Charter

Download PDF version of charter here.

Please note that our recently adopted Formal ByLaws (3/8/12) will be posted soon - but our group guidelines are below:

NEW ENGLAND COMPENSATION CONSORTIUM

CHARTER

1. Purpose

a. To provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information in the general field of compensation and related practices.

b. To provide networking opportunities for members.

c. To provide programs that foster member educational/professional development.

2. Membership

a. Membership is open to individuals in a management or individual contributor position that is concerned with the establishment, execution, administration, or application of compensation policies and practices.

b. Members may have multiple HR responsibilities, but compensation should be a key part of their role.

c. External consultants may participate as regular members of the NECC provided they fulfill the membership responsibilities as listed below.

d. Member Responsibilities:

1.       Participate in the sharing of ideas and information, unless the specific information being discussed is strictly company confidential.

2.       Commit to participating in NECC sponsored surveys related to future programs (e.g., stock option programs, hot skills retention programs, etc.). This does not include individual member requests for data, but all members are encouraged to assist other members with information whenever possible. Specific guidelines pertaining to member requests are listed below.

3.       Active participation as demonstrated by attending at least 2 meetings in the last 12 months. Extenuating circumstances (e.g., leave of absence from work) are valid reasons for not meeting this requirement. Sign-up sheets at each meeting will track attendance. If attendance requirements are not met, that member’s name will be removed from the membership roster. By notifying the meeting facilitator, members may send a non-member representative from their company in their place.

4.       Must not use relationship with the NECC as an opportunity to “sell” company products or services to other members.

e. Applications for Membership: Individuals interested in joining the NECC should attend an initial meeting as the guest of any current member. If the individual remains interested in becoming a member, he/she must provide contact information to any member of the Steering Committee.

3. Steering Committee

Steering Committee members are responsible for making decisions on administrative issues pertaining to the membership. The Committee may propose recommendations to the membership on matters relating to governance issues, such as changes to the charter, meeting topics, etc. The group at large makes final decision on matters that affect the charter, governance issues, and items pertaining to meetings (topics/dates/time changes). However, the Steering Committee is expected to provide guidance and recommendations on the issue at hand.  If the issue is of extreme significance, the matter will be brought to the Group at large for a decision.

a. The Steering Committee is comprised of a maximum of twelve (12) members.

b. Each member of the Steering Committee will serve for a one (1) year term, with renewal up to three (3) years. Steering Committee members who have served for a three-year term may resubmit a nomination form at the end of that term. There is no limit on the number of years that a member serves on the Committee.

c. Election Process: Late in the year (and whenever the Steering Committee needs to fill a vacancy) the membership at large is invited to participate on the Steering Committee. Interested parties are required to complete a nomination form and submit it to the current Committee. (Current members who are continuing on the Committee need not submit a nomination form.) The Committee reviews the nominations, makes the selections, and announces the proposed new Committee members to the membership. The membership has 10 days to respond with any objections, which are investigated and decided upon solely by the Committee. The new Committee members are formally assigned at the beginning of the next month.

1.       Nominees must have at least one (1) year of active membership as demonstrated by attending at least 3 meetings and participating in individual surveys, as described in Section 2.D.3.  The nominee must have a solid understanding of how the group operates.

2.       Occasionally, Steering Committee members resign during the year. If the number of Steering Committee members falls below eight (8) before September, the current Steering Committee may appoint replacements for the remainder of the year.

d. There are three official roles on the Steering Committee. Roles are defined as follows:

1. Membership Coordinator - This person will maintain the spreadsheet that contains the membership roster (updated after each NECC meeting), interested members list, charter, consultant members bios, meeting attendance lists for both members and interested members. This spreadsheet is sent to the membership after each NECC meeting along with the handouts and other applicable information from the meeting.

2. Program Communications/Enrollment Coordinator - This person is responsible for coordinating production of NECC's meeting program notices with the meeting facilitator, disseminating them to both members and prospective members noted on NECC's rosters, and overseeing the enrollment process including seamless handoff to the host company contact (s). In order to perform these duties, it is expected that the incumbent will have Survey Monkey or a comparable database/survey tool to manage the process on line.

