INTERNAL PAY EQUITY COMPLIANCE

A company’s approach to internal pay equity is as important as the actual pay programs it implements. Many factors can impact internal pay equity such as internal increases remaining low while new hires demand salaries that exceed current tenured employees. Organizations should conduct periodic pay equity studies to keep on top of potential pay equity risks and ensure an understanding of the pay structure, as well as knowledge of and ability to explain pay differences among comparable employees.

When conducting your pay equity study, be aware of these five major federal laws that address equal pay:

The Equal Pay Act – equal pay for equal work among women and men.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in all employment terms and conditions, including pay.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act clarifies that each paycheck containing discriminatory compensation is actionable under Title VII.
Executive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions, including compensation, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, when contracts or subcontracts exceed $10,000.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects the rights of most private-sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions.

Most companies keep a close eye on pay decisions, such as merit raises and starting pay and the processes that guide them. Unfortunately, tracking individual decisions might not be enough. The Ledbetter Act requires knowledge of past pay decisions that may have impacted a discrimination claim. Pay today equals the pay at hire plus all subsequent changes in pay. Comparing the current pay of employees who were dissimilar in the past means that more historical information may be needed to understand their pay differences.

Pay differences can be defended by differences in knowledge, skill, education, ability, effort or responsibility provided it is required to perform the job. Pay equity studies typically rely on the data that is available such as job title or grade, time in the job, company seniority, performance ratings, increased percentages, geographic locations, education, and prior job experience.

A pay equity study may involve the appropriate legal counsel, an experienced analyst as well as HR information systems and compensation specialists. Detailed analysis can point to employees who should be paid similarly but who are subject to large pay differences and will highlight additional factors that explain the difference or highlight inexplicable differences that merit adjustment. Conducting a well-designed and well-executed pay equity study using well-maintained and complete data is a good business practice that serves as an important tool in managing the risk associated with allegations of pay discrimination.

Change can be challenging and demanding. At WageWatch our compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs and help ensure your wages and salaries are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. In addition to our PeerMark Salary Survey for over 100 local lodging markets in the U.S. and Canada, we offer a National Benchmark Salary Survey. With over 9,000 hotels and 200 casinos in our database, WageWatch’s hotel and gaming salary surveys are the most comprehensive surveys available to Human Resource professionals. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary surveys, benefit surveys, and custom compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

HIRING STRATEGIES IN A TIGHT JOB MARKET

It is becoming increasingly challenging to recruit top talent due to the relatively low unemployment rate, the increase in job openings, and the lack of experienced candidates. These factors require that companies need to be more creative and aggressive in their hiring practices. In addition, there has also been an attitude change; it is much less of ‘who do I want’ and more of ‘who wants me’ attitude. Listed below are some tips that may help provide success in the search for new talent:

Use multiple forms of social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and actively engage on them. Connect to a related industry and check the posts and comments. If there is someone who stands out, you may have found a new employee
Turn part-time positions into full-time positions
Provide training opportunities for current employees to fill open positions
Restructure work in ways that adapt to the new workforce; reduce education and other requirements
Review the list of job skills and keep the essential skills versus losing a perfect candidate
Partner with a local community college and offer to speak with students; provide internship opportunities
Participate in job fairs and get involved in the local community
Speak at professional organizations and/or special interest meetings to meet potential candidates
Offer incentives to current employees who refer new hires, post open positions for visibility to all employees
Post for positions that you may have no intention of filling to gain a supply of candidates when a job does open-up
Provide a sign-on bonus to new employees
Ensure company website is mobile-friendly; a high percentage of searches are conducted using mobile devices

Another important factor is to understand the current perceptions of your company. It is much easier to keep current employees versus hiring new employees. It may be valuable to consider the following tactics to retain your current talent:

Be more competitive in wages
Provide employees stock ownership and/or stock options
Offer training programs for current employees to enhance bench strength
Provide a sense of organizational purpose and mission (valued by Millennials)
Permit flexible work schedules and work at home opportunities (valued by Millennials)

During the interview process, it is more important than ever to ensure that the process is as quick as possible to not lose viable candidates; ensure ongoing communication throughout the process to demonstrate interest.

