Best Workplaces, Compensation, Equity, Sharing
Here鈥檚 how this award-winning workplace built a compensation strategy to compete in an increasingly complicated business environment.
What do employees consider 鈥渇air鈥� when looking at compensation? For HR leaders today, offering a competitive package requires a more comprehensive approach than in years past.
鈥淲hen I began my career in HR, it used to be enough to just pay really well, or have a cool culture,鈥� says Lori Hall, director of human resources at Kimley-Horn.
Not anymore.
鈥淵ou have to provide meaningful work experiences; you have to be willing to train and develop employees; you have to be cool and fun,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou have to do it all.鈥�
Kimley-Horn knows a thing or two about creating a winning workplace culture.
The engineering consulting firm with more than 7,500 employees was No. 30 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For庐 List in 2024 and the No. 38 large company on the Fortune Best Workplaces for Women鈩�.
What helps the consulting firm based in North Carolina be so competitive against the best workplaces in the country?
To start, they have a robust and thoughtful approach to compensation that ensures nine in 10 employees (91%) say they are paid fairly. To understand how impressive that number is, consider that the average across companies on the 100 Best list in 2024 is only 75%.
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What does 鈥榝air pay鈥� look like?
Kimley-Horn鈥檚 approach to compensation is guided by two principles, Hall says.
鈥淔irst, we want people to live comfortably,鈥� she explains. That means ensuring employees can retire when they want to retire and have the means to live a full life here and now.
The second principle: being competitive when offering total compensation. 鈥淲e want to be fair in our base compensation,鈥� Hall says. 鈥淲e have a really robust retirement plan. We have a really robust incentive compensation plan, and we have a bunch of extras from profit-sharing contributions to our renown red envelope days.鈥�
To ensure that this plan is fair and competitive, Kimley-Horn has been willing to make changes and bring in external expertise when necessary. As its workforce has become more specialized and complex, compensation has had to adapt.
鈥淔or a really long time, we were predominantly civil engineers,鈥� Hall says. 鈥淣ow we have civil engineers, planners, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, people with history backgrounds, people who do forensics.鈥�
This diverse workforce has required the company to get more sophisticated in its compensation strategy.
Different employes have different needs
What does it look like to meet the diverse needs of different generations in the workforce, for example?
Recent college grads, for example, have different needs than more established professionals with a bigger collection of assets. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e buying a car; they鈥檙e finding an apartment; they鈥檙e building their professional lives and their personal lives at the same time,鈥欌�� Hall says. 鈥淪alary is very important to them, whereas if you鈥檝e been around for a long time, you have more of a long-term perspective.鈥�
To address this difference, Kimley-Horn has thoughtfully considered how to prioritize salary in the total compensation package for younger employees. The package is rebalanced over time to focus on retirement or incentive opportunities for later-career professionals.
How to build trust in compensation philosophy
It鈥檚 not enough to have a competitive total compensation package. You also must communicate thoughtfully and meaningfully with employees about their pay and your compensation philosophy.
鈥淲e talk about it regularly,鈥� says Hall. As a built-in component of several company-wide training programs, employees can ask leaders direct questions about pay and bonus structures.
The team also regularly collects feedback from employees in exit interviews, stay interviews, and career check-ins.
To ensure equity across the company, there are formalized review layers around salary and bonus awards. Regional HR teams review a master list of all salaries in each region where the company operates and, working with the company鈥檚 affirmative action officer, the team analyzes pay parity by gender and minority status. If disparities are found, corrections are made.
For bonus awards there are four levels of review, from direct manager up to a companywide analysis, to ensure that what can feel like a subjective judgment has met rigorous standards. The process, which Kimley-Horn completes twice a year for its two separate bonus windows, takes two months.
Tips for others
How might this approach adapt to other companies? Hall and Kimley-Horn offer four lessons:
1. Don鈥檛 be afraid to ask for help
Hall says the need to bring in external experts and resources to inform their decision-making became undeniable after one annual review process four years ago.
鈥淚 felt like we were just not as sharp as we needed to be,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e needed to go ask someone who knows what they鈥檙e doing for help.鈥�
The team has gone on to engage another consultancy for additional perspective and continues to try and learn more from others.
2. Lean on your survey tools
The 逸遊娛樂城庐 Trust Index鈩� Survey offers invaluable data for understanding the employee experience, Hall says.
The team brings together survey data with other key metrics like turnover, as well as stay interview and exit interview data to develop guidance for senior leaders to make big decisions.
3. When making change, double down on transparency
鈥淲e probably err on the side of over-communicating when something different is going on,鈥� Hall says.
When consultants were brought in to analyze and provide guidance on Kimley-Horn鈥檚 compensation philosophy, the team was careful to communicate the 鈥渨hy鈥� behind the changes it made.
鈥淲hen people understand the why, even if they don鈥檛 love all of it, they understand its importance to the business and to them, they鈥檙e better able to move on,鈥� Hall says.
4. Don鈥檛 expect perfection
When making changes to the employee experience, whether its compensation or something else, it鈥檚 crucial to continue to listen to employees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not all going to go perfectly,鈥� Hall says. 鈥淲e鈥檝e actively solicited feedback from lots of people around the company to say: 鈥榃hat's working? What's not?鈥欌��
When you can admit that you don鈥檛 have all the answers, but show your effort to engage on hard topics, that builds trust.
鈥淲e want feedback and we鈥檙e willing to do what we need to do to get better,鈥� Hall says.
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