Total Reward — Rebalance the Pay Mix at Verdeluz Retail Group

A four-round, intermediate compensation-strategy simulation set inside Verdeluz Retail Group, a Spanish omnichannel retailer (140 stores, 3,200 staff, €540M revenue, 5% net margin, €168M payroll). On 20 January 2026 a leaked spreadsheet exposes a 14% pay gap between two warehouses doing identical work, the works council threatens a collective grievance, and three senior data specialists resign for offers 22% above base — all while the board freezes total payroll growth at +3% (€5,040,000). Three segments want opposite things: frontline (2,200, hourly) value base security and benefits; specialists (760, market-priced) chase competitive cash; managers (240) need real variable pay with line-of-sight. Fully meeting every claim would cost ~€8.3M — the envelope funds only ~60%. Playing the Compensation Manager, you (1) diagnose total reward as a portfolio of base, variable and benefits rather than a single salary number, and decide the governing principle; (2) rebalance the mix and allocate the €5.04M across the three segments and three levers without breaching the cap; (3) resolve the internal-equity-vs-external-competitiveness trade-off and prepare a works-council position; and (4) defend the package to the CFO and council on a four-metric scorecard — pay-equity ratio, specialist retention, management motivation and perceived fairness — stating what was deliberately deferred and phased. The scoring rewards the integral-compensation approach (Costa Solé, ‘más allá del vil salario’) and punishes the five classic errors: across-the-board base raises, over-funding equity while starving specialists, variable pay with no line-of-sight, ignoring the works council, and overspending the +3% envelope in a thin-margin business.