Bye Bye, Compensation Plans!

At jobvalley, the focus is on people - we want equality, security and self-determination throughout the company. That's why, as a first major step, we are suspending Compensation Plans as a pilot project. How and why? You can find out more here.

In 2022, we will suspend the Compensation Plans for the first time as a pilot project. In concrete terms, this means that all of our employees' bonuses will be allocated to their fixed salary. For equality, security and self-determination throughout the company.

Flexibility, self-determination and the joy of change are core values of jobvalley that we want to live throughout the company. We no longer want to be bound to fixed work processes and rigid goals, but to be able to react directly to current developments. Sticking to projects only for reasons of target fulfillment and ignoring alternatives? That is no longer in keeping with the times. Agility is essential - so we can achieve the best for our employees, customers and students.

How significant is this step?

The move away from compensation plans is a symbol of our transformation from personnel service provider Studitemps to a digital platform for flexible working for academics - jobvalley. As Studitemps, we recognized the signs of the times early on, rethought temporary employment and included students, graduates and young professionals with a digitally driven approach. At the same time, our business model was strongly sales-driven, with compensation plans as a logical consequence and the risk that these influence thinking and action and block innovative approaches. We are now breaking this down.

What do we hope to achieve?

The abolition of compensation plans is intended to reduce complexity and create more continuity and security in return. In this sense, we want to enable a secure, self-determined culture that is aligned with the company's purpose, so that our values are not just words. As our Fachkraft 2030 study shows, this is just as important to (future) employees as it is to us. We hope that employees will not be blocked in their thinking and actions by bonuses and will give free rein to creativity and innovation. Since we have been focusing on "working together for each other" more and more since the beginning of our transformation and have had good experiences with this, we believe that the goals can also be achieved without "bonuses in mind".

Happy Employees, Happy Customers!

Of course, these goals also exist in business success, and for this, good, long-term relationships with customers and academics are crucial. Research shows that there is a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. We perceive this in the same way and want to promote a win-win situation for all parties involved through changes in the corporate culture. Regardless of the size of the company, whether it is the first contact via our digital portal solution or a regular jobvalley customer - we want to offer an optimal experience. Every satisfied employee makes an indispensable contribution to this.

What are the reactions from the company? 

At jobvalley, we don't work against each other, but rather hand in hand with experts from different areas. Of course, the suspension of the compensation plans affects employees from Sales in particular, but it also has an effect on other areas, which is illustrated by an excerpt of the reactions to this step:

"I think that such a decision in times of the Corona pandemic shows that jobvalley believes not only in its product, but especially in its employees. Truly exceptional."  

- Florian Desch, Account Manager

"The preparation and distribution of individual bonus payments ties up significant capacities in Finance and People Operations. Suspending the Compensation Plans creates new resources and is also another important step towards an employee-oriented corporate culture."

- Bernd Sunkel, Controlling 

"I think that a 100 percent fixed salary in Sales only brings advantages. In a second step, we need to define in more detail the measures that will be used to motivate the sales staff to outperform. All in all, for me this is one of the many steps currently being taken to make us even more attractive as an employer in the 'war for talent'!"

- Tim Maaß, Senior Consultant Young Professionals

Our conclusion

The move away from compensation plans toward more flexibility and self-determination is a big step that we believe in. At the same time, it's clear that in this case, too, we don't want to simply define a fixed target, but rather reassess it on a permanent basis and incorporate employee opinions. That's why we initially launched the suspension as a pilot project for one year and are excited to see how it will develop. Here, as well as on our social media channels, we will report continuously on this and other steps toward a new corporate culture.