HOW TO DETERMINE NEW HIRE SALARIES

Without established salary ranges and salary structure, setting a salary can be like spinning the roulette wheel. Most companies have salary offer guidelines based on competitive market data and established salary ranges for positions. Ideally, you will have these established tools and practices in place before you have to make a salary offer. Salary scales are a valuable tool in recruiting and hiring new employees as well as providing baseline amounts in making salary adjustments for existing employees.

There are many things to consider when determining where to set a salary for a new hire including the candidate’s experience and qualifications that are either required or needed for the job, current salaries of employees in the same or comparable worth jobs, salary range, geography, industry conventions, and company budget. Other considerations may be bargaining agreements, prevailing wage contracts or arrangements, and the company’s compensation philosophy.

To determine accurate external wage comparisons, employers should carefully define the appropriate market and competitive set. Defining the market too narrowly can result in wages that are higher than necessary. Conversely, defining the market too broadly may cause an organization to set wages too low to attract and retain competent employees. Paying prevailing wages can also be considered a moral obligation. This focus on external competitiveness enables a company to develop compensation structures and programs that are competitive with other companies in similar labor markets. Employee perceptions of equity and inequity are equally important and should be carefully considered when a company sets compensation objectives. Employees who perceive equitable pay treatment may be more motivated to perform better or to support a company’s goals.

Internal equity is of equal importance to external competitiveness when setting pay. You want employees to feel they are paid fairly as compared to their co-workers as well as to adhere to regulations regarding pay discrimination. If starting salaries are negotiated, ensure that such a practice does not have an adverse impact on women or minority workers. Generally, jobs do not have to be identical for equal pay to be required, only substantially equal in terms of skill, effort, and job responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions. For discriminatory purposes, pay refers to salary, overtime, bonuses, vacation and holiday pay, and all other benefits and compensation of any kind paid to employees. Pay disparities may be allowed under a seniority system, a merit system, or a system measuring earnings by quality or quantity of production. Hardly anyone notices when you pay “above average” compared to the outside world, but any perceived deficiency in “internal equity” can come back to bite you.

As you can see there are many factors and considerations when setting pay and it can sometimes feel like a delicate balancing act. But doing your homework, keeping up with the external market, and addressing internal pay inequities will go a long way to simplifying the task of setting new hire salaries. It is important to ensure that the approach taken is guided by the compensation philosophy and is applied consistently. An effective Salary Administration Program allows a company to meet the basic objectives of compensation: focus, attract, retain, and motivate.

At WageWatch our compensation consultants are focused on your organization’s compensation needs and ready to help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. WageWatch also offers accurate, up-to-date benefit surveys, salary surveys, and pay practices data that will allow you to stay current. This information is beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data, and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

THE COMPENSATION MODEL

The compensation discipline seeks to maximize competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the most qualified workers to an employer. Best practice in today’s workplace considers total compensation to include base salary, bonus or incentive plans, benefits, and non-cash compensation. A pay philosophy is a company’s commitment to how it values employees.

A consistent pay philosophy gives the company and the employee a frame of reference when discussing salary in a negotiation. This usually requires a competitive well-rounded pay philosophy, including benefits and work-life balance. Compensation philosophies reap little reward without the knowledge and alignment to the organization’s overall business strategy. Armed with the right information, compensation professionals can create a philosophy that will stimulate a more engaged workforce and lead to a higher-performing organization

A compensation system will price positions to market by using local, national and industry-specific survey data, will include survey data for more specialized positions and will address significant market differences due to geographical location. The system will evaluate external equity to the competitive market and internal equity which is the relative worth of each job when comparing the required level of job competencies, formal training, experience, responsibility, and accountability of one job to another. The system must be flexible enough to ensure that the company is able to recruit and retain a highly qualified workforce while providing the structure necessary to effectively manage the overall compensation program.

Organizations should establish and communicate clear pay policies. At a minimum, organizations need to ensure that their compensation policy adheres to employment legislation including:

Minimum wage
Overtime pay
Pay equity
Vacation pay
Holiday pay
Incentive pay
Tips and Gratuities
Pay method and pay frequency
Pay deductions
Payroll records tracking and reporting

Many organizations adopt transparency in compensation practices. Transparency involves compensation plans that are simple to understand, easy to implement and published internally to all employees. Many companies provide an annual Total Rewards Statement to each employee that outlines and explains all compensation elements included in their compensation package including cash and non-cash.

