Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage Chapter 11 Pay Structure Decisions Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Developing Pay Levels  Pay structure - relative pay of different jobs (job structure) & how much they are paid (pay level).  Pay level - average pay, including wages, salaries & bonuses.  Job structure - relative pay of jobs (range of pay often expressed by salary grades).  Pay policies are attached to jobs, not individuals. 11-2

Equity Theory & Fairness Pay Structure Concepts & Consequences 11-3

Developing Pay Levels-Market Pressures 2 Competitive Market Challenges in Pay Decisions: 1. Product-market competition-challenge to sell goods and services at a quantity and price that will bring a return on investment. 2. Labor-market competition-amount an organization must pay to compete against other organizations that hire similar employees. Unless higher labor costs are offset by higher worker productivity or desirable product features that allow a higher product price, it will be difficult to sustain relatively high costs in a competitive product market. 11-4

2 Components of Labor Costs Average cost per employee Staffing level Labor Costs 11-5

Employees as a Resource  A philosophy that considers employees to be an investment that will yield valuable returns.  Controlling costs through noncompetitive pay can result in low employee productivity and quality.  Pay policies and programs are important HR tools for encouraging desired employee behaviors and discouraging undesired behaviors. 11-6

Deciding What to Pay  Deciding pay levels is discretionary and is based on a broad range.  The organization has to decide whether to pay at, below, or above the market average.  Efficiency wage theory- wages influence worker productivity. 11-7

Market Pay Surveys  Benchmarking- procedure by which an organization compares its own practices against the competition.  3 issues to consider before using pay surveys: 1. Which employers should be included in the survey? 2.Which jobs are included in the survey? 3.If multiple surveys are used, how are all rates of pay weighted and combined? 11-8

Product Market VS. Labor Market Comparisons 11-9

Rate Ranges, Key & Non-key Jobs  Rate ranges- different employees in same job that may have different pay rates.  Key jobs- benchmark jobs that have relatively stable content and are common to many organizations so that market-pay survey data can be obtained.  Non-key jobs are unique to organizations and cannot be directly valued or compared through the use of market surveys

Developing a Job Structure  Job structure- relative worth of various jobs in based on internal comparisons.  Job evaluation- administrative procedure used to measure internal job worth.  The evaluation process is composed of compensable factors, which are characteristics of jobs that an organization values and chooses to pay.  Job evaluators often apply a weighting scheme to account for differing importance of compensable factors to the organization

Developing a Pay Structure  3 Pay-setting Approaches: 1. Market Survey Approach - greatest emphasis is on external comparisons. It bases pay on market surveys that cover as many key jobs as possible. 2.Pay Policy Line – mathematical expression that describes the relationship between a job’s pay and its job evaluation points. 3.Pay Grades- Grouping jobs of similar worth or content together for pay administration purposes.  Range spread -distance between minimum & maximum amounts in a pay grade

Conflicts – Market Pay Surveys & Job Evaluation  Internal data drives up labor costs and create product- market problems.  If external market data are emphasized and a job is paid lower internally, comparisons that employees make internally would result in dissatisfaction.  An organization should consider its strategy, what jobs and/or functions will be critical for success and market- competitive pressures

Monitoring Compensation Costs To examine the difference between policy and practice, compute a compa-ratio, which is an index of the correspondence between actual and intended pay

Globalization, Geographic Region & Pay Structure  Pay structures differ across countries in level & relative worth of jobs.  Expatriate pay and benefits depend on assignment’s nature and length

Current Challenges  Job-based pay structures can create problems :  reinforces top-down decision making as well as status differentials.  bureaucracy, time and cost required to generate and update job descriptions can become a barrier to change.  job-based structure may not reward desired behaviors, where the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed yesterday may not be helpful today and tomorrow.  system encourages promotion-seeking behavior, but discourages lateral movement

Responses Job-Based Pay Structures DelayerSkill Based Competency Based 11-17

Can the U.S. Labor Force Compete?  U.S. labor cost are high compared to newly industrialized and developing countries.  4 Factors Shifting Production to Other Countries: Non-labor considerations Productivity Unit Labor Costs & G.D.P. Skill levels quality & productivity 11-18

Executive Pay  Executive pay has been given widespread attention in the press.  Executive pay accounts for a small proportion of labor costs.  Executives have a disproportionate ability to influence organizational performance.  Executives help set culture, so if their pay seems unrelated to organizational performance, employees may not understand why their pay should be at risk depending on the organization's performance

CEO Remuneration in U.S. Dollars 11-20

Reasons for Executive Pay Criticisms  Some executives are very highly paid.  U.S. executives - best paid in the world.  Ratio of executive pay to average worker pay creates a "trust gap" - workers do not trust executives' intentions and resent their pay

EEO- Employment Compensation  among executives women appear to have lower pay than men  women comprised 47% of all employees in

Equal Employment Opportunity  (EEO) regulations prohibits sex & race-based differences in employment outcomes such as pay, unless justified by business necessity.  2 Trends Related to EEO: 1. increasing participation of women and nonwhites in the labor force. 2. proportion of wages in 2010: women compared to men was 81%. black to white was 80%. Hispanic-Latino to white earning was 70%

Comparable Worth  Comparable worth (or pay equity) is a public policy that advocates remedies for any undervaluation of women's jobs.  Based on the idea that individuals should obtain equal pay, not just for jobs of equal content, but for jobs of equal value or worth.  Courts have consistently ruled that using the going market rates of pay is acceptable defense in comparable worth litigation suits

Wage Laws  The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established a minimum wage and overtime pay rate.  Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It is the lowest amount that employers are legally allowed to pay.  Exempt –those employees (executive, professional, administrative and outside sales) not covered by the FLSA and not eligible for overtime pay.  Davis-Bacon Act and Walsh-Healy Public Contracts Act require federal contractors to pay employees no less than area’s prevailing wages