ABSTRACT
Compensating is the practice of providing monetary and nonmonetary rewards to employees in exchange for time, effort and expertise. A well-explained and strategic compensation package can make recruiting and retention easy. For that reason, compensation is a key function of a strategic talent leadership approach. Ideally, districts would fully redesign compensation systems based upon sustainable funding, paying attention to factors such as teacher effectiveness, hard-to-staff positions, hard-to-staff schools, course loads and leadership duties. A locally designed program in this district would emphasize retention incentives. Educators who sign on to a differentiated compensation plan must not only be able to trust that it will be in place long-term, they must trust that the compensation structure explained to them is the one that will be implemented and, ultimately, show up in their paycheck. The best way to build this trust is to ensure that all principals, teachers and compensation plan administrators have the same understanding of the ‘rules.’