Bonus and incentive pay is tied to specific performance results against pre-set goals and objectives at the individual and organizational level. Results that are measured can be quantitative and qualitative. When establishing bonus schemes, organizations often apply a balanced scorecard approach: looking at financial, human resources and customer results.

A compensation model that encourages innovation should strike a balance between the risks and rewards associated with the work. Rewards programs can recognize innovation within all elements of a company and at all or the majority of employees. When only the top 10% of high performers are eligible for recognition and associated rewards, approximately 70% of employees who fall in the middle of the performance bell curve and who are consistent performers day after day, can become discouraged and disengaged. The goal should be to properly calibrate your awards approach to reach far more employees with recognition rewards, thereby creating a culture of innovation.

Compensation is a part of the complex HR processes, policies, and procedures. Top management has to decide, the primary role of compensation in the organization, whether it will be a supplementary role or a dominant role. The compensation philosophy is the foundation for all organizational compensation decisions.

DRAMATIC CHANGES FOR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Organizations are exploring some new and innovative performance management systems in an effort to truly inspire and motivate their teams with some encouraging results. Traditional performance management systems typically set goals related to the business plan, utilize performance appraisals that are too lengthy, redundant, hastily completed to meet deadlines, and often don’t allow employees any real input. Many HR leaders believe that performance reviews yield inaccurate results due to biased approaches and misleading inputs. Performance Appraisals are essentially a forced ranking system that can actually be very demotivating.

The traditional systems are beginning to shift to a more effective coaching system that focuses on employee achievement of measurable goals and objectives rather than formalized annual appraisal systems that primarily communicate one-way. There are many examples of progressive companies that have replaced their traditional performance management systems with a culture of coaching, feedback, development, and high performance. Critical to success is that everyone in a leadership role is trained on how to coach and provide constant performance feedback, which in turn, engages employees and creates a desire to continuously improve.

The goal of managing performance is being replaced with a goal of obtaining the best possible sustainable performance under the current circumstances. Key elements of this new paradigm include:

Simplify the Process: Train managers on how to coach, give feedback and regularly check in with employees. Focus on developing employees rather than evaluating and giving them a ‘rating’. Ask questions that help target what the employee needs, such as, “What skills would you most like to improve on?” or “What can I do to help you?” Review employee progress more frequently making the process less intimidating and more sensitive.
Streamline, shorten or completely replace Performance Review forms: Replace the forms with on-going coaching and feedback. Feedback must be timely to be meaningful.
More agile, relevant, frequent and transparent goal management: Include employees in the discussion of key performance objectives, ensuring they understand the reasons for the goals and can see how they are linked to organizational goals. Utilize more short-term goals that are easier for employees to derive meaning from what they do every day. Create achievable goals and regularly monitor employee progress.
Address career goals and future training needs: Include a system that supports follow-up and delivery of the training and career opportunities. Create a culture where managers can delegate without feeling threatened, knowing they also have opportunity and training for the next career advancement.
Eliminate direct correlation between performance rating and compensation: Make pay adjustments based on a combination of elements such as performance, customer and business impact, skill scarcity and the competitive nature of employees’ positions.

Employees want to perform at their best. They want to understand the goals and to be motivated. They want to contribute, be supported, to learn and to have fun. Management and leaders need to create the conditions needed for a great performance to take place and for business to flourish. The ideal process for managing performance is one that successfully motivates and supports staff to contribute to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization. A culture that encourages on-going communication and coaching between managers and their employees has many benefits and advantages over traditional Performance Management.

Change can be challenging and demanding. At WageWatch our compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs and help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. WageWatch also offers accurate, up-to-date benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary surveys that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data, and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

HUMAN RESOURCES ROLE IN INNOVATION

How can human resources contribute to innovation? How can we turn new ideas into reality, break old paradigms, and step outside of the box with new solutions to old problems? Innovation may begin with creativity but it is more than an idea — it takes place when great ideas come to fruition and make their mark in the world. In the past, most businesses focused on continuous improvement of their products and services to maintain a competitive edge. But in today’s economy, that’s not always enough.

