Compensation Management for Rewards Managers Training Course
| Course code | SD-HM-033 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 5 days |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Category | HR Management |
| Delivery | Classroom or live online |
| Language | English |
| Certificate | Certificate of completion |
Course overview
Rewards managers are expected to maintain pay structures that are competitive, internally equitable, financially sustainable, and defensible to executives and employees. That work becomes difficult when market data conflicts with legacy grades, managers make inconsistent offers, salary ranges drift from budget, or pay-equity questions arise without a reliable analytical trail. This course addresses the practical decisions behind compensation governance: how to translate job value, market evidence, performance outcomes, and affordability constraints into pay recommendations that can withstand scrutiny.
Participants work through the core compensation-management cycle, from job evaluation and grade design to market pricing, salary-range construction, merit planning, incentive design, and pay-equity analysis. They learn to clean and interpret salary-survey data; calculate compa-ratios, range penetration, midpoint progression, and market position; build salary structures in Excel; model merit matrices; and prepare concise reward recommendations for senior stakeholders. The course also examines governance controls for pay decisions, including approval thresholds, documentation, audit trails, and reporting aligned with recognised people metrics.
Delivery combines instructor-led explanation with spreadsheet-based modelling, case analysis, peer review, and facilitated decision workshops. Participants use a realistic organisation case to build a compensation management workbook containing a job-grade framework, market-pricing analysis, salary-range model, merit budget scenarios, pay-equity diagnostic, and implementation roadmap. They leave with reusable templates, calculation logic, and a documented approach they can adapt to their own organisation.
The programme is designed for rewards managers and experienced HR practitioners who already contribute to pay, grading, annual review, or reward-policy decisions and need a more rigorous, data-led operating method.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate jobs using factor-based job evaluation criteria and document defensible grade recommendations
- Clean and interpret salary-survey data using ageing, matching, percentile, and market-position methods
- Build salary ranges in Excel using midpoints, range spreads, overlap, and progression calculations
- Calculate compa-ratio, range penetration, pay-position, and budget-impact measures for employee populations
- Design merit increase matrices that link performance ratings, market position, and affordability constraints
- Conduct a pay-equity diagnostic using cohort comparisons, regression concepts, and exception review logs
- Prepare a compensation governance framework covering approval rights, controls, documentation, and audit trails
- Present an evidence-based reward recommendation with cost scenarios, risks, and implementation actions
Benefits of attending
For you
- Gain a repeatable method for converting survey data into salary-range and market-position recommendations
- Build confidence in challenging poorly evidenced pay exceptions and inconsistent manager requests
- Strengthen credibility with finance and executive stakeholders through costed compensation scenarios
- Develop a portfolio-ready compensation workbook demonstrating analytical and governance capability
- Prepare for broader reward, compensation-and-benefits, or HR leadership responsibilities
For your organisation
- Improve consistency of salary offers, promotions, and annual pay-review decisions across business units
- Reduce avoidable pay-equity risk through structured diagnostics, documentation, and exception review
- Create clearer links between market data, grade architecture, salary ranges, and pay budgets
- Give leaders costed merit and adjustment scenarios before compensation commitments are approved
- Strengthen audit readiness with defined approval controls, decision records, and reward reporting
Target competencies
Who should attend
- Rewards Managers — who own pay structures, annual review processes, and compensation governance
- Compensation and Benefits Managers — who need consistent methods for market pricing and salary administration
- Senior HR Business Partners — who advise leaders on pay decisions and exception requests
- HR Directors — who require stronger controls, reporting, and assurance over reward decisions
- People Analytics Managers — who analyse workforce pay data and support equity investigations
- Talent Acquisition Managers — who need to position offers within salary ranges and approval rules
Requirements and prerequisites
Participants should have practical HR or reward experience and familiarity with core compensation terms such as base salary, salary range, job grade, market benchmark, merit increase, and total reward. They should be comfortable working with employee-level data in Microsoft Excel, including filters, formulas, percentages, and basic charts; prior use of PivotTables is helpful. Participants should ideally bring examples of their organisation’s pay structure or annual review process, subject to confidentiality rules. Advanced statistics, programming, formal job-evaluation accreditation, and prior Power BI experience are not required.
