Pay Plans & Rewards Management

Determining Pay Rates

Employee compensation refers to all forms of pay or rewards going to employees and arising from their employment. It consists of 2 parts:  Direct financial payments  Indirect financial payments

Employee Compensation

Direct or Indirect compensation is given based on:  Increments of time  Hourly  Salaried  Performance  Piecework  Commission

Factors Influencing Pay

 Legal considerations  Union membership  Company policy  Competitive strategy  Equity

Legal Considerations

 The Labour act defines the minimum wage and employment conditions    Basic labor standards Maximum hours Safety/health standards

Corporate Policies and Competitive Strategy

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To remain competitive, compensation plans must reward strategy that furthers the firm’s strategy aims by asking: What are our key competitive success factors?

What actions implement this competitive strategy?

What compensation program reinforces those behaviors? What requirement should each pay element meet?

How well do the current reward programs match these requirements?

Important Policy Issues

In writing the pay plan, ask the following: 1.

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Will we be a pay leader or a follower?

Will we emphasize seniority or performance?

What pay cycle?

Important Policy Issues

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How do we fix salary compression?

How should we compensate based on geography or overseas employees?

Is the pay rate equitable with rates in other organizations outside the firm?

Salary Inequities

 How satisfied are you with your pay?

 What criteria were used for your recent pay increase?”  What factors do you believe are used when your pay is determined?

Establishing Pay Plans

The salary survey Job evaluation The 5 step process: Pay grade grouping Price pay grade wage curves Fine tune pay rates

1. The Salary Survey

The salary survey is a survey aimed at determining prevailing wage rates which include:  Formal  Informal

Uses of Salary Surveys

 Benchmark jobs  Employers price 20% or more of their positions currently in the job market  Surveys collect data on benefits

2. Job Evaluation

 Job evaluation is the formal and systematic comparison of jobs in order to determine the worth of one job relative to another  The comparison results in a wage or salary hierarchy  Compensable factors are fundamental elements of a job

Compensable Factors

 Two approaches in comparing jobs – Intuitive or via compensable factors  Intuitive based on decision that one job

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more important than another  Compensability determined arbitrarily but some metrics include: Skill Equal Pay Act factors Effort Know-how Responsibility Accountability Hay Consulting Work conditions Problem solving

Preparing for the Job Evaluation

 Its mostly a judgmental process which requires cooperation among managers  Identify the need for the program  Get cooperation  Choose an evaluation committee who will do the evaluation

Job Evaluation Committees

 Performs 3 main functions:  Identifies 10-15 key benchmarks  Selects some compensable factors  Evaluate the worth of each job via one of the methods on the following slides

Job Evaluation Method 1:Ranking

 Obtain job information  Select raters and jobs  Select compensable factors  Rank jobs  Combine ratings

Method 2: Job Classification

 Rates categories of jobs into groups  Groups called classes if jobs are similar  Called grades if groups contain different jobs of similar difficulty  Example:  Grade 10 may deputy director and the managing director

Method 3: Point

 The point method is more quantitative  Identifies compensable factors  The degree to which each of these factors is present

Method 4: Factor Comparison

 Factor comparison is a widely used method to rank jobs by a variety of skills and difficulties, then adding these to obtain a numerical rating for each job  With this method you rank each job several times —once for each of several compensable factors

3. Group Similar Jobs Into Pay Grades

 A pay grade is composed of equally difficult jobs  Committee will assign pay rates to each job based on one of the job methods  Ranking method grades fall in to a point range  Point method grades fall within two-three ranks  Factor comparison grades pay rate range  Classification method puts into classes or grades

4. Price Each Pay Grade Wage Curves

 Developing a wage curve involves the following:  Find the average pay for each pay grade  Plot the pay rates for each pay grade  Fit the line called a wage line through the points just plotted  Price the jobs

5. Fine Tune Pay Rates

Pay ranges are a series of steps or levels in a pay grade, usually based on years of service

Pricing Managerial and professional Jobs

 Goal is to attract and keep  Harder to quantify evaluation  Paid on basis of ability  More complex and stress incentives over evaluation

Compensating Managers

Top executives compensated by:  Base pay + guaranteed bonus  Short term incentives  Long term incentives  Perks

What Really Determines Executive Pay?

 Company size and performance  Industry CEO average pay  May emphasize 25% performance incentive  Board sets CEO pay  Shareholders may affect pay  Complexity of the job

Compensating Professionals

 Job emphasizes creativity and problem solving  Job evaluation is useful  Some disciplines result in 4-6 grades with a broad salary range

Why Pay Employees by Skill Levels?

