What are Total Reward Statements (TRS) in the UK?

A total reward statement breaks down the monetary value of an employee’s compensation package, so they can see their total compensation beyond their salary. Pension, insurance, benefits and perks are all part of a total reward statement. 

Employees typically receive a statement every year through a physical or digital medium, through which they can track the value of their benefits. A total reward statement is separate from an annual salary statement.

A total reward statement is used to help employees understand the benefits they’re entitled to, how much those ‘“extras’” beyond a salary are worth and to see how their package compares to others in the job market. 

Through this holistic view, employees can evaluate their compensation beyond their paycheque and properly assess the full value of all the benefits and perks they receive at work. They also allow employees to properly track how their compensation changes from year to year. 

Total reward statements and total reward strategies often go by the same acronym – TRS. However, the two concepts are entirely different. 

A total reward statement is the documentation that shows all tangible compensation and benefits an employee receives. Total reward strategies cover two types of rewards and the contributions both make toward an employee’s overall wellbeing. These include: 

• Intrinsic rewards

• Extrinsic rewards

Intrinsic rewards are intangible rewards that employees receive from the act of doing their work. While money is an essential motivator for most employees, many others are driven by having their efforts recognised by their organisation. 

For example, the satisfaction a writer might feel by getting their article published on a major news site is an intrinsic reward. These intrinsic rewards cannot have a dollar amount assigned to them, so they aren’t found on a total reward statement.

Extrinsic rewards are tangible things that employees receive after completing their work, such as their salary, bonuses or company gift cards, and perks and other benefits they receive as an employee. 

While money remains one of the most reliable motivators in the workplace, taking care of your employees’ other needs helps ensure you retain them long-term. Extrinsic rewards are the type that you’ll find on a total reward statement.

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Total reward statements are separated into several sections detailing different aspects of an employee’s overall benefits package. Within these sections, an employee will find:

• Benefits

• Insurances

• Pensions

• Discounts an employee can access through an employer

• Allowances, such as a stipend or a company car

• Tax and fiscal contributions

• Employer national insurance contributions

• Bonuses

Each organisation’s TRS will look slightly different, depending on what that company has to offer. For example, the NHS includes additional programmes that add overall value to the position, such as health and wellbeing programmes, childcare vouchers and learning and development opportunities. 

Organisations can provide total reward statements via print or digitally. How employees receive their statements depends on the organisation’s structure and processes. 

Using the NHS once again as an example, employees can access their total reward statements through the NHS’s specialised online portal. In addition, the NHS also provides access to total reward statements through the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) employee self-service portal if your organisation uses those facilities. While the NHS’s total rewards portal is accessed with a username and password, the ESR option also allows logging in with a smartcard. 

The frequency of updates for TRS often depends on the organisation. It’s recommended to work on the data throughout the year, as this reduces your burden to update the statements for all employees by year’s end. 

To use the NHS as an example, they work on the data throughout the year, with the prior year’s data cleansed in June and the data update occurring in December. According to the same schedule, total reward statements are typically released in August. 

Total reward statements are provided by employers to their employees. This can be done through an online portal or in print. Managers should communicate their expectations with employees so the latter know where and when to look for their statements.

A TRS ensures that employees know about and understand each benefit their organisation offers them. This way, they can take full advantage of the benefits offered to them.

While there are services that offer employees easy access to their statements, keeping track of every employee benefits package can be daunting without help. 

Personio offers useful data storage features that let you keep all employee data in one place for easy future reference. 

Book your free demo to see how else Personio can help your company manage all its information.