This week I had the opportunity to sit down with CNN HR coordinator, Geoffrey Martin-Cyr to go over the reward systems that are in place at CNN. My team and I created a list of questions to briefly get a sense of the reward system at Turner. After conducting the interview, which you can watch on the course blog and the link is below. I decided to reach out to another HR executive at a different company to compare and contrast the reward systems. I reached out to James Wright at NBC/Comcast who heads up the executive search for VP level and C level executives to compare and contrast the two companies.
Below, both James and Geoffrey explaine the reward systems that are in place and what the corporate culture is like at their respective companies (NBC/Comcast & CNN). The Q/A is below.
1- What types of incentives are used to keep employees engaged with the company?
James Wright, NBC – “Free employee screenings of major movies prior to release, quarterly meetings w/ President & CEO, affinity groups extremely encouraged & supported”
Geoffrey Martin-Cyr, CNN – “Turner is very proud of our TOTAL REWARDS package, which not only encompasses primary benefit coverage and leave of absence, but also opportunities for advice on financial, personal and family issues, career enrichment, discounts, perks and community involvement. Our compensation package is comprised of both the employee’s base salary as well as the opportunity for annual merit increases and bonus distribution.”
2- Are rewards based on performance offered?
James Wright, NBC – “Yes”
Geoffrey Martin-Cyr, CNN – “Well, the annual merit increases and bonus distributions certainly are, but everything else is offered to all our regular full-time employees.”
3- What informal rules (punishments) do you have in place?
James Wright, NBC - “There are none in place.”
Geoffrey Martin-Cyr, CNN – “We have partnered with our Legal Department to make sure that we have a fair and comprehensive employee issue-resolution path in place, to counsel and meet with employees when the need arises … everything from informal coaching to more formalized verbal and written warnings, which may or may not lead up to termination.”
4- Do you offer management training for your managers and above? if so, are rewards and employee incentives covered in this training? if so, what is covered. If no, why not?
James Wright, NBC - N/A
Geoffrey Martin-Cyr, CNN – “We do offer Management Essentials and other components of an employee’s MY CAREER path. (You might want to check with Dina about a more detailed response.”
5- How well does this reward system work in helping your organization achieve its strategic goals? In what ways could it be improved?
James Wright, NBC – “A little too early to tell as our rewards system has just been revamped post-merger.”
6-On average, how long (think years) do employees remain with NBCUniversal (LA or NY office)? Why do you think employees stay? What about the culture and rewards are enticing?
James Wright, NBC - “I cannot give concrete data; however, my receptionist has been here for 42 years & my VP has been here for 21 years. Our company culture, the assets we have and leverage, the excitement around the merger and our company brand are the reasons why I stay and many people stay…”
Geoffrey Martin-Cyr, CNN – “quite a few employees on the regular stay here for along time.”
I would summarize that both companies have a similar reward systems in place and that employees are relatively happy to work at their respective companies. Although, having been an employee at both companies I can say that Turner as a company overall has a greater financial, health, and career benefits reward system in place.
Lastly, in this weeks reading, “A classic form on introjection is ego involvement (Nicholls, 1984; Ryan, 1982), in which a person performs an act in order to enhance or maintain self-esteem and the feeling of worth.” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 56). After talking with James, I got the sense that NBC/Comcast really the same mentality that Google had before Facebook came into the picture. James said that he has top level talent looking for jobs who were making high six figures salaries and are taking a 25% pay cuts to work at “The peacock”. That comment spoke volumes to me that NBC/Comcast still doesn’t quite value the employee as much as they should. Which is ironic, because, NBC has constantly been in fourth place in the rating for the past 5 years. They might want to take the Facebook approach and start to look at other companies that have top talent like CNN and see if they can get better talent and paying them better.
Web link to Damu Bobb’s Reward System Interview with CNN
Reference:
Ryan, R., and Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology. No. 25, pp. 54-67.
Interesting interviews, Damu. You note that both companies have similar reward systems in place. Do you think that that both do a good job of meeting the four core drives discussed by Nohria et al (2008) ? Does one company address some of the drives better than the other? From what you shared, it sounds like CNN might do a better job of meeting the drive to bond. Would you say this is an accurate assessment?
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ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteGreat question. The four drives (Acquire, Learn, Bond, and Defend), I believe Turner does a better job than NBC/Comcast in the drive to bond. The drive to bond is based around building relationships, and interacting with others. I've been at CNN just over a year, and I have had multiple F2F meetings with the GM, and C-level executives to talk about ideas and build relationships. In contrast, I worked at NBC for over 3 years and never once meet my boss's boss or any top executives at NBC (not entirely true). NBC really has a culture of bureaucracy and that's one reason why I think the company has really not been able to flourish. Employee's at the Manager and director level have to fight tooth and nail to really build relationship with the higher ups. Which can build frustration and lower morale.
To take a quote used by my class mate, Kristina Quinn in her application assignment. “I don’t motivate my players. You cannot motivate someone, all you can do is provide a motivating environment and the players will motivate themselves.” Phil Jackson, coach of the L.A. Lakers
CNN creates and environment that motivates employees in the four drives. I believe the top level executives know exactly what their doing when they engage with their sr.producer and directors. When the GM of the network emails and gives sound solid feedback both positive and constructive on the work produced, it rallies the troops and make employees want to win. Hopefully, when I'm the "EVP of programming" at a network in a few years I will use some of these techniques from our class discussions to motivate my team and staff.
I've learned a lot. Thank you Jessica.
Take care,
Damu