Total rewards optimization and workforce analytics

Optimizing Foundations measures what a workforce actually values across pay, bonus, retirement, health, time off and flexibility, using choice-based conjoint and MaxDiff surveys, and finds the reward package that raises perceived value at the same cost or holds value at a lower one. The method, which the firm calls Survey, Evaluate, Transform, combines preference measurement with a cost model built from the client's own plan data.

What is included

• Survey design and fielding. Eight to twelve reward elements with realistic levels, a choice-based survey fielded anonymously, and a sample large enough to support the segments that will be reported.
• Estimation. Part-worth utilities estimated with hierarchical Bayes methods, so individual and segment preferences are recovered rather than only the average, with the relative importance of each element.
• Cost model. Every element priced at the employer's actual cost from the plan's own data.
• Optimization. The packages that maximize perceived value at the current spend, or hold value at lower spend, with trade-offs quantified and segments identified.
• Implementation. Design recommendations, the financial case for the CFO and the communication plan for employees who were surveyed and expect to hear what changed.

How the work runs

The study is designed with HR and finance, fielded over two to three weeks, and reported within six to eight weeks of fielding. Legal constraints, including nondiscrimination rules and collective bargaining agreements, bound the feasible set before the optimization starts. The firm's article on total rewards optimization describes the method and what it tends to find.

Common questions

Is this a satisfaction survey? No. Conjoint analysis never asks employees what they want; it infers what they value from the trade-offs they make between realistic packages, which is why it produces usable numbers rather than a wish list.

What size workforce does this suit? The method works from a few hundred employees upward. Below that, the segments become too small to report separately, though the overall results are still informative.

Every deliverable described here is reviewed by a second credentialed actuary before delivery. This page is general information about the firm's services and is not advice for any specific plan.