Human Resource Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage Chapter 11 Pay Structure Decisions McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Learning Objectives List major decision areas & concepts in employee compensation management. Describe major administrative tools used to manage employee compensation. Explain importance of competitive labor-market and product-market forces in compensation decisions. Discuss the significance of process issues such as communication in compensation management. 11-2 Learning Objectives Describe new developments in pay structure designs. Explain where U.S. stands on pay issues from an international perspective. Explain reasons for executive pay controversy. Describe regulatory framework for employee compensation. 11-3 Introduction 11-4 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) in an organization. Pay policies are attached to jobs, not individuals. 11-5 Equity Theory and Fairness Equity theory suggests that people evaluate the fairness of their situations by comparing them with those of other people Where O = Outcomes: pay, benefits, and working conditions, And I = Inputs: effort, ability, and experience If P’s ratio (OP/IP) is smaller than the other’s ratio (OO/IO), then P feels under rewarded compared to O, and vice versa McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Equity Theory and Fairness Perceived inequity may cause changes in P’s attitudes or behavior – P may seek to restore equity by: 1. Reducing inputs (not working as hard), 2. Increasing one’s outcomes (theft, etc.), or 3. Leaving the situation that generated the inequity (leaving the organization, refusing to work, refusing to cooperate with others) McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Equity Theory & Fairness Pay Structure Concepts & Consequences External equity – compensation comparisons with those in other organizations Internal equity – compensation comparisons with those working other jobs in the same organization 11-8 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. • 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 2. Labor-market competition-amount an organization must pay to compete against other organizations that hire similar employees.. 11-9 2 Components of Labor Costs 11-10 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. 11-11 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. 11-12 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? 11-13 Product Market VS. Labor Market Comparisons 11-14 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. 11-15 Developing a Job Structure Job structure- relative worth of various jobs in the organization 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. 11-16 Sample Compensable Factors McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved 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. 11-18 Sample Pay Survey Data McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Pay Survey Used to Develop Pay Levels McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Sample Pay Grade Structure McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Sample Pay Grade Structure McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Conflicts – Market Pay Surveys & Job Evaluation Internal data drives up labor costs and create productmarket 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 marketcompetitive pressures. 11-23 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 (Actual average pay for grade/Pay midpoint for grade). 11-24 McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved 25 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. 11-26 Process: Participation & Communication 11-27 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. 11-28 Responses Job-Based Pay Structures 11-29 Delayering Delayering involves reducing the complexity of a job-based pay structure Combines job descriptions Reduces the number of pay grades Gives managers more discretion in pay decisions McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved 31 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: 11-32 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. 11-33 CEO Remuneration in U.S. Dollars 11-34 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. 11-35 EEO- Employment Compensation among executives women appear to have lower pay than men women comprised 47% of all employees in 2011 11-36 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 2. nonwhites in the labor force. proportion of wages in 2010: women compared to men was 81%. black to white was 80%. Hispanic-Latino to white earning was 70%. 11-37 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. 11-38 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. States can have their own minimum wage, as long as it is above the federal level. 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. 11-39 Summary Equity theory - social comparisons influence how employees evaluate their pay. Employees make external comparisons between their pay and pay they believe is received by employees in other organizations which may have consequences for employee attitudes and retention. Employees make internal comparisons between what they receive and what they perceive others within the organization are paid. These comparisons may have consequences for internal movement, cooperation and attitudes (like organization commitment) and play an important role in the controversy over executive pay. 11-40 Summary, continued Pay benchmarking surveys and job evaluation are tools used in managing pay level and job structure components of the pay structure. Pay surveys permit organizations to benchmark their labor costs. Globalization is increasing the need to be competitive in labor costs and productivity. Pay structure is moving to fewer pay levels to reduce labor costs and bureaucracy and shifting from paying employees for narrow jobs to giving broader responsibilities and paying them to learn necessary skills. 11-41