Assignments with AI: Develop a Total Compensation and Benefits Package
- Casey Laird
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
In this sample Human Capital assignment, students practice creating a total compensation and benefits package for a specific role. Through this process, students practice researching and analyzing market trends, building and delivering a competitive package and assessing the usefulness of AI for this task.
AI Tool
Google Gemini / Gems
Summary
Students will use AI to analyze information about compensation packages for a specific role and industry. Using these insights, plus provided restraints, they will build and pitch a competitive total compensation package for a specific role.
Notes for the Professor
Select a specific job within a specific industry for students to complete this exercise. Provide information about the role, including the job level, the industry, and the geographic location of the position.
Provide students with benchmarking data for this kind of role since most benchmarking companies charge for access.
Assignment Description & Instructions
Task: Build and pitch a competitive total rewards compensation package for a specific role.
Step 1: Market Benchmarking
You have been assigned a specific role within a specific industry. Review the benchmarking data provided. Using this information, identify the following:
Salary data for the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for competitor baseline pay
Additional benefits that might be part of a compensation package (RSUs, bonuses, etc) for a role like this. If possible, identify which ones might be more common for the role.
Step 2: Draft a Total Rewards Package
Draft and submit a comprehensive rewards package and analysis that includes:
Pay range, with clear minimum, midpoint and maximum
Benefits mix
Company load factor
Executive summary of competitive strategy, gap analysis and justification
Step 3: Competitive Analysis with AI
Submit your total rewards package proposal to Google Gemini. Ask Gemini to help you:
Find blindspots, outliers and inconsistencies in your data
Generate a competitiveness score for your current budget against market rates
Make adjustments to your Total Rewards Package based off of your query with the AI Tool. Remember that you do not have to take all of the suggestions the AI tool gives you. Rather, focus on being able to justify the decisions you made.
Step 4: Group Discussion on AI Usage Guidelines
Meet with classmates to discuss your experience using Gemini as a thought partner and feedbacker. Consider:
Where Gemini was helpful
Where it pushed your thinking
Where it provided questionable, inaccurate and decontextualized feedback
Based on your discussion, collectively develop a set of 5-10 guidelines or tips for using AI to improve your work and post your guidelines on Brightspace.
Submission Requirements:
The proposed Total Rewards Package
A copy of your conversation with Google Gemini
A brief (1 page) analysis on the AI tool’s fidelity and appropriateness for the task
Options for Adaptation
Have students work in groups and tackle 3-5 different job roles and industries
Adapt this activity for any kind of proposal creation, especially those involving data and data insights. This kind of activity is especially useful for integrating human and AI workflows
Contact the Nexus team at nexus@nyu.edu for assistance setting up this assignment or adapting it for your course.