GB545 · MBA

GB545 Strategic Total Rewards and Financial Impact sample papers, unit by unit

Reviewed by Chester Goodwin, MBA Strategic Total Rewards and Financial Impact Purdue University Global Free custom samples in 24–48h

Every rewards decision is a bill that keeps arriving for years. GB545 sample papers price a total rewards package the way a finance committee would read it, then argue for it in front of the people who have to fund it.

How this shelf works

Send the exact assignment or rubric from your classroom and a custom sample written to it lands in 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. GB545 is Purdue Global’s Strategic Total Rewards and Financial Impact course. It centers on designing pay, benefits and incentives as a financial commitment the organization can carry for several years rather than one budget cycle. Searches like "gb 545 unit 4 assignment example", "GB545 sample paper", and "GB545 unit samples" land on this page.

What GB545 is really about

GB545 separates two things that sound alike: what a rewards program costs this year and what it commits the employer to. Base pay is a cost. A retirement match, a health plan with a renewal trend attached and a long-term incentive vesting in three years are promises with a price nobody has finished paying. Graduate work here is expected to hold both figures at once, because a package approved on its first-year number is the one that becomes unaffordable in year three. Opening units generally establish the components and the money behind each, and candidates arriving from a human resources background are often surprised how much of the reading is accounting rather than policy.

The second half puts those numbers in front of an audience that does not work in human resources. A chief financial officer reads labor cost as a share of revenue, asks what a one percent increase does to operating margin, and wants to know which part of the spend flexes when a quarter goes badly. That question is really about mix, since fixed pay transfers risk to the employer and variable pay shares it, and the ratio between them is a choice rather than an accident of history. Pay equity work sits here too, because a gap surviving controls for level, tenure and location is a finding with a cost attached and a remedy somebody has to fund.

What GB545’s assessments ask for

Coursework in most sections turns on a package somebody has to pay for. Expect cost modeling early: annual spend by component, cost per employee, and what a proposed change does across three years rather than one. Several units want a business case written for an executive audience, where the recommendation appears before the reasoning and every figure traces back to an assumption stated on the page. Benefits work often asks what the employer is buying with each dollar and whether employees value it anywhere near that. Incentive assignments generally ask where a plan funds itself from and what it pays out in a year nobody planned for. Board threads frequently argue about transparency and what publishing a range actually changes.

Where students lose points in GB545

The first deduction usually lands on a proposal with no total under it, a set of recommendations any of which might be sensible and none of which has been added up. Second is the three-year figure quietly missing, so a plan gets defended on the year it is cheapest. Third is benchmarking used as an argument, where the fact that competitors offer something stands in for a reason this employer should. Smaller losses collect around equity analysis that reports an unadjusted average and stops, incentive plans with no funding source and no ceiling, benefits recommended without anyone asking employees what they value, and a business case written in the vocabulary of the department rather than of the person signing it.

GB545 grading scale at Purdue Global: how the work is graded, from Purdue Assignments
How Purdue Global grades GB545, visualized by Purdue Assignments.

The GB545 drawers

Unit 1

GB545 Unit 1 discussion board post example

Unit 1 often asks what belongs inside total rewards and what quietly sits outside it. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 2

GB545 Unit 2 rewards program audit example

Unit 2 typically inventories a current package and prices each component per employee. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 3

GB545 Unit 3 market position memo example

Unit 3 commonly fixes where an employer intends to sit against its recruiting market. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 4

GB545 Unit 4 labor cost model example

Unit 4 in many sections carries payroll and benefit spend forward across three budget years. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 5

GB545 Unit 5 benefit plan comparison example

Unit 5 usually sets two plan designs beside each other with the employer share figured. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 6

GB545 Unit 6 seminar reflection example

Unit 6 seminar discussion often lands on transparency and what publishing a range changes. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 7

GB545 Unit 7 incentive plan proposal example

Unit 7 frequently builds a bonus plan with its funding source and ceiling stated. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 8

GB545 Unit 8 pay equity analysis example

Unit 8 in most sections tests whether a gap survives controls for level and tenure. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 9

GB545 Unit 9 executive compensation review example

Unit 9 reads a proxy filing and asks what the package was designed to reward. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Unit 10

GB545 Unit 10 rewards business case example

Unit 10 generally lands on a single funded recommendation an executive could sign. On request, free, 24-48h.

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Different?

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Using a GB545 sample the right way

Start with the arithmetic in any sample you read. Find the total, find the assumption each figure rests on, and see whether the paper says what happens if that assumption moves a few points, because a rewards case that cannot survive a sensitivity question will not survive a finance committee either. Notice where the writer picks a market position and what they gave up to hold it. Watch how the equity finding gets stated, plainly and with its remedy priced. Ask for one built on your own section's brief and rubric: it is composed from scratch, unbilled the first time, and lands inside 24-48h.

How these samples are written

The discipline behind every paper here: the rubric is the outline, each row gets its section, seminar-option write-ups follow their expected shape, and the format layer ships exact. Send your unit's instructions with a request and the sample matches them, revisions included.

GB545 questions, answered

Do I need real company numbers for the cost modeling?

No, and most sections do not expect them. What the criteria want is arithmetic that reconciles and assumptions stated where a reader can argue with them, which a constructed set of figures supports perfectly well. If you do use an employer's data, strip anything identifying and say that you have, since a paper carrying real salary detail creates a problem no grade is worth.

How much finance background does GB545 assume?

Enough to build a spreadsheet and read an income statement, not enough to price a pension. You will work with percentages of payroll, per-employee costs, projections carried forward a few years, and the effect of a raise on operating margin. Candidates who have never modeled anything usually find the first two units the hardest and then stop noticing the arithmetic entirely.

Can a sample be written for my GB545 unit?

Yes. The instructions your section issued, plus whatever the work will be marked against, are enough to produce one model at no charge inside 24-48h. Rewards assignments differ a great deal between sections in whether figures arrive with the case or have to be constructed by you, so a version matched to yours is worth considerably more than a general one.