As Human Resource professionals, we are fortunate to be responsible for many areas of an organization that can directly impact and contributes to innovation; including recruitment, performance management, recognition, rewards, training, and employee engagement. Human Resources can also play a key role in creating an organizational structure and overall culture that fosters and supports innovation.

Recruiting can focus on hiring for innovation by identifying people who can “think outside the box” or have skills and capabilities that lend toward innovation. Performance management can serve as a valuable tool in the creation of a sustainable culture of innovation. Performance measures can give consideration as to whether or not employees are given the time and resources to experiment, generate and explore ideas, and make presentations to management. Rewards can be used to reinforce the importance of innovation and recognition can be used to encourage and inspire employees to innovate and share ideas. HR’s role in organizational design provides huge potential for enabling innovation. For example, organizational design can be used to facilitate easier exchange of employees’ ideas across boundaries and functions.

An example of a human resource is driven innovation that used an out-of-the-box idea to improve the recruiting process is La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, TX, A Destination Hotel, they have incorporated an idea made popular by Disney, the Fast PASS. In Disney’s version, guests can avoid the line and use a Fast PASS to get a ticket to ride an attraction at a specified time with limited to no waiting. This helps improve the guest experience, improves wait times, improves communication and enhances the ability to meet the expectation of guests. At Destination Hotels, they have incorporated this concept into their recruitment practices. Special “FAST PASS” cards are given to managers who can spot people in their daily interactions (at grocery stores, restaurants, bars, the mall, etc.) providing exceptional customer service and invite them to consider an employment opening/opportunity with Destination. They can call a specific number and get a “prioritized/guaranteed” in-person interview as opposed to filling out an application during certain hours and hoping for a chance to be considered. Like Disney, the approach at Destination Hotels improves the experience for the candidate and the HR function/hiring managers. It speeds up the ability to source the most qualified talent and create a match to open position needs at the resort. Destination competes on innovation.

While HR can have a significant impact on many of the key drivers of innovation, it is a collaborative process and requires many areas to come together in order to succeed. Executive leaders hold the key to the level and success of innovation in their organization. They control the strategic direction, influence the culture, and directly and indirectly control all organizational practices. Managers must know how to lead innovative teams, and individuals must know how to apply innovative thinking. Every department or function must be part of the process. For example, Information Technology has become an enabler of innovative ideas, but it is also often the starting point for innovative products or services and Finance has a unique opportunity through the budget development to add innovation either as a line in the overall budget or as a percentage of every departmental budget.

Organizations need to develop practices that make it easier to innovate. For example, at the core of an organization’s culture should be an acceptance of the need to experiment and understand that this comes with the risk of failure and that failure needs to be seen as a learning experience and an important step in the process. Culture is definitely key to sustainable innovation. The mindset and culture of the HR team have an exponential impact and influence on the entire organization. HR leaders can help enable their organizations to differentiate themselves by understanding the critical importance of innovation today and how their role can contribute by attracting and keeping the most innovative people, constantly improving their skills and creating and enabling a culture of innovation.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date HR metrics, benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is the only Web-based custom survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes. Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs. We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

PAY COMPRESSION: CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS

Pay compression is when either a subordinate’s base pay is very close to or more than their supervisor’s or when a less tenured employee is equal to or paid more than a senior employee in the same position. One of the most common causes of pay compression is when pay increases for current employees are low, but new employees are paid a higher salary to attract them. This problem becomes more severe in economic downturns when pay increases are limited but it occurs even in better economic times. Pay compression is most evident in pay systems where lower level jobs, either through union contracts or other market forces, create a situation where first-line supervisors are paid less, on an hourly basis, than their subordinates.

When the job market is weak, many organizations hire people who had already done the same work for another organization, eliminating the need for training. Rather than hiring people with high potential and developing them for the long term, they have opted for people who can “hit the ground running,” regardless of their potential.

When salary compression and the policies that enable it are sustained over several years, it can be demoralizing and lead to widespread employee dissatisfaction. Employers should be concerned because salary compression can transform compensation from a motivator into a de-motivator.

Salary compression may be accompanied by pay inequities which could violate equal pay regulations. In situations where newer staff earn more than experienced staff, it could create a pay equity problem if the experienced staff are a protected class.