 The differentiation may bring about satisfaction and a basis for discriminate action

Skill-based Pay versus Evaluation-based Pay

 Competence testing  Effect of job change  Seniority and other factors  Advancement opportunities  SBP may increase productivity and lower labor costs over JBP

Money and Motivation

  Incentives motivate workers Taylor standardized a fair day’s work  Which led to the scientific management movement  Which in turn led to modern day HR practices

Performance and Pay

 Competition, shareholder value, and turbulence  Businesses need an edge 

Achieving employee satisfaction

 Paying attention

Types of Incentive Plans

 Individual  Group  Profit sharing  Employee group  Variable pay

Incentives for Operations Employees

 Piecework  Straight piecework  Standard hour plan  All must guarantee minimum wage  Can create quality problems

Incentives for Operations Employees

 Team or group incentive plans  All members receive the pay earned by the highest producer  Members receive pay equal to the average pay earned by the group  All members receive the pay earned by the lowest producer

The Annual Bonus

A bonus is aimed at motivating short term performance with three issues to consider when awarding them:    Eligibility – based on job level and salary Fund size – use a formula Individual awards – based on performance

Manager’s Performance Bonus

 Bonus for managers is either individual or corporate performance based or both  Split it with part based on individual performance rest on corporate performance  Never give outstanding performers too little  Never give poor performers normal or average awards

Long Term Incentives

 Stock options  Different stock option plans  Performance plans  Cash plans

Long Term Incentives (Cont.)

 Other Plans  Stock appreciation  Performance achievement  Stock options  Performance Plans  Cash Versus Stock Options

Performance Plans

 Executives do not prosper unless the company does  Executives have some “skin in the game”  Value is contingent on financial performance

Cash Versus Stock Options

Which do you think is a better motivator?

Steps to a Compensation Package

 Include external and internal issues  What are our long term goals?

 How can compensation support them?

 What defines the work culture and how can the package be molded to it?

 What are our competitive challenges?

 What are our specific business objectives?

Steps to a Compensation Package (Cont.)

 Shape components into balanced plan  Meet unique company and strategic needs  Legal and tax effective  Install a review and evaluation process

Incentives for Salespeople - Salaries

 Sales compensation can be salaried, commission-based or hybrid  Salaries make sense when job is primarily prospecting or servicing clients  Useful when relocating to new territories  Can de-motivate very productive workers

Incentives for Salespeople - Commissions

 Pay only for results  Easy to understand and compute  Focus only on high volume items  May ignore non-selling aspects  Performance is a product of ability  May result in high turnover

Example - Auto Dealer Commissions

Insight into why auto salespersons behave the way they do:  Some are 100% commission based  Others get commissions and small base salary  Net profit of car

Professional and Non managerial Incentives

 Merit pay or a merit raise is any salary increase awarded to an employee based on individual performance

Merit Pay Options

 Lump sum raises are not cumulative; traditional raise is  Lump sum can be a bigger motivator

Incentives for professionals

 Determining this type of incentive is challenging  Professionals are well-paid and driven  Keep highly motivated professionals by using:  Stock options and profit sharing  Better vacations

Organization Wide Variable Pay Plans

 Variable pay plans include:  Profit sharing  E mployee S tock O wnership P rogram (ESOP)  Scanlon or gain-sharing plans

Profit Sharing

 Employees share in some part of profits  In cash plans  Lincoln incentive plan  Deferred plans

ESOP

 Builds a sense of commitment and ownership in company  Positive tax advantages for company and employee  Allows firm to borrow against stock held in trust

Scanlon Plan

 An incentive plan developed in 1937 by Joseph Scanlon and designed to encourage cooperation, involvement, and sharing of benefits Philosophy of cooperation Identity Involvement system Competence Benefits sharing formula

Gainsharing

 A modern Scanlon type plan where cost savings are shared  Eight basic steps: Establish plan objectives measures distributing share of gains Payout must be motivate Develop system

Making Gainsharing Work

 Use multiple measures  Productivity cost performance, product damage, customer complaints, shipping errors, safety, and attendance  Committed managers  Straightforward formula  Employee involvement

At Risk Plans

 Some portion of weekly pay at risk  Exceed goals and get extra pay  Miss goals and lose some pay  Employees become committed partners  Relies on trust, respect, communication and opportunities for advancement

Why Incentive Plans Can Fail

 Performance pay can’t replace good management  You get what you pay for  Pay is not a motivator  Rewards punish  Rewards rupture relationships

Why Incentive Plans Can Fail

 Rewards can unduly restrict performance  Rewards may undermine responsiveness  Rewards undermine intrinsic motivation  People work for more than money

Implementing Incentive Plans

      Use common sense  Incentive linked to strategy  Effort linked to reward Easily understood Set effective standards   Standard is a contract  Get support Use accurate measurement Long and short view Consider corporate culture Comprehensive commitment oriented approach