| Course | D355 Total Rewards |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 1 |
| Paper type | Total rewards strategy |
| Length | About 1,000 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | BS Human Resource Management |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D355 Task 1
Leading Where It Counts, Matching Everywhere Else: A Total Rewards Strategy for a Composite Regional Museum That Cannot Hire IT and Marketing Staff
Student Name
School of Business, Western Governors University
D355: Total Rewards, Task 1
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Leading Where It Counts, Matching Everywhere Else: A Total Rewards Strategy for a Composite Regional Museum That Cannot Hire IT and Marketing Staff
The Organization and Its Objectives
The Lakeshore Museum of Science, a composite nonprofit museum in a mid-sized Midwestern city, employs 96 people and welcomes about 400,000 visitors a year. Its strategic plan for the next five years has three objectives: grow school and family attendance by 20%, build a digital program that reaches students who cannot visit, and increase individual memberships and donations to reduce dependence on a few large grants. Those objectives depend heavily on two groups of employees the museum struggles to hire and keep: IT staff, who run ticketing, donor databases and the new digital learning platform, and marketing staff, who drive attendance and membership. In the past two years, the museum filled two IT roles only after five months each and lost three of its five marketing staff to local companies.
How Compensation Supports the Museum's Objectives
Strategic compensation aligns pay and rewards with an organization's goals rather than treating pay as a fixed cost. For the museum, that means rewards must attract and keep the skills its objectives require, reinforce the behaviors that move attendance and membership, and fit a nonprofit budget funded by admissions, memberships and grants. Pay also has to be seen as fair across the organization: educators and exhibit staff, who are central to the mission, will notice if technology and marketing roles receive very different treatment without explanation.
Research supports investing in pay where it matters. Gerhart and Fang (2015) examined the claim that money undermines people's inner drive and found little workplace evidence for it; well-designed pay, they concluded, tends to raise performance and to draw and keep stronger performers. For a mission-driven museum, mission and meaningful work are strengths, but they do not replace competitive pay for roles where the museum competes with corporate employers.
Choosing a Market Position
Organizations can lead the market, paying above competitors to attract the best talent; match it, paying about the same; or lag it, paying less and compensating in other ways. A single position for the whole museum would be a mistake. Leading the market for all 96 employees is unaffordable, while lagging for IT and marketing would continue the vacancies that threaten the strategic plan.
The museum will therefore adopt a hybrid strategy. For IT and digital roles, it will lead the nonprofit market and match the broader regional market at the median, since these employees compare offers with corporate employers. For marketing roles, it will match the regional market at the median. For educators, exhibit, visitor services and administrative roles, it will match the nonprofit and cultural sector market, where current pay is already near median. This concentrates spending where the objectives are most at risk.
Pay Types and Systems
Base pay: the museum will adopt pay ranges for each job family, with midpoints set at the chosen market position and a 40% spread, and will post ranges so that employees and candidates can see how pay is set. Current IT salaries, about 17% below the regional median, will move to the median over two budget years; marketing salaries, about 9% below, will move to the median in one year. Internal consistency will come from placing every job in the range structure using a simple job evaluation, so that differences between families reflect market rates and job content, not negotiation.
Variable pay: marketing staff will be eligible for a team incentive of up to 5% of base pay, paid annually if membership and attendance goals are met. A team award suits work in which campaigns succeed through shared effort, and it ties pay to the museum's objectives. IT staff will receive a project completion bonus for delivering the digital learning platform on schedule.
Recognition: a quarterly award, chosen by staff, will recognize contributions to visitors and students across all departments.
Benefits
Legally required benefits: the museum must pay the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes and withhold employees' shares (Internal Revenue Service, n.d.), and must provide unemployment insurance and workers' compensation coverage as required by state law. These are not optional and are part of the cost of every hire.
Discretionary benefits: the museum currently offers health insurance, a 3% retirement contribution and standard paid time off. The evaluation recommends keeping health coverage, raising the retirement contribution to 5% to help retain long-serving staff, and adding benefits that cost little but matter to technology and marketing employees. The most important is flexibility: IT and marketing staff will be able to work remotely up to three days a week. In a large randomized experiment, staff given two remote days a week left the company a third less often than colleagues required on site, with no cost to their performance ratings or promotions (Bloom et al., 2024). The museum will also add a professional development allowance of $1,500 a year, and free family memberships and guest passes, which reinforce the mission at almost no cost.
