Group Reward Manager
Reporting to: Global Reward Director
Location: Any Hays office location and Home (Hybrid Role)
Welcome to Hays!
Hays is a market leader in specialist recruitment and workforce solutions worldwide. With over 50 years’ experience across 29 different countries within 21 different industries.
But joining Hays isn’t just about being part of a global business leader; here your ambition, collaboration and performance will be celebrated. Hays offers clear progression pathways, continue your recruitment career with us at Hays!
Role Purpose:
Support the effective implementation of Hays’ global reward strategy across Group, ensuring globally anchored, performance-orientated, affordable, competitive, consistent and simple compensation and benefit practices.
Implement global frameworks grounded in the Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Global Grading System (GGS) and informed by WTW remuneration, benefits, and market practice survey data.
Support the Global Reward Director on reward matters relating to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and the Plc Remuneration Committee.
Key Responsibilities:
- Take ownership of the management and continual development of Group reward policies and principles, ensuring they remain aligned with overarching global frameworks and reflect both current legislative requirements and best market practice. This includes regularly reviewing, updating, and communicating policy changes to stakeholders across all regions, and providing guidance and support to local HR teams on policy implementation.
- Lead Group-wide job evaluation and grading processes utilising the Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System (WTW GGS), ensuring all roles are assessed fairly and consistently. Provide training and support to HR and business leaders on the GGS methodology, maintain up-to-date grading records, and resolve queries or appeals regarding job evaluations, thereby underpinning transparent and equitable reward decisions.
- Govern and coordinate the annual Group reward cycles, including salary review, bonus, and incentive processes, ensuring the application of consistent standards across all regions. Collaborate with Finance, HR, and business leaders to set cycle timelines, manage communications, monitor adherence to reward frameworks, and conduct post-cycle reviews to identify areas for improvement.
- Oversee executive reward interfaces, including the administration and management of share plans, working closely with the Company Secretariat to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and accurate reporting. Facilitate executive reward benchmarking, support Remuneration Committee preparations, and ensure the smooth execution of reward elements for the Executive Leadership Team and senior management.
- Develop and maintain strong working relationships with Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and other third-party providers, acting as the primary contact for reward-related services. Negotiate contracts, coordinate survey participation, manage vendor performance, and ensure timely access to market data and consultancy advice to support effective decision-making.
- Lead the delivery of reward reporting, analytics, and pay equity initiatives, providing regular and ad-hoc reports to senior management, Remuneration Committees, and HR teams. Analyse internal and external reward data to identify trends, inform strategy, and ensure compliance with pay equity and transparency requirements. Proactively recommend actions to address gaps or disparities and drive continuous improvement in reward outcomes.
- Operationalise the global mobility reward strategy by managing assignments and international transfers, ensuring that reward arrangements for mobile employees are competitive, compliant, and aligned with both business needs and global frameworks. Provide guidance on expatriate packages, relocation support, and cross-border reward policies, working closely with global mobility, tax, and legal teams to mitigate risks and ensure seamless execution.
- Partner strategically with Technology teams to enhance People & Culture systems, improve data integrity, and support digital transformation of reward processes. Collaborate on system upgrades, data migration, and automation projects, ensuring reward data is accurate, secure, and supports effective analytics and reporting. Provide input into system design and user requirements to optimise reward functionality and user experience across the Group.
Experience:
- Expertise in compensation, benefits, executive reward, and reward governance.
- Strong understanding of WTW or similar job evaluation and survey methodologies.
Skills and Competencies
- Able to effectively manage and influence stakeholders.
- Analytical Agility - exceptional financial modelling and data interpretation skills to forecast the impact of complex incentive designs.
- Commercially astute and able to align reward design with business performance and company culture
- Pragmatic: able to deliver guidance in a fast paced, complex environment
- Communicates clearly and openly to win support.
- Highly organised, can work under pressure and to deadlines
- Demonstrates behaviours that support and reflect the Hays valued behaviours
- Collaborative with a good appreciation of both global and local needs
- Good attention to detail
- Ability to spot issues and identify solutions independently before they become a blocker
- Resilient
At Hays, we share a passion for creating a culture of opportunities for our people to flourish and succeed, whatever your background. We know that diversity of perspective and an inclusive approach, which encourages those experiences and views to be heard, is great for business and therefore your career.