There are steps that can limit the detrimental effects of salary compression. For instance, when a new job opens, organizations should try to promote someone from within, rather than hiring from the outside. Many organizations have policies that limit how high within a range new hires can be paid. When new hires are brought in at higher salaries or when across the board increases are given due to market movement or minimum wage increase, have a policy that requires internal equity analysis and adjustments.

Institute a policy of transparency and calibration across units. Disparate actions between different organizational units can create salary compression and other inequities. Transparency can take the form of a simple scorecard showing the rates of increases and promotions in each unit. Calibration can involve managers sharing planned compensation actions with their peer managers. It can also include several levels of approval for any actions before they take place so that a senior leader can spot any actions that appear suspect and will cause inequities, including compression. This tends to create a norm and, over time, leads to decisions that are more consistent and responsible.

Salary compression can be a serious problem that eventually causes an organization to lose some of its most talented employees. Although many organizations have unintentionally allowed salary compression to take root, there are actions they can take now and in the future to keep it from reoccurring.

At WageWatch our compensation consultants are focused on your organization’s compensation needs and ready to help you ensure that your compensation programs are supporting your company’s business strategy and objectives. WageWatch also offers accurate, up-to-date benefit surveys, salary surveys and pay practices data that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

ASKING ABOUT SALARY HISTORY COULD SOON BE ILLEGAL

It has long been customary for employers to gain salary history from job applicants to help determine an applicant’s qualifications for a position. Some employers have requested W-2 forms have in order to gain an accurate picture of an employee’s background and determine if an applicant’s salary history is in line with is being offered. Federal laws do not prohibit requesting the information, however, some states and cities have already taken steps to outlaw employers from requesting salary history.

With the objective of pushing to fight wage discrimination and the gender pay gap, a bill was recently introduced in Congress that would ban salary questions across ALL states. The bill forces employers to develop salary offers based on job requirements and market pay levels rather than an applicant’s current salary or salary history, which may be lower than current market rates for some individuals’ skill and experience.

The following cities and states have banned salary questions by public and/or private employers: (*Effective Date; E.D.)

California – (E.D. Jan 2018); banned private and public employers from asking about pay history
Delaware – (E.D. Dec 2017); banned ALL employers from asking salary history
Massachusetts – (E.D. Jul 2018); prohibits ALL employers from inquiring about pay history
New Orleans – (E.D. Jan 2017); banned inquiries from city departments and employees of contractors who work for the city
New York City – (E.D. Oct 31, 2017); banned public and private employees from asking salary history
Oregon – (E.D. Jan 2019); will ban ALL employers from inquiring about salary history
Philadelphia – (E.D. was May 23, 2017—on hold) bans ALL employers from asking salary history; halted from going into effect by Chamber of Commerce; still pending
Pittsburgh – (E.D. Jan 30, 2017); Bans only city agencies from asking candidates’ pay history
Puerto Rico – (E.D. Mar 2018); bans employers from inquiring about pay history

When an employer ceases to rely on salary history of an applicant, it requires making a clear, market-based case for pay, the challenge falls on the employer. It will be important to create a salary range for each position and ensure that the variations within those ranges are based on things like merit, education, and experience. Some companies welcome a strictly market-based approach to making salary offers as it has the ability to foster greater transparency. Whether or not your jurisdiction is covered by the new laws, the trend is increasing and may soon impact your organization.

ARE YOU ATTRACTING TOP TALENT?

Organizations are finding it to be a huge challenge to attract and retain a group of talented and hardworking employees that are loyal to the company and its mission. Finding high caliber employees with advanced skills to perform important jobs within a company is a challenge, especially as unemployment continues to decline. Everyone is looking for top talent, and those companies that excel in attracting and retaining this talent are the ones that will reap the rewards.

To retain talent, it is essential that loyalty is established. In order to do this, the employee must feel that their job is instrumental in achieving the goals of the company, making them excited to come into work each day and give it they’re all. It is also important that the work the employee puts in is acknowledged, affirming their place within the company, and offering them opportunities for growth.

