Victor Pereira· Sales Compensation Manager, Qasr Holdings
Asked in New Member Welcome ·
I became reward manager at a national electrical retailer in the UK in June, having come from a broader HR projects role. We have about 5,500 colleagues and a reward team of three.
I have a development budget that would cover either the annual conference or perhaps three smaller things: a one-day workshop, a local chapter meeting or two, and some of the online sessions.
I do not have a network in the profession yet. For a first year, would you spend it all on the big conference, or spread it? And is there anything you went to early on that you would tell a newcomer to skip?
9 helpful · 1 agree · 4 replies · 115 views · 6 following
Victor UedaCEP
Job Architecture Lead, Independent
Spread it in year one, conference in year two. A large conference is far better value when you already know twenty people and have specific problems to bring. In your first year the local chapter meetings will give you a network faster, and they cost almost nothing.
Wren ZhangCRP, CEP
Job Architecture Lead, Silverline Media
I would go to the conference, and I say that as someone who went in my first year knowing nobody. Two days of hearing what other organisations were worried about gave me a map of the profession that I could not have got from a workshop. I picked sessions outside my own area on purpose.
Director of Benefits, Tidewater Utilities
Whichever you choose, a one-day workshop on market pricing or range design is the one thing I would not drop. It is the only format where you do the work with your hands.
I would skip the big-picture talks on the future of reward in a first year. Interesting, but nothing you can use on Monday.
Compensation Consultant, Cardinal Insurance
Check the online sessions before you spend anything. A good number are included with membership, and the recordings stay available. I watched six in my first year for nothing.
