Logistics Case Histories
Case #1: Large Transportation Broker
The President was concerned with lack of growth in sales and the administrative time being taken each month to calculate incentive payments. He was also concerned about the number of incentive plans (more than 20 for a population of 100 employees). After an assessment of the plans, the design team agreed to move forward with a full-scale redesign effort which resulted in:
- the consolidation and elimination of plans down to a much more manageable 12
- administrative time required to calculate incentives reduced from 4 days per month to approximately 4 hours per month, and
- a greater understanding by the employees of how incentives are calculated and what they need to do to increase their pay (and the bottom line for the company).
After the designs were complete, Cygnal administered the plans for 18 months, which enabled the company’s internal resources to focus on other priorities while we streamlined the tools and the process used to calculate compensation to a point where it could be handed back to the internal staff with far less time required on their part. Cygnal has worked with this client for the last two years and continues to provide support throughout the year by reviewing quarterly performance and assisting with any modifications to plan designs for the next fiscal year.
Case #2: Small Brokerage Subsidiary
The President was concerned about potential inequities and lack of flexibility in their current plan design and sought Cygnal Groups’ assistance after hearing Beth Carroll speak at two different TIA events. The design process involved staff from the corporate parent as well as the Brokerage company and resulted in the development of much more flexible and scalable plan designs that will create a viable career path for account managers as well as provide a means for shifting house and contracted accounts from one account manager to another without directly impacting the account managers’ pay.
Case #3: Medium-Sized Brokerage Company
The President heard Beth Carroll speak at the Big Broker conference in Las Vegas and was intrigued by some of the ideas presented. He knew that he wasn’t getting the return he needed on the amount of money spent on incentives but wasn’t sure how to change them to make them better. After an initial assessment which revealed many of the employees did not understand how the incentives were calculated (and therefore could not be motivated by them) the owners decided to work with Cygnal to develop new plan designs with a heavy emphasis on teamwork, improved career paths and salary bands, and much improved communication and transparency, to ensure the employees understood HOW and WHY they were earning what they earning under their incentive plan.
