Compensation Trends for Comp Professionals

Why your holiday party sucks

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader12_10.jpg" alt="Holiday party image" title="BlogHeader12_10"><a href="https://plus.google.com/115301125688955669806? rel=author">Crystal Spraggins,</a> SPHR Thanksgiving is over, and that means we’re all free to focus on those other upcoming holidays—whatever they might be for you.

Top 10 Skills Every Compensation Manager Needs

Is your holiday party a potential budget buster?

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader11_18.jpg" alt="Holiday parties image" title="BlogHeader11_18"><a target="_blank" rel="author noopener" href="https://www.payscale.com/author/tess-c-taylor-phr-the-hr-writer">Tess C. Taylor, PHR, The HR Writer </a>As this year’s holiday season kicks off, celebrations are on the minds of practically every employee. And most likely the cost of those celebrations is on the minds of employers committed to maintaining employee engagement without going overboard on the budget. Along with seasonal recruitment efforts, much of the number crunching this time of year revolves around holiday parties and year-end bonuses and salary increases—all good incentives to ensure your top employees don’t become the ghosts of the past.

Is your base pay falling short?

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader10_6.jpg" alt="Base pay falling short image" title="BlogHeader10_6"><a href="https://plus.google.com/102099066436032147105? rel=author">Jessica Miller-Merrell,</a> blogging4jobs When candidates apply for a job they generally dread seeing the three-letter acronym for pay on job requisitions, TBD. Employers, on the other hand, love being able to put this acronym because it creates a flexible environment where they can offer base pay based on experience alone if they’re not able to find the specific candidate they’re looking for. It’s clear that employers and employees think differently when it comes to offering any type of base pay.

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Is unlimited PTO too good to be true?

<img width="610" height="175" src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/header_unlimitedpto.png" alt="header_UnlimitedPTO"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111048221756567587195? rel=author">Tessara Smith, </a> PayScale It’s no secret that vacations are vital to the sanity of every full-time employee, but what happens when all of their allotted break time is being sucked up by sick days and family emergencies? Instead of planning their getaways to Disneyland or the Caribbean, employees are instead forfeiting dreams of relaxation in the name of taking their kid to the doctor’s office. There is no denying that it is important for workers not to skimp on time spent in the office, but most agree that it is unfair to have to surrender what would be mental health days in order to complete mundane tasks. Studies show that workers are more productive when they take vacations, and many companies are beginning to come to the realization that a strict PTO policy may not be the way to go in terms of supporting a healthy work environment.

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Is employee retention still your top concern?

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/header_2014cbpr_q3_update.png" alt="CBPR update on retention image" title="header_2014CBPR_Q3_Update" sfref="[images|OpenAccessDataProvider]c535069b-def5-6347-a9d2-ff00007054ad"><a href="https://plus.google.com/100452540302428363448? rel=author">Laleh Hassibi,</a> PayScale Retention was a hot issue in the 2014 Compensation Best Practices report with nearly 60% of you listing it as a top concern. Now that we're almost three quarters of the way through the year, we're checking in with you to find out what the status is now. Please take this 30 second survey to answer 4 short questions about the current state of retention and the talent market. You'll be able to compare your answers to all the others we've received as soon as you are done with the survey.

The top 4 problems with pay for performance

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader9_4.jpg?sfvrsn=4" alt="Pay for performance image" title="BlogHeader9_4"> <a href="https://plus.google.com/115301125688955669806? rel=author">Crystal Spraggins,</a> SPHR Pay for performance or <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/performance-related-pay.html">performance-related pay</a>, as it’s also called, is a relatively simple concept. Under a performance-related pay philosophy, employees are offered financial incentive for meeting certain predetermined and quantifiable goals.

Autocrat, Democrat, or Servant: What's your leadership style?

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader8_27-2.jpg?sfvrsn=3" alt="What kind of leader are you image" title="BlogHeader8_27-2" sfref="[images]04d2059b-def5-6347-a9d2-ff00007054ad"><a href="https://plus.google.com/115301125688955669806? rel=author">Crystal Spraggins,</a> SPHR Every leader has a leadership style. And leadership styles have consequences. According to PayScale’s <a href="https://resources.payscale.com/hr-2014-compensation-practices-report.html">2014 Compensation Best Practices</a> report, most employees leave their jobs for “personal reasons” or for higher pay. Pay is important, of course. Despite how much we may like our jobs, if our employers couldn’t pay us, we’d likely quit.

Engaged employees – your key to strong retention

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader8-3.jpg" alt="image: Are your workers engaged?" title="blogheader8-3"><a href="https://plus.google.com/102099066436032147105? rel=author">Jessica Miller-Merrell,</a> blogging4jobs According to a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/06/12/how-social-media-turns-leadership-facilitation-on-its-head-and-10-additional-secrets-for-facilitation-success/2/">recent Gallup poll</a>, 86% of engaged employees say they very often feel happy at work, as against 11% of the disengaged and 45% of the engaged say they get a great deal of their life happiness from work, against 8% of the disengaged. It’s no secret that a happy and engaged employee will stay with your company for a long time. Numbers don’t lie and as you can see from the stat above, 86% of engaged employees are happy at work. This number proves that engaged employees is your key to a strong retention rate.

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Four raises a year

<img src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/blogheader8753B77FD846D.jpg" alt="Four raises a year image" title="blogheader8" sfref="[images|OpenAccessDataProvider]b837059b-def5-6347-a9d2-ff00007054ad"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111048221756567587195? rel=author">Tessara Smith, </a> PayScale One of the latest trends in employee compensation and motivation is giving employees four (small) raises a year as opposed to one large raise. Many companies have become strong proponents of this innovative payment strategy and executives are dumping the annual salary review in favor of giving out raises and bonuses a couple times per year. This begs the question, are quarterly raises a good idea for your company?

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Employee motivation strategies that don’t work

<img width="610" height="175" src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/header_unsuccessfulemployeemotivation.png" alt="header_UnsuccessfulEmployeeMotivation"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/111048221756567587195? rel=author">Tessara Smith, </a> PayScaleWhen you type in the words employee motivation into Google's search bar, an overabundance of articles pop up suggesting ways to coax your disengaged employees to “check back in”. You read article after article and the themes seem to get a bit redundant to say the least. If you are an experienced manager or executive, chances are you have a good grasp on what works in terms of keeping motivation in your office alive. Still there are a lot of ideas floating around out there about <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kensundheim/2014/01/30/hiring-motivated-and-engaged-employees/" title=" class=" target=" rel="noopener">how to maintain employee’s desire</a> to keep doing phenomenal work for your company. What most fail to mention in their articles however are employee motivation strategies that don’t work.

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Why you need a code of ethics policy

<img width="610" height="175" src="http://www.payscale.com/cms-images/default-source/b2b/header_workplaceethics.jpg" alt="header_workplaceEthics"><a href="https://plus.google.com/115301125688955669806? rel=author">Crystal Spraggins,</a> SPHR In “<a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/research-we-should-speak-up-about-ethical-violations-more-often/">We Should Speak Up About Ethical Violations More Often</a>,” Joseph Grenny makes a somewhat surprising claim. Whistleblower laws aren’t the way to more ethical companies, he says. Instead, leadership needs to develop a culture that encourages employees to speak up—as a matter of course—about all the “minor” transgressions occurring in workplaces every day. When that happens, Grenny hypothesizes, major ethical breaches will be less likely to occur.

Compensation trends: Modern perspectives on pay