Our assigned case is Aflac. The case is about how this company utilizes its total rewards program to support the firm’s mission and values as well as achieve strategic outcomes. It seems that the approach taken stems from Aflac having had trouble with employee job satisfaction, communication, and retention. The purpose of this case is for us to determine how Aflac implemented and utilized its total rewards program to achieve organizational outcomes. The following is a task breakdown of what we have identified that needs to be included in our paper.
1) A brief overview of the company, its mission, and values.
2) A SWOT Analysis of Aflac presents us with identifiable issues within the company that were creating problems and things the company was suited to address. Meanwhile, external industry pressures presented Aflac with an opportunity to enhance its total rewards program to reduce the impact of external pressures on the firm.
3) How the company used its own products to enhance its total rewards program to address the findings of the SWOT analysis.
4) The company’s corporate values are aligned with its total rewards program to achieve very specific outcomes. The company does this using traditional and non-traditional rewards.
5) How the company can improve its total rewards program in a cost conscious manner. The integration of these potential benefit offerings would support HR practices based on achievement of the organizational outcomes.

COMPANY OVERVIEW Aflac, since its founding by three brothers in 1955, has made itself about people. Currently, the firm has more than 4,500 employees and more than 71,000 licensed independent agents. The insurance firm’s corporate philosophy, “…Aflac has believed that the best way to succeed in our business is to value people. Treating employees with care, dignity and fairness are founding principles of Aflac.” as well as Aflac’s mission statement, “To combine innovative strategic marketing with quality products and services at competitive prices to provide the best insurance value for consumers (SHRM CASE).” directly relate to Aflac’s achievement of being included in FORTUNE’s list of the “100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR”, for 16 consecutive years (Why Aflac). Aflac has achieved many other notable accolades as well, however, none of this would have been achievable if Aflac had not strategically aligned and implemented its total rewards program with company values to achieve desired organizational outcomes.
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS (SWOT) ANALYSIS According to the case, Aflac performed surveys and focus groups in 2007 that focused on talent recruitment and improved retention. This statement within the case indicates that at this time Aflac was suffering a weakness in these areas; these weaknesses indicate that the quality of communication also needed to be improved within the organization. Fortunately, the strength of Aflac’s HR function was able to recognize these weaknesses and address them through one of its strengths. Aflac had successfully identified that improved quality of communication would address the two problematic areas of talent recruitment and improved retention. After having established desirable and measurable outcomes and enhancing the company’s communication efforts, Aflac followed up on their efforts with further surveys of employee opinion to determine if their efforts were achieving the desired results. The communication effort resulted in Aflac’s Total Rewards Statement growing “from a one-page document to an in-depth review of the true value of the employment compensation and benefits.” Additionally, this improved communication of compensation and benefits and their value helped Aflac mitigate the external threat of such low unemployment rates in the insurance industry. This low unemployment rate made finding the right talent and attracting them to Aflac as an employer more difficult to achieve. External threats happen