hats going on these days with compensation and what questions do HR managers have about it all?

The following is a collection of questions asked during PayScale webinars over the last several months. The topics covered include: having difficult conversations with employees about pay, finding ways to reward a top performer whose pay is already near the top of their range and how to support managers in having conversations about pay with employees. Answers are provided by PayScale director of customer service and education, Stacey Carroll, MBA, SPHR, and also Betty Richardson, CCP. Working on next year's comp plan? Get it done fast in 5 easy steps. Download our Compensation Planning Guide. Q: What do you do if youre basing your ranges on the market and the market actually goes down? A: Weve actually dealt with this issue in the past year as weve seen some positions within the market go down. This is an important point and I think that folks should decide in advance what you are going to do in these sorts of scenarios. Most people are not going to adjust their ranges down for any one year movement. Theyll probably keep their salary ranges where they are at but make a decision to possibly move those salary ranges in the future if they start to see an ongoing trend. We have also seen that quite a few organizations have frozen their pay to allow for the changes or lack of changes in the market. Thats another strategy. Q: In handling the difficult I found a salary report on the internet conversation with an employee, how would you recommend addressing a situation where an employees compensation is truly under the market? A: First, make sure that the manager really does not have the ability to make adjustments because if your organization does support making adjustments when someone is under the market, I think thats the first remedy. However, if your organization is not in the position to make adjustments, the key is to be open and honest with the employee about the situation and let them know that you are aware that theyre sitting low in the range and you are going to make every effort to try and move them up but the limiting factor is the budget and, unfortunately, your hands are tied. And then, again, focus on those things that may be impactful to that employee. Maybe there are other ways to reward that employee that dont include salary. Maybe its additional time off, maybe its getting to work on some additional projects outside of the scope of their responsibility, or skills development that will help them get to that next level. Its a continuously hard conversation to have but it is important and it does have to center around honesty. You dont want to try and hide it as if they arent behind the market. Q: How do you best handle questions from the employee of, Who told you that? Who said that about me?

A: Its a matter of saying, In the course of gathering this information I talked to many different individuals who interact with you on a regular basis. I am not going to give out information about who I talked to. But, I am going to give you the specifics of the situation and talk to you about how your behavior can be corrected. Q: I like the idea of a merit increase matrix that looks at both the internal equity issues, as well as the external equity to ensure that were paying competitively in the marketplace. How does the matrix work if you have made the decision to pay some positions above market and some positions below market and some at market? It would be more difficult and you would almost have to have a separate matrix for each one. For example, an organization may say, We know were going to need to pay our scientists above market and thats our plan but were going to pay our finance people below market. You would have different matrices for those populations. Another option, though I would not recommend it, is to grade them accordingly so that you would take your compensation plan into consideration when youre grading and you would put some of your finance positions into lower grades so that your philosophy could play out. Q: The problem I have with explaining the merit increase matrix (where performance rating is compared to position in the pay range) is with those employees whose pay rate falls is in the fourth quartile (at 76th percentile or above), they exceed their performance goals and yet may receive a lesser increase than those at the lower end of the range. How do you approach this to avoid negative feelings and manage expectations? A: Whether you have a matrix or not, theres only a certain amount a position is worth within a company. My suggestion to make this situation a little bit easier is to be sure that at the start of any plan there be communications and reminders on a regular basis about what the philosophy is. And, that the plan has two parts. The first part is pay-for performance but the second is that it be market competitive. You need to communicate that it is important for an organization from a financial standpoint to be sure that overall youre paying roughly at, or wherever your target position is, against the market. And, that no company can afford to be paying all positions, or even any category of positions, significantly above the market. The other part of that discussion can be: the reality is that they are paid well above the market, but the question then becomes, What can they do so that they can be eligible for additional increases? This is true for anyone in any category. The discussion needs to shift to, What can the employee do to have the opportunity to make more money? as opposed to, What should the company do so they can pay more? You shift the conversation to the thing that the employee can do. Certainly, if they are an exceptional performer, perhaps they need to gain specific skills, go on to a special project, get exposure to something else so that they may become eligible for a promotion. If they are promoted, they will be moved from that highest paid category to, depending on how your ranges are structured, one of the two lower-paid or belowmidpoint categories. So, if they can do something to warrant a promotion they are then eligible for future increases.