Cost and Measures
Moving IT and marketing pay to market will cost about $98,000 a year when fully phased in, incentives up to $22,000, the retirement increase about $76,000 and development allowances about $40,000, for a total of about $236,000, roughly 3.5% of payroll. The museum will measure time to fill and retention for IT and marketing, progress on the digital platform, membership growth and staff survey responses on pay fairness. Because the strategy treats job families differently, leadership will explain it openly at an all-staff meeting, showing that every family is paid at its own market rate and that educators and exhibit staff also benefit from the retirement increase, the development allowance and posted ranges.
Conclusion
A hybrid total rewards strategy lets the museum compete for the IT and marketing talent its strategic plan requires while keeping pay fair and affordable across the organization. Market-based ranges, targeted variable pay, a stronger retirement benefit, flexibility and development opportunities, combined with the mission that already attracts people to museum work, give the museum a credible offer.
References
Bloom, N., Han, R., & Liang, J. (2024). Hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. Nature, 630(8018), 920-925. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07500-2
Gerhart, B., & Fang, M. (2015). Pay, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, performance, and creativity in the workplace: Revisiting long-held beliefs. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2, 489-521. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111418
Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Understanding employment taxes. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/understanding-employment-taxes
What the D355 Task 1 instructions ask
The first D355 task asks you to design a total rewards strategy that supports an organization's goals. Most versions call for the organization's objectives, an explanation of how compensation supports them, a market position with reasons, the pay types and systems you recommend, legally required and voluntary benefits, costs and how results will be tracked. Evaluators expect a clear line from strategy to rewards, so every recommendation should serve an objective. The market position decision is central; explain whether the organization should lead, match or lag the market, and consider whether different jobs deserve different positions. Pay systems need detail, such as ranges and how raises are decided. Benefits should separate what the law requires from what the organization chooses to offer, with citations for the required ones.
How this D355 Task 1 example is built
The strategy opens with the museum's size, staff and three objectives, from attendance growth to digital programs. A section on strategic compensation explains why rewards should attract the skills those objectives need. The market position section weighs leading, matching and lagging, and rejects one position for the whole museum as too costly or too weak. Pay types follow, with posted ranges for each job family, small team incentives tied to attendance and development allowances. Benefits are split between required items, such as the employer share of payroll taxes, and voluntary ones, including a retirement increase and flexible schedules supported by research on hybrid work. Costs are itemized and totaled, and the measures section names turnover and fill rates for the target jobs. Notes explain each part's purpose.
Where the D355 Task 1 rubric puts the marks
D355 Task 1 aspects are rated competent, approaching competence or not evident. An objectives aspect asks for the organization's goals described clearly. The alignment aspect rewards an explanation of how compensation will support those goals. A market position aspect looks for a lead, match or lag decision with reasons tied to the labor market and budget. Pay aspects want base and variable pay described with enough detail to put into practice. Benefits aspects check for required and voluntary benefits identified correctly, with sources for legal requirements. The cost aspect asks for an estimate with its components shown. A measures aspect looks for ways to judge whether the strategy works. Evaluators also read for clear writing and correct APA references to compensation research and government guidance.
D355 Task 1 help: what sends it back
Rewards strategies often lose marks by listing pay practices with no link to the organization's goals. Start with the objectives and show how each reward supports one. Market position is sometimes stated without reasons; explain the choice with market data and budget limits, and consider different positions for different jobs. Pay systems can stay abstract, so describe ranges, spreads and how pay moves. Required benefits are frequently confused with voluntary ones, so check federal guidance and cite it. Costs may be a single figure with no breakdown, which evaluators cannot judge. Measures are easy to forget, yet turnover and fill rates for the target jobs show whether the strategy works. Keep the tone practical, as if the plan will go to a board.
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D355 Task 1 questions, answered
Can D355 use different market positions for different jobs?
Yes, and often it should. The sample matches the market for hard-to-fill IT and marketing roles while holding other positions near their current levels, which keeps the plan affordable.
Is the D355 museum real?
No. The Lakeshore Museum of Science was invented for this sample, and its figures are illustrative. The compensation research and IRS guidance cited are real, so use real market data for your organization.
What are legally required benefits in D355?
The law obliges most employers to fund several, including Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by the employer, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation. The sample separates these from voluntary benefits like retirement matching.
How much should a D355 strategy cost?
Enough to meet its goals within what the organization can afford. The sample totals about $236,000, roughly 3.5% of payroll, and itemizes pay adjustments, incentives, retirement and development allowances.
Where can I find a free D355 Task 1 sample paper?
The museum total rewards strategy is laid out above with margin notes. Describe your organization and its goals, and your first custom D355 strategy will be drafted free.