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Certified Total Rewards Specialist™ (CTRS) Workshop

Provides early-career compensation and benefits practitioners an opportunity to achieve certification based on an assessment of basic competencies related to job evaluation, benchmarking, pay structures, core benefits and the total rewards approach.
Course Fee SGD2,395

Course Trainer

Tom Farmer is a global total rewards leader with a career spanning over 30 years. As a consultant Tom has advised more than 150 organisations including three of the world’s largest companies (Sinopec, Toyota and Walmart) and led the rewards function globally and regionally in several industries. As an instructor, Tom has trained more than 1,000 HR professionals and 500 line managers on pay topics.

Currently, Tom is owner and Managing Director of Freelance Total Rewards Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, with clients including China Aviation Oil, CrimsonLogic, GroupM, Great Eastern Life, Toyota Tsusho Asia Pacific, Armacell and Peninsula Hotels.

Before starting his own firm in 2013, Tom was with Mercer as Principal and Asia Pacific Leader for Global Mobility, where his clients included Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore Ministry of Defense, AIA, MeadJohnson Nutrition, PTT Group, Sinopec, Kraft Foods, Chartis Insurance, Yum! International, Western Digital, MasterCard, and Hilton Hotels.

Tom moved to Singapore in 2007 as Vice President, Compensation and Benefits, Asia Pacific for InterContinental Hotels Group after holding the same position for IHG’s Americas region. Tom drove a global revision of IHG’s global mobility policy sustainably reducing annual costs by USD 2.6 million, and introduced innovative benefits changes in both the U.S. and Singapore earning HR Excellence Awards in 2008 and 2012.

Prior to joining IHG, Tom was a senior consultant with Hewitt in Atlanta, where he led large (million-dollar) compensation projects for Coca-Cola North America, Freddie Mac, Auburn University, Panasonic, Verizon, The Home Depot and several others.

Who Should Attend

This workshop is intended for compensation and benefits practitioners with at least one year of hands on experience in an organizational setting.

This is a certification workshop for those with experience; it is not intended for those wishing to explore a move into compensation and benefits, who are strictly doing payroll or who have never done actual C&B work such as job evaluation, market pricing or benefits administration.

Testimonial

“Great Workshop! Very Practical, would recommend to anyone who is starting out or his some experience in C&B and looking to enhance or consolidate their knowledge. Instructor Thomas is very experienced and bring that into his training””
“The facilitators have a depth knowledge and experience, so that we can learn and get another angle to solve the problem and issue with other perspective”
“Very high quality training. Excellent content and trainer. Tom is very clear and through. He takes time to answer questions. HRD Future staff provides excellent support from start to end of the training, including registration process. Excellent!”

Course Introduction

This Certified Total Rewards Specialist™ (CTRS) Workshop provides early-career compensation and benefits practitioners an opportunity to achieve certification in a convenient three-day format, based on an assessment of basic competencies related to job evaluation, benchmarking, pay structures, core benefits and the total rewards approach. The focus is on ensuring practitioners are equipped with the essential knowledge, terminology, theory, methods, and attitudes for performing their jobs with excellence.

Class discussions are used to develop attitudes and insights into the nature of tangible and intangible rewards. Some Excel skills and data relationships are explained to deepen practical capabilities, and the course provides formal training in the essential knowledge needed to perform compensation and benefits work in a complex organisation.

An assessment exam is included, requiring a 70% passing score for certification, along with one year experience performing compensation and benefits duties within an organization.

All material will be presented to address the new reality of virtual work, economic uncertainty and focus on supporting the bottom line through effective total rewards.

Levels of Rewards Competencies

The CTRS Workshop is for practitioners with more than one year of compensation and benefits experience, wishing to strengthen their knowledge and confirm their competence in the fundamentals of job evaluation, benchmarking, pay structures, core benefits and related skillsets needed to deliver excellence in compensation and benefits, following the total rewards approach, which always considers the entire “package” and purpose behind each reward element. For more experienced C&B professionals you may consider to attend our CTRP or CTRF course.

Learning Objectives

Following the CTRS Workshop, participants should be able to perform and successfully complete assessment of the following:

  • Apply the total rewards approach
  • Perform job analysis and job evaluation to grade jobs
  • Source and analyze benchmark compensation data
  • Prepare market analysis to determine competitive position
  • Develop a salary range structure, with or without regression
  • Support core employee benefits programs
  • Work effectively with HR and managers to support sound pay decisions

Course Modules

Understand and explain job evaluation
Use job descriptions and organization charts to determine job content
Distinguish job evaluation methods and how to apply them
Evaluate jobs using ranking, classification and scored approaches
Cross-validate job evaluation results for internal equity
Market validate job evaluation results
Recommend implementation approaches for job evaluation
Communicate job evaluation results effectively

Bonus Materials

What’s in your Rewards Toolkit? Listing of 75+ specific reward practices
Common job description embellishments
Grade correlation table, showing equivalence of popular job levelling systems

Explain the uses of benchmark data
Evaluate potential sources of survey data in the ASEAN context
Match jobs and submit survey data
Conduct market analysis of base pay and other aggregates
Describe common types of salary range structures
Develop regressed and non-regressed salary structures
Maintain pay structures

Bonus Materials

Excel template to organize compensation data, calculate comparatios, market ratios, salary ranges and graphs
Market slotting tool with formulas
Salary Proposal worksheet

Explain the role and objectives of employee benefits
Consider all stakeholders when approaching benefits issues
Apply legal and ethical principles to benefits administration
Understand the spectrum of healthcare needs and how to determine the core benefits
Understand retirement and common approaches taken in ASEAN countries
Understand time off benefits and their purpose in organizations
Advise employees and managers appropriately regarding benefits issues

Conduct basic research on laws and regulations governing reward practices in ASEAN
Understand and work with employee information skillfully and appropriately
Apply spreadsheet skills for compensation and benefits
Understand other HR functions and how to support them through rewards practices
Apply essential soft skills when handling rewards issues

Bonus Materials

ASEAN quick reference with links to Social Security/Provident Fund and minimum wage/OT requirements

About ASEAN Total Rewards Institute™

The ASEAN Total Rewards Institute™, or ATRI, is a collaboration of leading human resources and total rewards practitioners to provide professionals the opportunity to be trained and certified in the field of compensation and benefits in the ASEAN regional context.