Compensation is an important motivator when you reward achievement of the desired organizational results. It is said "that money is a powerful source of motivation." But it is also said that salary increase can only motivate until the next pay increase is due. Imagine what the impact is if an employee is at the maximum point of his or her salary range. Achievement of the desired behaviors is important in order to enhance your organization's effectiveness. In turn, this increases the possibility of success. Compensation strategy can reinforce the organizational culture that you desire. This is an enabling organizational culture under which pay is linked to performance. Your compensation policy must reflect your strategic business objectives. This becomes all the more important when determining CEO compensation. You must clearly define the objectives of your organization so that you can achieve them by using compensation strategy. These are communicated to everyone soon after a decision is taken. It can happen that good decisions fail to achieve results due to poor communication. By providing the right combination ofbenefits which are non-cash compensation your organization can motivate employees and make them stay to help in its progress.

What is the strategy that we are talking about and how do HR strategies fit in? Click here to see the hierachical levels of strategy by Jack Welch.

Types of Rewards There are two types of rewards, monetary and non-monetary.

Monetary rewards include salary, bonus, commissions, medical and health benefits, holidays, and retirement benefits. Among the non-monetary rewards are meaningful and challenging works, recognition and career advancement, safe and healthy working environment, and fair treatment.

How You Can Make Good Use of Compensation Strategy You can use compensation to attract and retain competent people. This objective requires you to offer a salary that is not lower than the market rates. When you want better customer service, reward employee behaviors that produce superior service. Do not harp on the amount of salary you are paying yet at the same expect good performance. Your people may conclude that there is insincerity on the part of management. Match the written policy with the right and appropriate actions that demonstrate to your employees that you are a fair and just employer.

Equitable Compensation Like employees working elsewhere in other organizations, your people are concerned with compensation equity. Take this into consideration in drawing up your compensation strategy. When people notice inequities, their morale and motivation will suffer. Do not make it worse by maintaining pay secrecy. This indicates that you may not have an objective and defensible compensation system. Researches had shown that pay secrecy generates mistrust, and reduces motivation and organizational effectiveness. Of course, you are concerned about competitors inducing your people to leave. These competitors may have the financial capability to pay better salaries and benefits.

But by adopting a compensation strategy, you don't have to worry about your good people resigning. If they believe in yourmanagement's fairhandedness, it is very probable that they will not go away. Decision to leave an organization requires considerations other than or in addition to dissatisfaction with compensation.

Determining Rates of Pay Compensation strategy involves considering to adopt any of several ways in setting rates of pay.
y

Pay increase based on employee's length of time spent on the job. This is seniority-based pay that is a good motivator in employee retention. But here, you are not rewarding performance. Performance-based pay is intended to motivate employees to perform better. Such a plan is becoming more common whereby the manager and employee agree on the job goals and performance criteria at the beginning of a specified period, usually at the beginning of the year. The effect of this as a motivator can vary from time to time and from situation to situation. You can give pay increases based on job-related skills and knowledge. This is intended to motivate your people to gain additional skills, acquire new competencies and knowledge. Under this method, you do not pay employees for the job they are-doing, their job title or seniority. This is competency-based pay.

The second method appears the most reasonable. But you can include the elements of seniority and competence. An effective executive compensation is an important area of your organization's pay program. Executives are among your key employees.

Salary Increases Your compensation strategy needs to align your compensation objectives to your organizational business objectives.

Salary increases are part of this plan. By this, you are recognizing employees' contribution to the accomplishment of your organization's objectives. Salaries are normally reviewed annually and an increase is given if the employee merits it. There are times when you feel your organization cannot afford to give any pay increase. So what do you do in order not to de-motivate your people? Consider implementing a policy whereby employees are given salary increases when your organization can afford to give them, in arrears. This ensures that good performers will continue to perform. They know that they will get what is due to them. In order to ensure that this is done properly, ensure that the annual performance appraisal is done as usual. You need the employees' performance data. Giving salary increase to an under-performer is not justified. There are organizations who have implemented a policy that employees who are in the last five percent of the performancebracket will have to go. Size of Merit Increase This usually consists of payment in respect of performance level. A merit increase that is perceived as significant by employees can motivate them to perform better. Make sure that your best employees are duly rewarded, the amount being sufficient enough to motivate. Ensure that your performance review is effective to reduce any possibility of wrong or biased decisions made. Pay Increase on Promotion When an employee is promoted, you may or may not give a significant pay increase. It is not justified to pay an overpaid employee a significant promotional increase. Consider all relevant matters before you make a decision.

