Lecture 4 Flashcards
What are the three elements comprising total compensation?
- Base compensation
- Pay incentives
- Indirect compensation/Benefits
Why design a compensation system?
- To Enable firm to achieve its strategic objective
- To Mold to the firm’s unique characteristics and
environment - Internal equity: perceived fairness internally
- External equity: perceived fairness externally
What are the nine criteria for developing a compensation plan?
- INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL EQUITY
Will the Compensation Plan be perceived as fair within the company, or will it be perceived as fair relative to what other companies are paying for the same type of work? - FIXED VS VARIABLE PAY
Will compensation be paid monthly on a fixed basis or will it fluctuate depending on pre-established criteria such as performance and company profits? - PERFOMANCE VS MEMBERSHIP: Will Compensation emphasise performance and tie pay to individual or group contributions, or will it emphasise membership in the organisation – logging in a prescribed hours each week and progressing up the organisational ladder?
- JOB VS INDIVIDUAL PAY
Will compensation be based on how much a company values a particular role or will it be based on how much skill and knowledge an employee brings to that job? - EGALITARIANISM VS ELITISM
Will the compensation plan place most employees under same CS, or will it establish different plans by organisational level and/or employee group? - BELOW-MARKET VS ABOVE-MARKET
Will employees be compensated at below market levels, at market-levels, or above-market levels? - MONETARY VS NONMONETARY AWARDS
Will the compensation plan emphasise motivating employees through monetary means such as stock and pay or will it stress non monetary awards such as interesting work and security? - OPEN VS SECRET PAY
Will employees have access to information about other workers’ compensation levels and how compensation decisions are made or will this knowledge be withheld from employees? - CENTRALISATION VS DECENTRALISATION OD PAY DECISIONS
Will compensation decisions be made in a tightly controlled central location, or will they be delegated to managers of the firm’s units?
What are the the equity compensation systems?
- Distributive justice model
- Labour market model
- Balancing equity
What is the trend in terms of compensation entitlements?
- Shift to Variable Pay Plans Continues
- Race to the Bottom: Mexico Lowers Wages to Snare International Auto Production
- Making Wage Concessions at Airlines
- Pensions Going Up in Smoke
- Medical Doctors Being Squeezed
- Documenting Pay Cuts Around the World
What are the characteristics of Job-Based policies?
- Technology is stable
- Jobs do not change often
- Employees do not need to cover for one another frequently
- Much trainings required to learn a given job
- Turnover is relatively low
- Employees are expected to move up through the ranks over time
- Jobs are fairly standardised across the industry
What are the characteristics of Individual-based policies?
- The firm has educated workforce with the ability to learn different jobs
- The company’s technology and organisational structure change frequently
- Employee participation and teamwork are encouraged
- Opportunities for upward mobility are limited
- Opportunities to learn new skills are present.
- Costs of employee turnover and absenteeism are high
- The plans are more common in manufacturing environments
How do we achieve internal equity?
Internal Equity
Step 1: Conduct Job Analysis Step 2: Write Job Descriptions Step 3: Determine Job Specifications Step 4: Rate Worth of All Jobs Using Predetermined System Step 5: Create a Job Hierarchy Step 6: Classify Jobs by Grade Levels
How do we achieve external equity?
External Equity
Step 1: Identify Benchmark or Key Jobs
Step 2: Establish Pay Policies
How do we evaluate job based compensation plans?
- Do not take into account the nature of the business
- This plan is more subjective and arbitrary
- These plans are less appropriate at higher levels within an organization
- With job descriptions becoming more generalized, these plans are more difficult to evaluate
- These plans tend to be more bureaucratic, mechanistic, and inflexible
- The job-evaluation process tends to be biased against women
- Wage and salary data are not definitive
- Employees’ perceptions of equity are what count
- High-tech skilled employees tend to not be loyal to one firm
What are the assumptions for the pay for performance model?
- Individual employees and work teams differ in how much they contribute
- The firm’s overall performance depends on the performance of individuals and groups
- To attract, retain, and motivate high performers, rewards are given relative to performance
Incentives may cause ________
unethical behaviours
Examples of unethical behaviours caused by incentives?
- Rewarding hospitals for quality care
- Gainsharing for doctors
- Doctors paid to prescribe generic pills
- Report cards for surgeons
- What doctors aren’t disclosing
- Use of orthopedic devices
Challenges of paying for performance
- “Do only what you get paid for” syndrome
- Unethical behaviour
- Negative effects on the spirit of cooperation
- Lack of control
- Difficulties in measuring performance
- Psychological contracts
- The credibility gap
- Job dissatisfaction and stress
- Potential reduction of intrinsic drives
How do we meet the Challenges of paying for performance?
- Use intrinsic and extrinsic rewards
- Link pay and performance appropriately
- Pay for performance
- Build employee trust
- Promote belief that performance makes a difference
- Use multiple layers of rewards
- Increase employee involvement
- Stress the importance of acting ethically
- Use motivation and nonfinancial incentives