Project Examples

Executive and Director Compensation and Benefits
  • Assisting management and board members with competitive analysis; compensation strategy; incentive plan design; capital accumulation; perquisites; benefits - higher education, healthcare (hospitals, managed care, long-term acute care, long-term care, home health), foundations, privately-held and technology-based.

  • Assisting healthcare organizations and associations with responding to media and public disclosure.

  • Assisting foundations with review of director compensation.

  • Assisting schools, colleges and universities with audits of their executive compensation approach, and collection and interpretation of IRS Form 990, Proxy and other data.

  • Assisting Trustees and CEOs in higher education with resolution of complex executive compensation decisions related to transitioning executives.

  • Assisting large and small foundations locally and nationally with reviews of reasonableness of director, management and staff compensation.

  • Assisting a major university with executive compensation review and comparison to cross-industries.

  • Assisting privately-held and family owned businesses with market competitiveness and recruitment questions regarding key executives.

  • Providing assistance and Director education and seminars for a variety of non-profit organizations - Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State, Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, AHHRA of Greater New York, AHHRA/NorMet, Healthcare Association of New York State, the New Jersey Hospital and the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

[top]

Intermediate Sanctions and Compliance Reviews

  • Providing IRS Intermediate Sanctions and Reasonable Compensation Reviews - analysis and certification under the IRS safe harbor rules (rebuttable presumption of reasonableness).

  • Assisting religious organizations and ministries with Intermediate Sanctions issues regarding founders, executive and ministers and related compensation, housing and perquisites matters

    • Assisting clients with regulatory action by attorneys general and the IRS.

    • Assisting client foundation with a State Attorney General's Office examination after which the Attorney General informed our client there were "no issues to pursue."
     
    • Assisting a religious client by formulating and presenting a case to the IRS for reducing Intermediate Sanctions payments assessed, resulting in a reduction of penalties to 27% of an original amount of $1.2M sought by the IRS.
     
    • Assisting a client with re-structuring compensation, bonuses, and examining historical under-compensation in order to achieve reasonable compensation.

    • Compliance Audits: Certification Pursuant to Treas. Reg. § 53.4958-1(d)(4)(iii)(C)(4): As described under the Intermediate Sanctions rules, Lawrence Associates certifies that we meet the requirements of Treas. Reg. § 53.4958-1, paragraphs (d)(4)(iii)(C)(1) through (3). Lawrence Associates holds itself out to the public as compensation consultants. The Firm performs the relevant valuations on a regular basis, and is qualified to make valuations of the type of property or services involved. This certification is supported by the professional profiles of Lawrence Associates' consultants, by marketing materials and the web site at www.lawrenceassociates.com and by our client base and projects.

[top]

Wage and Salary Administration, Variable Pay, Incentive Pay, Recognition and Reward Strategies

  • Assisting nationally-recognized higher education, healthcare, and foundations with restructuring compensation programs, linking the programs to career ladders and lateral career growth with skill attainment, including revision of job evaluation approaches to encompass competency-based pay, incentive pay design and performance management.

  • Assisting a major law firm with developing a market-based compensation program for all staff.

  • Assisting privately-held and family businesses with market pricing key management jobs, establishing performance and risk-based compensation and incentives, and in responding creatively to reducing compensation expenses during an economic downturn.

  • Assisting a major religious organization with establishing an approach to clergy compensation - cash, housing, benefits and retirement.

  • Working closely with a multi-facility healthcare system to develop all aspects of market-based pay programs, starting with job questionnaires, job analysis, classification, design of grades and ranges and calculation of all aspects of financial impact and costing.

  • Implementing executive and middle management short and long-term incentives designed to achieve strategic objectives in privately-held businesses and healthcare.

  • Developing a well-received incentive program that provides substantial monetary rewards to both employees and a community hospital. See January 1998 article in Healthcare Financial Management.

  • Restructuring compensation for merging and consolidating organizations and for school, college and university executives in transition, and boards with transitioning executives.

  • Assistance to healthcare organizations with modeling and analyzing collective bargaining options, and comparisons to market.
[top]

Competitive Analysis and Surveys

  • For over a decade, conducting the Spring and Fall Wage and Salary and Benefits Surveys for a major Hospital Association covering several hundred jobs in Acute, Rehabilitation and LTAC; Assisted Living Facilities; Home Health Care; and Long-term Care.

  • Conducting the annual AHHRA of Greater New York Health Care Executive and Management Compensation Survey and Market Jobs survey, covering several hundred jobs in New York, Long Island, Northern Metropolitan, Hudson and Iroquois areas and including systems, hospitals, long-term care and home health.

  • Conducting an annual executive compensation survey for eastern region colleges and universities.
  • Conducting surveys of physician compensation practices including salary, other compensation, stipends, consulting, working hours, on-call practices and the like.

  • Conducting national and local custom surveys of executive, middle management, staff and board compensation and benefits, covering a wide range of non-profit and privately-held businesses, covering development, information technology and other targeted positions.

  • Conducting a detailed survey and analysis of nursing pay practices using single incumbent data, examining all facets of pay among selected teaching hospitals.

  • Conducting a survey and analysis of benefits and perquisites among major academic medical practices.

  • Conducting a national survey of compensation on behalf of a large physician lead practice.

  • Conducting an online survey and published report covering compensation, benefits, demographics and career information for a 4000 member non-profit association.

[top]