One important thing to consider is the pay parity with people in the same category and performing similar tasks. General Salary Adjustment In performance-based pay, do not give across-the-board increases. Differentiate between outstanding, average and non-performers. If not, your employees will lose trust in the system, resulting in little or no motivational impact. Paying the right salary has impact on employee performance and organizational effectiveness. Automatic Salary Progression This has no relationship to performance. Avoid it as it does not encourage your employees to improve their performance. This is fairly common in the public sector. But there are now significant changes made in accordance with sound human resource management principles. The only occasion where you can consider giving some salary increase that is unrelated to performance is in respect of increase in the cost of living.

Anomalous Salary If you have any employee whose salary is below the minimum for the job or too low in relation to the employee's performance and experience, make the necessary adjustment. This is in addition to an increase based on performance merit. On the other hand, you may have an employee who is paid above the maximum point in the salary range for the job. You may freeze further salary increases until the relevant pay level is reached. Then give merit increase based on performance. Don't give increase if performance is unsatisfactory. Be careful in handling the situation where you do not see the reason for increasing an employee's salary. Conduct a salary survey whether your range maximum is lower than the markets rates. If so, you may want to adjust the maximum range.

Communicate the results to the affected employees. It is also good if other employees know why this is being done. Do all of these as part of your compensation strategy.

Salary Reviews Compensation strategy requires that the appropriate salary review method is adopted.
y

Fixed-date Reviews Such reviews are usually on 1st January each year. A modified version is to fix the reviews every quarter for different groups of employees whose appointment fall within the respective quarter. For example, 1st January review for those who joined the organization between 1st January and 31st March. Under this method, there is widespread comparison of salary among employees. In many cases, this creates dissatisfaction. And it can affect employee morale.

Anniversary Reviews Here, you review employees' salary at 12-month intervals from the date of their appointment. This is a good method to reward good performance. But it is timeconsuming and needs a lot of effort.

Flexible-date Reviews The interval can range from nine months to eighteen months. You can use this method to adjust the salaries of high-performing employees whose salary is low, say after nine months. You can give an under-performer less frequent salary increases, say after eighteen months.

A non-performer gets no pay increase. Issue a letter cautioning the employee to improve his or her performance. This is required under the law. If this continues, issue a show cause letter for poor performance. Compensation and Strategic HR Management None of the compensation systems is perfect. Human judgment remains an important element. Try to reduce the subjectivity as much as possible. Provide the necessary skills training for assessors. Use compensation strategy to:
y

monitor cost-effectiveness Are you getting good returns from the compensation methods that you have adopted? verify legal compliance Are there legislation that may prohibit the way your organization is managing its compensation scheme? determine pay equity Are you using strategy to minimize or eliminate pay disparity in order to achieve maximum employee motivation? and link pay to performance Is a performance-based pay implemented in your organization?

Corporate Transformation and Compensation Strategy It is stated in a Report "Strategic Compensation: How to align performance, pay and rewards to support corporate transformation" that it involves four strategic elements in a closed loop, or continuous process. These are:
y y y y

translating business issues into compensation or HR interventions designing and delivering them with key objectives leading the resultant change process, and reviewing or evaluating the outcomes." (www.business-intelligence.co.uk)

The Report finds that strategic compensation is a significant contributor to different forms of competitive advantage, including
y

better business results

y y y y y

more effective performance stronger capability higher staff attraction and retention levels heightened motivation, and employee satisfaction.

But it cautions on the repercussions if it is poorly managed.If so, it can "de-motivate, is divisive, create upheavals among employees or force good performers to leave." In addition, you may find help from Martocchios' book ""Strategic Compensation: A Human Resource Management Approach". He mentions criteria in determining employee compensation, design of compensation system, among other things.

