This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Payroll grew by a quarter this year. Nobody in the company can explain exactly what the business bought with that money. Here are 292 tools to change that: 181 ready-to-use templates, matrices, checklists, question lists and procedures, 96 models and methods, 13 services shown on screen and 2 working files.

Open a lecture, take the matrix or the template, and apply it to your own pay structure.

Pay decisions made backwards

Someone asked for a raise and you gave it, because losing them would have cost more. Someone else did not ask and is now paid less for the same job. Grades exist on paper, bonuses are paid every year whatever happens, and when the budget is discussed, HR defends a number it cannot break down.

What changes after this course

Your reward strategy starts from business objectives. Jobs are evaluated and graded, ranges are set against the market, and raises follow a matrix. Bonuses are linked to the critical success factors of each role, the whole package is budgeted, and you can show what the business gets for its payroll.

What is inside: 292 tools, counted lecture by lecture

You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.

• 42 downloadable resources: lecture presentations plus 2 working files, a pay package breakdown workbook and a job catalog with leveling charts
• 181 ready-to-use tools inside the presentations:
• 55 templates and sample documents: total rewards gap analysis, compensation philosophy outline, salary range table, annual payroll budget
• 36 scorecards, rubrics and matrices: merit increase matrix, target bonus by job level, business-aligned benefits selection matrix, total rewards effectiveness
• 33 checklists: total rewards strategy development, compensation program quality, bonus scheme design, employee benefits
• 26 question lists and scripts: total rewards philosophy, variable pay design, sales compensation stakeholder interviews, employee recognition survey
• 24 step-by-step procedures: total rewards audit, total rewards program design, pay structure development, sales bonus system development
• 6 formulas and metric sets: salary survey summary statistics, sales performance metrics, salary distribution statistics
• 1 ready AI prompt
• 96 models and methods explained with examples: total rewards model, Hay Guide Chart-Profile method, Herzberg's two-factor theory, equity theory
• 13 services shown on screen, including Korn Ferry Pay Data Map, Carta, OptionPlan, Bonusly, 15Five and ChatGPT

Where the tools are

Total rewards strategy (6 sections, 164 tools). Components and ownership, compensation strategy and job evaluation, sales and executive reward, bonus design, benefits, recognition and the employer value proposition.

Job grading and pay structure (2 sections, 73 tools). Evaluation methods, pay equity, ranges, job grades, market data and pay policy.

Bonus systems (2 sections, 62 tools). Roles, critical success factors, KPIs, variable pay, the bonus plan document and launch.

Payroll cost and business metrics (5 sections, 35 tools). Financial modelling, goals, budgeting, KPIs and scaling.

Who is teaching

I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe.

At Wargaming, my manager Glen Elliott, who had launched the salary survey practice at Radford, brought in a bonus formula: annual salary times a target bonus set by grade and market, multiplied by three factors, the company result, the function result and the individual rating. At the STB TV channel in 2010, I learned the Hay job evaluation method on a two-day training with board games, then saw that it rated television jobs poorly because it was built for industrial companies, so I rebuilt its logic as a spreadsheet with factors that fit our business.

How to use the course

Start with the reward strategy and job grading sections, then design the bonus system and budget the whole package. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.

What is included

• 42 lectures across 16 sections, 23 hours
• 42 downloadable resources: lecture presentations and 2 working files
• 292 tools across the lessons, including 13 services shown on screen
• Lifetime access to all materials
• Active instructor support in the Q&A section
• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

Where to start

Take the last three raises you approved and check them against the salary review matrix in the pay structure lessons. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.