Cultivating a strong “talent experience” (which is essential to attracting and retaining workers) is a combination of culture, total value proposition and inclusion and diversity. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Remember when employees worked a standard 9-to-5 job, clocking out and checking out at the end of the day, fulfilling a prescribed set of functions to which their success and performance was tied? Perhaps there was also a clear path of promotion and expected incremental salary increases.

That's not how the modern workforce works. Today's work environment isn't a one-for-one exchange of production output for pay; it's about creating a labor force with the skills and fluidity to meet the business goals of the company. It's a much more complicated strategy, and the pay and benefits decisions to support that workforce have also gotten more complicated.

In a recent webinar, industry leaders from Willis Towers Watson explored the connection between “total rewards” packages, pay transparency and career development. “Our world is changing, work is changing, employee expectations are changing,” said Jacki Bassani, WTW's managing director of talent and rewards. “Organizations are placing a stronger emphasis on total rewards strategy.”