While compensation and benefits packages are one of the largest factors considered by employees, it isn’t enough to make the top talent stay. The following are a few ways that you can attract and retain the best employees at your company:

Promote Open Communication
When a company is completely open with employees, everyone will feel respected. Instead of allowing rumors to spread, let your employees know as soon as possible about anything that is going on in regards to the company. When possible, let your employees be a part of the decision making process. A culture of open communication is very attractive to employees.
Provide Opportunities for Team Building
Most employees enjoy interacting with their coworkers. By encouraging teamwork, employees are able to build great working relationships and establish a trusting, open environment for the company. When working together toward a common goal, employees are more motivated and excited about their jobs, often producing excellent results.
Cater to Individual Work Style
Each employee has a different way that they prefer to work, learn and be managed. When you as an employer take the time and effort to make adjustments for each employee’s needs, they will respect the company more and loyalty will, once again, be built. This will also help you to establish teams that will work best together based on their work styles.
Acknowledge Your Talent
When an employee does a good job, it is important that you recognize them for their efforts, so they feel that they are a valued member of the team. A majority of employees leaving a company do so because they feel unappreciated. Employees want to feel that the work they are doing is making a difference, so acknowledging their work often is essential. Also, review surveys for 2013 healthcare compensation, 2013 casino compensation and other market compensation data surveys for your industry to determine what benefits and bonuses you should be rewarding your employees with.

Implementing the above suggestions will help your company to build a culture that encourages retention of employees, which in turn will attract top talent. In addition to providing a great work environment that respects employees and provides opportunities for learning and growth, it is also important that they receive a solid benefits package. At WageWatch, we provide accurate data for 2013 healthcare compensation, 2013 casino compensation and compensation information for a wide variety of other industries. To learn more about our up-to-date market compensation data, such as 2013 healthcare compensation surveys or university benefits surveys, call 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES BY JOB DESIGN

With changing demographics and a more competitive job market, human resources is more challenged than ever before to hire, engage, maintain, and keep employees happy and motivated. Workers want more choice and flexibility in how they approach tasks, for example, more opportunities to work collaboratively. They look for more opportunities to change duties, for exploration, to learn, and to advance in their career in a less linear way. It is not only desirable but essential for businesses to have motivated employees. Today many human resource professionals are looking at how to design jobs, work environments, and cultures that motivate employees.

Job specialization is the earliest approach to job design. Job specialization is efficient but leads to boredom and monotony. Early alternatives to job specialization include job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.

Job rotation involves moving employees from job-to-job at regular intervals. When employees periodically move to different jobs, the monotonous aspects of job specialization can be relieved.

Job enlargement consists of making a job larger in scope by combining additional task activities into each job through expansion.

Job enrichment is concerned with designing jobs that include a greater variety of work content, require a higher level of knowledge and skill, give the worker more autonomy and responsibility, and provide an opportunity for personal growth.

Research shows that there are five job components that increase the motivating potential of a job: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

Skills
- People will be more motivated if they are using a variety of skills in their positions, rather than one thing repeatedly.
Tasks
- Employees are motivated to complete tasks if they identify with them and have seen them through from start to finish.
- When employees feel that their work is significant to their organization, they are motivated to do well.
Autonomy
- Employees like to be able to make decisions and have flexibility in their roles. Most employees will have lowered motivation if they feel they have no freedom or are being micromanaged.
Feedback
- Employees need feedback (both positive and negative) in order to stay motivated.

Quality of life in a total job and work environment is also an important part of a positive and motivating experience for employees. The elements included in ‘quality of life’ include open communication equitable reward system, employees’ job security, and satisfaction, participative management, development of employee skill, etc. Since a significant amount of one’s life is spent at work, jobs need to provide satisfaction for sustained interest. Jobs provide employees not only a living but also help in achieving other goals such as economic, social, political, and cultural.

The concept of empowerment extends the idea of autonomy. The idea behind empowerment is that employees have the ability to make decisions and perform their jobs effectively. Instead of dictating roles, companies create an environment where employees thrive, feel motivated, and have the discretion to make decisions about the content and context of their jobs. Empowerment is a contemporary way of motivating employees through job design.

A growing body of research on the relational structures of jobs suggests that interpersonal relationships play a key role in making the work experience important and meaningful to employees. Interpersonal relationships can often enhance employees’ motivations, opportunities, and resources at work.

Though employees need to have some intrinsic motivation (internal motivation) to complete the tasks assigned to them in their roles, they also need to be motivated by their employers. By designing jobs that encompass all of the core characteristics, you can help increase employee motivation, in turn improving performance.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary, incentive, and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is the only Web-based custom survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes. Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs. We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data, and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.