Necessity to Rethink Approach to Compensation Strategic compensation is the type of compensation that can achieve its intended purpose. Compensation strategy is the course of action taken to ensure that this purpose is attained. There is no excuse in paying salaries that make no difference in the performance of your employees. Brent Longnecker,a leading authority on compensation trends, planning and strategy in his book "Rethinking Strategic Compensation" believes we need to rethink our approach to compensation. He provides "all facets of attracting, retaining, and motivating employees through a robust compensation plan."

Forces Affecting Compensation

Effects of Market Forces on Compensation Strategy Organizations operate in a dynamic market environment. There are times of plenty and there are lean years. This matter does not fail to catch our attention especially the effects of economic downturns. Many people particularly corporate heads and

leaders ask important questions how their organizations can continue to exist. One question that they cannot evade is on compensation. You want your organization to continue in existence. And reducing the headcount will quickly reduce your overheads. You need people in order to survive. However, maintaining the same number of employees can lead to bankruptcy. So what do you do? This is a difficult question to answer. Further, you need to ensure that your organization does not lose talent and needs to engage talent that you need to help during the hard times. You also need to pay attention to the retained employees so that they remain committed and focused. Thus, the importance of preparing a compensation strategy. You can consider the following:
y y y y

y y

Differentiate between top performers and non-performers and even average performers. And reward them accordingly. Reward top performers only. This may motivate mediocre performers to contribute more. Check the market whether your compensation system is competitive. Clearly communicate to employees what their compensation package is worth. Then negotiate on possible reduction for certain heads such as non-cash compensation. Don't say demotivating words like "You are lucky you still have jobs." Make plan to achieve continued employee motivation at least in the short-term. Terminate non-performers, not good performers in sectors that are no longer profitable due to the downturn.

We read from publications or hear from broadcasts that some people are not too happy that organizations continue to pay incentives to executives during downturns. Some suggest that cost-cutting is not the answer but implementation of compensation strategy.

We need to remember that whatever the economic situation or your organizational financial performance is, formulating andimplementing a compensation strategy will ensure the ever-readiness of your organization. Once in place, it is necessary to review the strategy at least yearly and whenever there is a need to do so as dictated by events.

Compensation Legislation and Compliance It is necessary for people in HR and those in managerial positions to know and understand that the law affects your compensation and benefits system. In the public sector, practically every aspect of employee compensation is governed by legislation. In most cases, there is not much room for innovative ideas in formulating compensation strategy. The one good things about this is that the results are predictable at most times. But it can lead to a lot of dissatisfaction. Legislation specify job grades, salary band or range, salary increases, promotion, allowances, benefits and so on. When there are needs for changes, the legislation concerned is amended. Before any incentive or a new allowance is given or paid the law must allow it. If not, nobody will or dares to take the risk to go against the stipulated rules. Some government agencies are usually given some authority under a subsidiary legislation allowing their respective Board of Directors to make decisions. Such decisions must not go against the provisions of the incorporation instrument.

Role of Legislation in Private Sector Compensation Organization in the private sector are "free" to determine the levels and components of their compensation package. They are "free" to determine their own compensation strategy subject to legislation. Private entities are not free to follow their whims and fancies in compensation matters.

National governments may enact laws forcing private organizations to change their compensation system and practices. This can happen during times of economic recession when sensitive matters such as compensation come under close public scrutiny. This will also happen in response to sensible public opinion. If this happens private organizations may not have much choice but to follow. This can bring both positive and negative results. Some argue that self-regulation is better and preferable. But some sort of basic framework is necessary. An example in which legislation may determine private entities compensation policy is when a minimum wage is imposed. Here, organizations are "forced to agree". This affects you compensation strategy. This is a controversial issue. Employees at the lowest level and their unions look forward to it. Employers Associations orFederation dread it. Government officers may not know what further action they need to take. They are responsible for implementation in which case they cannot go against against government policies. Another real possibility where governments may intervene is when employees, unions, community leaders, commentators and others believe that the cost of living (COLA) is getting exceptionally high and they appeal for government intervention. Your organization may want to offer salary increase to help people cope during hard times. In this way, COLA become one of the factors in deciding the quantum of compensation. Further, anti-discrimination laws have impacts on compensation. We know that market forces impose "unwritten rules" on the compensation systems and thus compensation strategy. Accepted norms such as in salary systems affect decisions of organizations. Apart from the enacted laws, the "common law" can shape compensation decisions. When cases come before the law courts, judges interpret the

