long term alternative to appointing suitably experienced new staff is questionable given that some of these staff has been more successful than others.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of iB4e developing a 'total reward package' approach.

Advantages

There are various clear advantages to iB4e developing a 'total reward package' (TRP):

• Retention and motivation. In return for maintaining the package, the organisation will receive greater staff continuity and engagement. If correctly developed, a TRP approach will help iB4e retain and motivate high quality staff. The TRP approach can strengthen and preserve staff retention and employee motivation.
• Attract talented staff. A main issue for iB4e appears to be difficulty in recruiting staff. This suggests that although genuine advantages exist, prospective employees do not know about them. It is significant that iB4e continues to attract talented staff and

Disadvantages

There are also several potential disadvantages to iB4e developing a TRP:

• Other poor recruitment processes. The difficulty in recruiting new staff might be caused by some other factor like as use of inappropriate advertising media, poor advertising copy, response deadlines too tight etc.
• Additional costs. If the advantages involve additional costs. The Director believes that additional bonuses for good performance could be given and this will add to organisational overheads. There will also be a cost associated with monitoring, managing, communicating and keeping the scheme under review.