3. WorldatWork LN Liaison - This person is the official NECC representative to WorldatWork. As such this person’s contact information is published in WorldatWork literature for anyone seeking information about NECC. The LN Liaison attends meetings sponsored by WorldatWork and brings information to the Steering Committee and general membership as necessary/helpful.

e. Steering Committee members are expected to participate in all Steering Committee meetings and teleconferences, and attend to Steering Committee business in a timely manner.

f. The Steering Committee members determine how to distribute other responsibilities among themselves. These other responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.       Scheduling meeting hosts,

2.       Helping set up programs and agendas,

3.       Coordinating member surveys.

4. Partnerships

The NECC is a member of the Group Partnership Network (GPN) of the WorldatWork professional organization (formerly, the American Compensation Association, ACA). However, members of NECC are not required to be members of WorldatWork. As a GPN, the NECC agrees to share membership lists with WorldatWork, and to respond to information requests from WorldatWork as requested. In return, WorldatWork provides reduced rates on services, opportunity to participate in programs, etc. The specific guidelines of this partnership are developed and administered by WorldatWork. The NECC membership retains the right to vote to end this partnership at any time.

5. Programs

a. The needs and interests of the membership drive the programs offered.

b. Consultants may be used for programs, but care should be taken to ensure they are not “selling” their services and/or products.

c. Consultants should not be used exclusively for programs; members are encouraged to present programs based on their own experiences.

6. Meetings

a. Meeting dates are determined at the beginning of the calendar year.

b. Meetings are held in varying Boston area locations (North, South, East, and West).

7. Charter Revisions

Any member in good standing may propose revisions to this charter.  Proposed revisions should be forwarded to the Steering Committee, who will review the request, and present it to the membership in a timely manner.  Revisions must be approved by a majority of the membership.

ADDENDUM:

Information Distribution

Members should follow the following process when sending resumes, information on internally developed products, corporate white papers, information from consulting practices, job openings.

·         Subject line of e-mail should be clear and should include NECC (e.g., “NECC job wanted - Compensation Manager” or “NECC - Sales Compensation: Information from Alexander Group”).

·         To the extent possible, email should be sent under low priority.

·         Information content should be HR related (i.e., no resumes for engineers, etc.).

·         Members are asked to use their professional judgment in determining what is appropriate to send to the membership. For example, it may be more appropriate to contact, by phone, a select group of members to discuss a particular topic.

Survey Guidelines and Anti-Trust (Compensation and Benefits Data)

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published guidelines for the management of compensation and benefits surveys. NECC supports these guidelines that are meant to limit the exposure of member companies to potential anti-trust litigation. NECC will not knowingly participate in and does not support the exchange of C&B data among its members unless the following criteria of the survey are met:

·         The survey is managed by a third-party (independent consultant, consulting firm, academic institution, etc.);

·         The information provided by survey participants is based on data that is more than 3 months old; and

·         There must be at least 5 providers reporting data and no individual provider data can represent more than 25% of the data.

Information Requests

In requesting information, please follow these guidelines:

·         Check past requests to ensure that they are not duplicating recent surveys.

·         Use the most recent roster to distribute.

·         Roster indicates the primary (P) and secondary (S) contact for each company representative. It is the discretion of the requester to solicit responses from the primary or secondary contact.

·         Summarize all of the responses (in aggregate), include a list of participating companies, and submit to the responding members no longer than two weeks after receiving all of the responses. It is the discretion of the requestor to provide the summary of responses to members who did not respond or did not provide data but are interested in the results.

In responding to information requests, please follow these guidelines:

·         Each member should make every effort to provide the requested information within a week of receiving the request. If the member wants to participate but is unable to respond within that time, she/he should notify the requestor. If the member does not have a job or program to match the survey request but is interested in the results, the member may respond to the requestor.

·         Members should respond only to the requestor. It is the requestor’s responsibility to distribute the responses to all participants.

General NECC Questions

In order to expedite timely response to general questions concerning NECC procedures, members should e-mail the entire Steering Committee (color coded yellow on the membership roster). The Steering Committee responds to all questions within five (5) business days. Members should be aware that the Steering Committee’s response time might be delayed if only one member of the Steering Committee is contacted with a question.