Press
Cassandra Faurote | President and Founder
Cassandra Faurote is a seasoned human resources consultant with 25+ years in human resources and is the Founder and President of Total Reward Solutions, started in 2005. Total Reward Solutions is a consulting company focused on helping clients in the areas of compensation benefits, performance management, and reward/recognition programs. TRS has worked with companies from 30 to 4,000 employees and in well over 20 industries and is WBE Certified. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Cassandra has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University and holds three certifications to include Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), and SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP).
Professional affiliations include being a member of the Society for Human Resources Management, World at Work, Indy SHRM and NAWBO. She has taught in the human resources certificate program at IUPUI and has also authored an article in Workspan, a World at Work publication, on 10 Ways to Use Your Merit Dollars. Cassandra is a frequent speaker at conferences and for various human resources and compensation groups. Cassandra currently serves on the Board for the Greater Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
Learn more about Cassandra, her speaking topics, and upcoming speaking engagements
Employee retention demands merit increases, promotions
Employee retention is essential to workforce stability and prudent compensation management regardless of labor market conditions. But when the labor market is tight in a robust economy – when employees are more likely to look for better paying or more satisfying employment elsewhere – employee retention is more critical than ever. Let’s examine some of the factors in play and see how employee retention can be strengthened with wise use of compensation budgeting and employee recognition:
As 'Quits' Rise, Fair Pay Practices Become More Important
Call it a perfect storm: As employee "quits" reach high levels in a strong economy while gender pay equity issues come to the forefront, employers are finally getting serious about their fair pay practices. Here's how these factors are converging and what that convergence means for employee compensation and total rewards.
Workplace Harassment Can Impact Corporate Culture AND Compensation
Workplace harassment – which is not necessarily limited to sexual harassment – is being recognized as far too commonplace. It seems like every day another high-profile person is accused of improper behavior, misconduct or worse. Now, the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have given voice to victims and those who seek to empower the powerless.
City salary increases pass first hurdle
City officials have taken the first step to increase the pay of 11 city workers to the minimum level of a proposed new salary scale. Driving this plan is the city’s hope to be more competitive with other similar-sized municipalities in the hiring of employees.
Most city salaries less than midpoint
Two-thirds of Columbus city government workers earn less than the midpoint of a new salary range recommended by a consulting firm, according to findings of a new salary study. Total Reward Solutions, McCordsville, was hired to evaluate salaries of 428 full-time city government employees, comparing them with salaries of peer positions at similar-sized Indiana municipalities.
Gender Pay Equality: Isn’t it Time to Make Things Right?
Gender pay equality remains elusive more than 50 years since passage of the Equal Pay Act, and nearly 10 years since the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became law. And despite widespread awareness of the “gender pay gap”, many companies continue to do little to resolve the inequity. This inaction could lead to regulatory audits and lawsuits that might financially devastate an organization. So, why do so many companies ignore gender pay equality with so much on the line? Let’s look at how serious the problem is and what can be done about it.
Managing Different Generations in The Workforce
With five generations in today's workforce, it can be challenging to manage them fairly and effectively. To address their work/life, compensation, and total employee rewards expectations, you must first define their differences and understand their divergent needs. Traditionalists (aka "The Silent Generation") are the oldest generation in today's workforce. According to the Pew Research Center, this generation was born during the period from 1928 to 1945.
Revised Overtime Rule Struck Down - What It Means For Employers
The revised overtime rule proposed by the Department of Labor under the Obama administration was recently struck down by the same U.S. District Judge who put its implementation on hold in November last year. The rule would have more than doubled - from $23,660 to $47,476 - the minimum annual salary that qualified for the Fair Labor Standards Act's "white collar" exemptions.
Survey Shows Job Satisfaction High, Compensation Satisfaction Lags
The good news? Overall U.S. employee job satisfaction continues to rank highly at 89 percent. The not-so-good news? There's a wide gap between those who rate satisfaction with compensation as very important (61 percent) and those who actually feel very satisfied with their current level of compensation (26 percent). This 35 percentage-point difference regarding compensation was the largest gap noted in the 2016 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey from the Society for Human Resource Management.
A Surprisingly Simple Tactic For Improving Employee Loyalty
Employee loyalty may be at an all-time low. While a recent Deloitte study found that 78 percent of business leaders rate employee retention as important or urgent, large portions of an increasingly transient workforce seem ready to jump ship. In fact, a Monster Worldwide survey revealed that 4 of every 5 respondents had updated their resumes in the previous 6 months; and well over half reported searching for a new job “all the time” or “frequently.”
Death, Taxes and the New FLSA Overtime Regulations: Resistance is Futile
Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing is certain "except death and taxes." For modern-day corporate employers, however, compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act's new overtime regulations is just as mandatory - and perhaps just as difficult to comprehend. With an eye toward the December 1, 2016 effective date for these new Department of Labor rules, many business owners across the nation are scrambling to first figure out what's included in the regulations, and then how to comply and reduce the likelihood of a federal audit. They might also discover unforeseen opportunities.
Compensation Expert Says, Despite “Clawbacks”, Wells Fargo Scandal Could Have Been Avoided
Employee Compensation and Benefits consultant Cassandra Faurote has advice for executives at Wells Fargo and other corporations: look beyond the bottom line to make sure your compensation plans don’t put your company and its customers at risk. "In hindsight," Faurote says, “this was a perfect storm that made disaster inevitable – but it could have been avoided.”
Compensation Sense: New Department of Labor Overtime Rules Extend Protections to Millions More Workers
The United States Department of Labor released final regulatory changes to overtime rules in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Those changes – which become effective December 1, 2016 – extend overtime compensation to more than 4 million U.S. workers who were not previously eligible for overtime pay.
Total Reward Solutions Celebrates 10 Years in Business
Indianapolis based company, Total Reward Solutions, consults with companies on their compensation, benefits, and performance management systems and helps them understand, analyze and plan how to handle changes in compensation laws. According to the Small Business Administration, only one-third of small businesses–classified as 500 employees or less–last more than 10 years.
Managing Different Generations in The Workforce
Indianapolis based company, Total Reward Solutions, consults with companies on their compensation, benefits, and performance management systems and helps them understand, analyze and plan how to handle changes in compensation laws. According to the Small Business Administration, only one-third of small businesses–classified as 500 employees or less–last more than 10 years.
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