Total
Rewards

Your total compensation is more than your salary.

• Benefits — health insurance, pension contributions, leave policies, learning budgets, and wellness allowances — can represent 20–40% of your total package.
• Comparing offers on salary alone misses the picture.
• The skill is calculating total compensation across offers and understanding which benefits have real economic value versus nominal perks.

Two kinds of variable pay:

• STI (short-term incentives) — annual bonuses tied to performance: yours, your team, and the company.
• LTI (long-term incentives) — vest over 3–4 years and tie you to the organization.

• Key mechanics to understand: target percentage, payout curves, performance multipliers.
• Without knowing these, you cannot tell whether your variable pay is realistic or aspirational.

RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) give you actual shares after vesting. Stock options give you the right to buy shares at a set price.

• In GBS, equity is becoming more common at senior levels and in tech-adjacent roles.
• Understand vesting schedules, tax implications, and the difference between paper value and realized value — getting this wrong causes expensive surprises.

GBS salary bands are set using market benchmarking data from providers like Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, and Radford.

• Your pay is positioned against a percentile (P25, P50, P75) based on role, location, and industry.
• Understanding how benchmarking works — and what percentile your company targets — tells you whether you are underpaid, on-market, or above-market.

Two numbers that get confused:

• Cost of living — how expensive it is to live somewhere.
• Cost of labor — what employers pay for talent there.

They are not the same.

• A city can have high living costs but moderate labor costs if talent supply is abundant.
• GBS hub selection and salary decisions are driven by cost of labor, not cost of living.
• Knowing the distinction helps you understand why pay varies between locations.

Salary negotiation in GBS is data-driven — emotional arguments about fairness are less effective than market data, internal equity comparisons, and documented performance impact.

• The strongest position combines external benchmark data with internal evidence.
• Example: "Market median for this role in this hub is X. My performance rating is top quartile. I am currently at P35."

Expat packages are expensive for the company and life-changing for the individual.

• Standard components: cost-of-living adjustments, housing allowances, tax equalization, relocation support, and hardship premiums.
• Before accepting any international assignment, understand what is standard, what is negotiable, and what the tax implications are.

Working from a different country — even temporarily — creates real legal and financial exposure.

• Risks: tax obligations, social security complications, and permanent establishment risks for your employer.
• The rise of remote work has made this more common and more complex.
• Before you work from another jurisdiction, understand the threshold rules and get your company mobility team involved.