|
Opportunities
Get the best payback from salary offers
Salary is no doubt the most important means for organisations to develop a satisfied and contended work force. However certain present day trends are making it increasingly difficult for employers to frame salary structures that result in sustained employee satisfaction. For example today the employees have a wide range of information on salary ranges within the industry at a mere click of a button thanks to the Internet.
Also talent poaching and talent wars have pushed salary offers to an unprecedented high. Even the best salaries offered are not able to keep employees happy for long.
In their quest to have a contented work force employers are constantly on the look out for innovative ideas to make their salary offers more attractive. Employee satisfaction is gaining focus as a central theme in the attempts made by organisations to restructure salary policies. More than the base pay, the companies are laying emphasis on variable components and benefits because it is only these components that set individual companies apart and give them a competitive advantage.
Salary strategies need to be drafted with care. Otherwise the prime motivator may actually turn into a potential de-motivator.
Wage differentials often divide employees in an organisation and are the root cause for gossip, professional jealousy, disappointment and conflicts.
Though individual salaries are supposed to be confidential people continue to discuss and compare their salaries. A compensation policy that uses transparent methods of salary fixation can put an end to employee gossip and consternation. Here are some ideas to get the best payback from your salary offers in terms of increased employee satisfaction and motivation:
Follow the norms of transparency: Let your employees understand the methods you follow for determination of pay scales. Do not keep the eligibility criteria for bonuses, perks and other benefits a secret. Creation of salary ranges that correspond to job roles and responsibilities helps employees understand the wage differentials that exist in the organisation. This will prevent employees from harbouring ill feelings that they are being underpaid compared to others.
Align salary strategy with work culture: Salary strategies can be best used to build the desired work culture. Define the values that underlie your work culture in clear terms. For example set standards of work efficiency, productivity and work ethics to be accomplished. Give the best salary increases to those employees who support and promote the work culture.
Create awareness about the benefits offered: The salary package usually comprises certain benefits too. Not all benefits are necessarily given in cash. Therefore it is important to communicate to the employees about the value of those benefits in terms of cost to the employer. Medical cover, health insurance, meal passes, company car, company leased accommodation, discounts offered to employees at various outlets, club memberships, training programmes, nominations to prestigious seminars or holiday packages become more meaningful to the employees when they learn how much it costs the employer to provide these benefits.
Give options to choose from: Many forward thinking organisations offer their employees to choose the benefits they want from a wide range to suit their individual needs. Employees feel more satisfied when they have a choice of benefits. Find out from your employees what benefits they would like the organisation to provide in order to make the benefit package more attractive and meaningful.
Providing certain tax-free benefits is a major attraction too.
Use a judicious mix: To extract the desired levels of efficiency and productivity from employees companies are giving more weight to variable components of pay structure.
These include productivity-linked bonuses and profit sharing systems. However a fair system of performance measurement is a prerequisite to implement a mixed system well. Use your imagination to design variable components of salary to match achievements.
Besides attractive salary offers, giving special awards in recognition of extraordinary efforts, allowing flexible work arrangements, outlining clear career paths are some important means that make you an employer of choice.
N. PURNIMA SRIKRISHNA
faqs@cnkonline.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Opportunities
|
