Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
What Are Total Rewards, and How Can a Small Business Compete?
You Cannot Always Match the Money. You Can Beat the Package.
Your best employee gets an offer for more money than you can pay. You try to match it, fall short, and watch her walk out. Business consultant Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, breaks down how small businesses compete on the whole package, and why that work has to start long before the competing offer arrives.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Do Total Rewards Mean?
Short Answer
Total rewards means the full value of a job to the person doing it. Wages are just one piece. Others include paid leave and benefits, skill building and advancement, a meaningful title, input on the work, dependable hours, and genuine appreciation. Small businesses that cannot win on pay alone can often win on the full package.
Total rewards = pay + time off + training + title + a say + a reliable schedule + recognition
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“If the only thing you can list is the wage, expect to lose to a bigger purse. Write down everything the job gives.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Beatrix, a bee who makes honey and candles from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as her best employee leaves for six more coins a week. Her story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Beatrix Again: Six Coins More
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he hears about it secondhand. Beatrix the Bee’s best worker, Juniper, a junebug who has run the second packing station for two years, has accepted a job at a new company down the coast for 26 coins a week. Beatrix pays her 20, which is fair for the forest. Twenty-six is six more. On Friday, Juniper jars her last honey and walks down the meadow road without looking back.
Why It Matters
Why Do Good Employees Leave for More Money?
Often they do not leave for the money alone. They leave because money was the only thing they could see. When nobody has named their role, asked their opinion, thanked them, or talked about where the job could go, a bigger number is the only thing left to compare.
Matching the offer rarely fixes it. A counteroffer at the last minute tells the employee their worth was only noticed when they tried to leave. Total rewards works before the offer arrives, not after.
In the Fabled Forest
That evening, Mrs. Owl-Willow asked Beatrix one question: when had she last told Juniper what she meant to the business? Beatrix thought about it with her tea going cold. Not since the thaw. She had never even called it the second station out loud.
What Counts
What Is Included in a Total Rewards Package?
- Pay. A fair base, inside a clear pay range, plus any bonuses or extra pay for extra duties.
- Time off. Paid days, flexibility, and the day of the week that matters to that person.
- Training and growth. New skills and a visible next step.
- A real title. Naming what someone actually does costs nothing and means a great deal.
- A say. Input on how the work is done.
- A reliable schedule. Hours people can plan their lives around.
- Recognition. Being thanked specifically and often.
In the Fabled Forest
Beatrix wrote her new offer for the next lead at the station. Base pay of 21 a week. One coin for every Sunday tour led, about two a week in summer. A real title for the station she would run. One extra paid day off every two weeks. And training, a say, and a set schedule.
Start Early
How Can a Small Business Compete With Bigger Paychecks?
Write down everything your job offers today, line by line. If the list is mostly pay, you are competing on the one thing a bigger employer can always outbid. Fill in the other lines: a title, a schedule, a day off that fits their life, a skill to learn, and a regular thank-you.
Then talk about it with your best people now, not when they hand in notice. A stay interview tells you which parts of the package matter most to each person.
In the Fabled Forest
Beatrix offered the role to Moss, who read it twice, the careful way Juniper had taught her. Then Moss asked one thing: could her day off fall on Tuesdays, when her mother visits from the hills? Beatrix agreed on the spot.
The Numbers
How Does the Package Compare With the Bigger Offer?
Here is Beatrix’s new offer next to the competitor’s, coins first and the rest after.
| Competitor | Beatrix’s package | |
|---|---|---|
| Base pay a week | 26 | 21 |
| Extra pay, Sunday tours | None | About 2 a week in summer |
| Coins total | 26 | About 23 |
| Title | None | Second Station Lead |
| Paid time off | Not offered | One extra day every two weeks |
| Training, a say, set schedule, thanks | Not offered | Yes |
Step 1: The coin gap. 26 − 23 = 3 coins a week, about 156 a year.
Step 2: The rest of the package. An extra paid day every two weeks is about 26 days a year. Add a title, training, and a schedule that fits the person’s life.
Step 3: Your version. List every line of your package and put a value next to each. Compare the full list, not just the wage.
Illustrative numbers in forest coins, weekly pay, from the book. Use your own wages and benefits.
Step by Step
How Do You Build a Total Rewards Package?
Four steps, done before anyone gets a competing offer.
List everything the job gives.
Wages, leave, learning, title, input, hours, and appreciation, each on its own line.
Find the empty lines.
Any line with nothing on it is a place a competitor can beat you.
Fill the cheap, meaningful ones first.
Titles, thanks, schedules, and a say cost little and matter a lot.
Ask your best people what matters to them.
Then tailor it. A day off on the right day beats a bigger raise for some people.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl’s scroll for Beatrix warned that a job described only in coins will lose to a bigger purse, and listed seven words with a box beside each. She could tick only the first one for Juniper.
Beatrix’s Full Story
What Happened to Juniper?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole week: a number written on the slate and rubbed out four times, the last linden frame, a quiet evening in Mrs. Owl-Willow’s corner of the kitchen, a list with seven boxes, and a junebug standing in a doorway down the coast with nobody to show her where to sit.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Consultant’s View
What Does a Consultant Suggest When You Can’t Match a Wage?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant
When an owner cannot match a competitor’s wage, Dr. Paul has them write their full offer side by side with the competitor’s, line by line. Pay is usually the only line the owner has thought about. The others, a real title, a predictable schedule, paid time off, training, input into how the work is done, and being thanked by name, often cost the business very little and are worth a great deal to the employee. He also points out the timing problem: these things work best when they are part of the job all along. A package assembled the night someone resigns looks like a negotiation tactic. One that was already there looks like a good place to work.
FAQ
Which Questions Come Up About Competing for Employees?
What are total rewards?
How can a small business compete with bigger companies on pay?
Should I make a counteroffer when an employee gets a better offer?
Keep Going
What Should You Read Next on Keeping Good People?
This is foundation 8 of 20. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Hiring, paying, or managing a team and want a second set of eyes? See business consulting and prices.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.