ATRI is owned by Freelance Total Rewards Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based total rewards management consulting and training firm, led by Thomas A. Farmer, CCP, SPHR, ACTA. The firm has advised dozens of clients in Southeast Asia and beyond, and was established in 2013. Tom is a former Principal with Mercer and a former Vice President, Compensation & Benefits for InterContinental Hotels Group. He has trained over 2,000 HR professionals and over 600 line managers on pay-related topics. You can find more information from ATRI official website about the certification.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions or need help? Please feel free to get In touch with us 🙂



To ensure learners have sufficiently acquired the competencies taught in this course, an assessment may be taken for certification. Certification as a Certified Total Rewards Specialist™ (CTRS) will be valid for as long as the certificate holder remains active in the HR profession. Certification requirements include:

  • Successful participation in the 3-day certification workshop (brief absences are ok if unavoidable):
  • Passing score of 70% on the exam, ie. 28 of 40 items:
  • Minimum of 1 year experience in or involvement with compensation and benefits: and
  • Concurrence of two ATRI panel members. The only purpose of this final requirement is to avoid “automatic” certification who did not demonstrate competence during the event, or lacks the necessary experience or currency. In other words, we do not “sell paper”, although course fees must also be paid.

An online multiple-choice exam will be conducted online. Each certification candidate will provide an email address. An email will be sent to the candidate from the ASEAN Total Rewards Institute (ATRI) with a URL link to the exam. The exam can be taken once each 30 days until passed. All those taking the certification exam will receive a letter confirming their overall score plus indication of pass/fail status.

You can register online by filling the registration form on our website. Alternatively, you can also register by email or phone.

To register by e-mail, please send the delegates name, job title, email address, company name and telephone number to enquiry@hrd-future.com or alternatively you can email the scanned copy of the completed registration form.

For more information, please call +65 69807730

All our public events are conducted in English, unless otherwise stated. English subtitle are available for some of the online courses.

The registration fee includes admission to the events, exam and cert for certification courses.

For in-person course, a comprehensive set of documentation material in digital format or only printed format for some of the course distributed at the venue, lunches and 2 refreshment breaks for in-person classes. Hotel accommodation and travel costs are not included in the registration fee; however, we do have corporate rates with the hotel venue. Email to enquiry@hrd-future.com for more information.

There is no deadline for registration. However, for some courses, sometimes we do limit the number of delegates to ensure optimum course interaction. We advise you to register as early as possible in order to avoid disappointment and to allow adequate time for our administration process. for in-person class, if you need to register on the day itself (walk-in registration), then kindly contact our customer service department at +65 69807730.

Full payment must be received within seven (7) working days upon receipt of invoice or before the event date, whichever is earlier.  A LOU with company stamp is requested for those organizations that cannot make payment on time.

Payment Mode

(1) BANK TRANSFER (USD/SGD only)

  • Account Name: HRD Future Pte Ltd
  • Account Number: 695-207639-001
  • Beneficiary Bank: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited
  • Beneficiary Bank Address: 65 Chulia Street OCBC Centre Singapore 049513
  • Swift Code: OCBCSGSG

For other currencies, we may provide you a different bank account depends on currencies. Email to enquiry@hrd-future.com for more information.

(2) CHEQUE

Please make all cheques payable to: HRD Future Pte. Ltd. (Appliable in Singapore Company only)     

(3) CREDIT CARD

We are using Stripe as the credit card payment gateway. Additional credit card charges per transaction are applied. Please contact our team for more details.

Can I change the name/details of the delegate(s) after registration?

Yes, a name can be changed at no additional cost. Please email enquiry@hrd-future.com providing the details of the delegate(s) you wish to replace and the details of the replacement(s). This email should include:

  • Full names, titles and positions in company
  • Company name
  • Direct telephone (for any urgent purpose)
  • Delegate’s email address (for us to send the Pre-Course Reading Material and Questionnaire)

I have registered for an event but I can no longer attend, what is your cancellation policy?

Cancellation policy can always be found in the Terms & Conditions section of your registration form. Basically, cancellations can be made if it is submitted more than 30 days prior to the event.

For cancellations received less than 30 days prior to the event, you have several options:

  • You can send a replacement as we do substitution free of charge
  • If no one from your organisation can attend, formal written request for withdrawal is required and an acknowledgement sent out. If the request is done before a month of the commencement date, a credit voucher is issued to the organization to be used within 12 months of the date of issuance.

Can I get a copy of the delegate list prior to the event?

We do not disclose delegate list prior to the event taking place. A list of participants will be available at the event only.

Can I get a copy of the course materials prior to the event for self-study?

Yes for some of the courses. However since we always update course materials closer to the event date to ensure all data is most updated, we are only able to provide course materials approximately one week before the event dates. A full payment is requested in order to receive the course material in advance.

What is the dress code for the event?

Most of our delegates who attend our courses prefer to wear business/ smart casual clothing. No shorts please. You can also bring optional formal clothing for your personal dinner or networking functions.

Who should I inform about my dietary requirements?

We will email you the event details letter approximately two weeks before the day of the events. You can highlight any special dietary requirements by reply the email.

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