Training methodology
The instructor uses short technical briefings to introduce compensation concepts, followed by guided modelling in Microsoft Excel and structured review of realistic reward cases. Participants price benchmark roles, test grade architecture, calculate pay-position metrics, build salary ranges, and debate exception decisions in cross-functional groups representing HR, finance, and line leadership. Case data is progressively expanded across the week, so each exercise contributes to the final compensation management workbook. The final session includes peer challenge, facilitator feedback, and an individual 90-day application plan for workplace implementation.
Course outline
Day 1: Compensation strategy, job value and governance
- Compensation philosophy and total reward positioning
- Internal equity, external competitiveness and affordability trade-offs
- Factor-based job evaluation methods and scoring logic
- Job documentation, role matching and evaluation evidence
- Grade structures, job families and career-level architecture
- Compensation governance roles, approval authorities and delegation
- Decision documentation, exception registers and audit trails
Workshop: Participants evaluate three benchmark roles using a factor matrix and produce documented grade recommendations with an exception-control workflow.
Day 2: Market pricing and salary structure design
- Salary-survey sources, data quality checks and benchmark matching
- Survey ageing and geographic differential calculations
- Percentile selection and market-position policy
- Midpoint, range spread and range-overlap calculations
- Salary-range progression and grade-to-grade differentials
- Compa-ratio, range penetration and pay-position analysis
- Excel models for salary structures and population mapping
Workshop: Participants clean survey extracts and build a multi-grade salary structure with market comparisons and employee compa-ratio outputs.
Day 3: Annual pay review and variable pay decisions
- Annual pay-review process design and operating calendar
- Merit matrix construction using performance and compa-ratio
- Market adjustments, promotional increases and retention premiums
- Budget allocation scenarios and payroll-cost forecasting
- Proration, eligibility rules and manager guidance
- Short-term incentive plan measures, thresholds and payout curves
- Pay-review calibration and exception approval protocols
Workshop: Participants model three merit-budget scenarios and produce a merit matrix, exception list, and leadership briefing note.
Day 4: Pay equity, analytics and reward reporting
- Pay-equity concepts, protected-group comparisons and legal-risk indicators
- Data preparation for compensation analysis and cohort definition
- Unadjusted pay-gap calculations and distribution analysis
- Regression concepts for adjusted pay-equity review
- Root-cause analysis for pay differences and remediation options
- ISO 30414 human capital reporting measures
- Power BI compensation dashboards and management reporting
Workshop: Participants conduct a pay-equity diagnostic on a sample workforce and produce a remediation priority report with dashboard measures.
Day 5: Reward recommendations and implementation control
- Integrating grades, market data, ranges, merit and equity findings
- Financial business cases for compensation investment
- Scenario modelling for structural adjustments and transition costs
- Stakeholder mapping for executives, finance, managers and employees
- Pay communication principles and manager briefing materials
- Implementation risk register, controls and success measures
- Ninety-day compensation management action planning
Workshop: Participants present their completed compensation management workbook and produce a 90-day implementation roadmap for a reward steering group.
Tools & standards covered
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, ISO 30414, WorldatWork Total Rewards Model
A typical training day
| 08:30 – 10:30 | First session |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Refreshment break |
| 10:45 – 12:30 | Second session |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch and networking |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Third session |
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Refreshment break |
| 15:15 – 16:30 | Workshop and daily review |
Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.
What the fee includes
- Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
- Full course workbook and materials
- Exercise files, templates and case studies
- Certificate of completion
- Refreshments and lunch (classroom deliveries)
- Post-course application plan
- Facilitator follow-up on request
- Group rates from five participants
How you can take this course
Classroom
Scheduled sessions in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Dubai and Cape Town.
Live online
The same facilitator and materials, delivered live for distributed teams and individuals.
In-house
Delivered privately for your team, at your offices or a venue of your choice, tailored to your context. Request a proposal.
Certification
Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.
Frequently asked questions
Upcoming sessions
New dates are being scheduled. Ask us about the next session or an in-house delivery for your team.
Ask about datesGroup of 5+?
Request in-house delivery or group rates →Related courses in HR Management
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