law and refer to decided cases in deciding whether compensation is payable or not. And if payable, the courts will also rule on the quantum payable by the employer. A lot of these cases are on unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal. In many of these cases "compensation" specifically refers to the amount of back pay that the employer must pay to the former employee. The law courts will seldom award economic loss as compensation. The courts may also rule that the employer take back the former employee to resume duties in the same position and drawing the same salary. This may pose problems to the employer and other employees. Management is responsible for scrutinizing (going through) and approvingan effective salary and benefits package for all employees. The package is relevant to the different levels of employees such as managers, executives, and staff. It does not matter whether you have decided to call your people human resources or still use "personnel." The former is more appropriate for use in human resource management, though. Your organization, as one of the responsible employers, would have put in place a system under which you have carefully considered all factors and aspects of the salaries and benefits you give your people.

An effective salary and benefits package has the main aim of attracting the right people to work for you as well asmotivating employees to perform better and to remain with your organization. One of the strategies you can adopt is to provide your people enough income to pay for all the necessities of life and a bit more besides. How do you ensure that your effective salary and benefits package is competitive and can motivate employees at every level? Go through this to do list and see what you need to do. 1. Help your organization to formulate an effective salary and benefits policy for approval by the board of directors

2. Collect all important information on your present rewards system. 3. Conduct a Market Survey to find out the salary range for each equivalent position found in organizations having similarities to your organization. The pay statistics are usually presented in such a way that allows you to determine the average pay or wage. 4. Design a Pay System or a Pay Scale for each group of employees using the data that you have gathered. 5. Ensure that every important matter in an effective salary and benefits program isnot missed. For example, how will you determine the starting pay of a new employee? How much pay increase will you give when a worker is promoted? How much does this differ in the case of managers and executives? 6. See to it that you make necessary changes to your reward system in response to changes within and outside your organization. 7. Review your system from time to time for effectiveness

Annual Pay Increase One of the tasks you are expected to carry out each year is to make proposal on the quantum of annual pay increase. The amount of increase is based on many factors. One of these is how well employees have done their jobs. You can get this information from performance evaluation reports after the evaluation is done at the end of the year. An increase is a reward for a work done well. Since the increase is based on performance it is important that the performance appraisal is conducted properly. After considering everything you may decide that you are not going to give any increase for a particular year. You may want to do this even if employees' performance is encouraging. Usually the reason for making this kind of decision is you cannot afford it. This decision has far-reaching effects. Clearly explain to everyone why this decision is taken.

Usage of terms relating to Effective Salary and Benefits Scheme Some people use the words "salary (salaries)", "wages" and remuneration interchangeably. Many agree that salary is a fixed wage

received on a regular basis, say per week or per month. By this, you can determine the fixed income of an employee. But keep in mind that "wage" is more suitable for use if the job is paid on an hourly or daily basis or by a piece of a job. Some other people use "compensation," that is something given to compensate a person for doing something.

Benefits and Bonuses Employee benefits are incentives that are non-cash in nature. An example is medical and health benefits. Bonuses that you pay to employees are an additional compensation over and above the fixed pay. When you pay bonus, you are giving your employees a share in the profits made by your organization for the past year. This is not based on individual performance of employees, whether managers or staff. This means that if, as an employer, you do not have enough cash, no bonus is paid. Based on this, it is not advisable to agree to a contractual bonus. This is a remuneration that you can put at risk.

Good Pay Package It is not enough that your pay package helps you to enhance the image of your organization as "an employer of choice." You need to ensure that the package can motivate employees to work well and to continue working for the organization. It is always better to have a pay plan. At least you will know whether it needs modifications after reviewing its impacts and by taking relevant market factors into consideration.