Allocating Merit Raises : Research And Analysis Of Small State University

The criteria used to evaluate employee performance, was the main issue of the disagreement between the two men. Jack strongly believed that employees should receive merit increases based on productivity and contribution to the organization, and that extraneous factors such as the number of children employees have, age, and the number of years to retirement should not be considered. Chester, on the contrary, believed that the merit increase should be also based on the extraneous factors. According to Jack, the criteria used by Chester were not rewarding productivity and quality of work and

Weyerhaeuser uses a pay for performance system and utilizes a performance management process (PMP) to evaluate employee’s annual performance and that performance rating is used in calculating the individual’s merit pay increase. Over the years, Weyerhaeuser’s pay for performance compensation strategy has undergone several changes and improvements. The company utilizes merit increases where an individual’s yearly increase is based on how well they have performed against objectives. Performance management is directly tied to compensation in a pay for performance system and is based on how well an individual performs during the year against specific, measurable goals is tied to how much they will receive in a merit pay system. According to Milkovich, Newman and Gerhart (2014, p. 337), ‘a merit pay system links increases in base pay (called merit increases) to how highly employees are rated on a performance evaluation.” How well your merit pay system works and is seen by the employees as effective, fair, and a tool to increase motivation and retention is based on how well performance is actually measured and the ability to quantify performance. Though there are challenges with the merit pay system, Heathfield (n.d., par. 9) shares, “even with the limitations that exist in the awarding of merit pay, merit pay is your best opportunity to ensure that your outstanding performers remain with your company and continue to make their

First, I should have explain better during the performance appraisals and interviews the the merit increase was base on the percent of the employee base pay. However, sent that did not happen I would explain that the company merit increase was base on a percentage of the employee pay. An example is employee 1 made $40,000 a year and employee 2 made $50,000 a year they both get the same overall performance rating of 4.15. The company decides that for overall performance rating of 4.15, employees with that rating will get a five percent merit increase to their base salary. As a result, employee 1 merit increase would be $2,000 and employee 2 would be $2,500. Both employees receive the same five percent merit increase however, the merit increase was a percent that applied to the base salary causing the money increase to be different.

Good performance is rewarded through timely job promotions, special recognition and in some cases monetary rewards and incentives.

A Performance-Based Pay system is an increasingly popular compensation method used by organizations to increase productivity. A goal for all companies is to try and remain competitive and control costs, this is a reason for performance-based pay systems becoming more popular. This type of system attempts to link compensation to performance. (Gena Richter, 2002) These systems are directly tied to organization or individual performance and are most effective when based on objective measures of quantity or quality of performance. If we wish to have a direct impact on work motivation, it must be linked directly to the performance of desired behaviors. In order for to put this type of system into place, performance evaluations must be conducted regularly , as well as training and development for those with performance that isn't quite up to par. These additional resources will be necessary for our organization if we implement a performance based pay system. (William B. Bernathy, Ph. D., 2004)

How an employee performs throughout the year is rewarded each year they remain at FastCat. This reflects the company objective to implement a point system based on level of education, skills and experience, performance, accountability and customer interaction, which will attract and retain qualified and talented individuals to represent our company. The following table displays the recommended merit increase for each year. Though all employees are included in the merit plan, they do not receive the same pay. This plan encourages employees to continue to strive for excellence by attaining higher levels of education and increasing their skills. If workers fail to meet any requirements in a year, they can see where they need improvement in order to increase their base pay. Those that far

American colleges and universities employ an impressive number of people in a wide-range of occupations. While universities have a number of goals and interests, the general assumption among most individuals is that universities have the sole purpose of teaching students and preparing them for success in the world. Given this line of thinking, one would be led to believe that professors and other academic instructors hold the majority of positions within an institution, but this would be incorrect. While the faculty do serve a critical function, their service to the students would not be possible without the various support services that exist throughout a college campus. To ensure these services are set up and provide the resources necessary to ensure the university is successful in its mission, colleges require a large number of employees, all working under unique job titles and classifications, to take on the responsibilities that come with working in an industry that generated more than $124 billion in 2001 alone (Lowenstein, 2001).

In today’s society one of the most important factors in selecting a career field is rate of pay. No matter whether the profession maybe, the dollar figure must be within a range that allows the employee to maintain a substantial lifestyle. The debate of teacher pay scales has raged on for years. Many argue that the current pay scale for teachers is a scale which rewards teachers merely for seniority. They argue that the current pay scale overlooks those educators which demonstrate exceptional performance. Teacher merit pay systems have been the most popular suggestions made to remedy the problems seen with the current pay scale. Although the current pay scale may not be completely effective, the idea of

To foster competitiveness and deliver better results, there is a program called STACK where employees are ranked based on the work done and their incentive is decided based on it. Better the rank, better the incentives.

Small State University is facing the dilemma of how to allocate the $17,400 that the state agreed to give to the management department. Each qualified candidate’s employment information is given to help determine the merit raise decision. Before the decision can finalize, research and analysis will be conducted. A case solution will include the implementation of management approval, budget recommendations, communication and essential steps of the new policy to the university, and fair distribution of merit raise.

Response: After the evaluation process has taken place a pay increase will be effective for the following fiscal year. Based on the performance measures the pay increase will be determined by the employee’s ability to accomplish the set goal from the organizational heads. Bonus are administered at the end of the calendar year and are based on the overall successes of the organization.

In relations to Dr. Carl Jones and Dean Smith’s merit processes, the university has a policy to provide pay increases based on merit. To meet that objective, Dr. Jones has created a robust systems of metrics to evaluate his staff based on specific criteria. Dr. Jones process includes a weighted point system with 40 percent based on teaching, 40 percent based on research and 20 percent based on service. As chair of his department, Dr. Jones provided his recommendations for salary increases based on his detailed criteria to the Dean who approved them.

Recognizing and rewarding high-performance is a key recommendation for any approach when managing any merit pay program (HRIS 2012). Merit pay is a compensation system where base pay increases and is determined by an individual’s performance. Using a merit pay plan is a good way for an organization to reward high performance is one benefit when using merit pay programs. The first step in implementing or improving a merit pay program is to have a solid performance management program, and this is another way a merit pay program is beneficial. Merit pay is a way to be successful and effectively implement merit pay with a uplift in salaries, and this is a third way using a merit pay program is beneficial to an organization. There are some drawbacks when using merit pay programs, such as paying some employees more than others. If you pay high-performing workers more than low- performing employees, the high- performers may stay, causing the low- performers to complain or leave the organization. A second drawback in using merit pay program is that employees become less motivated if not paid to their satisfaction. For example, if employees feel they should be making more money for their performance, this causes them to have low self esteem, and want to find employment at other organization. The last drawback associated with

In the future it could be recommended that the committees should define specific rating parameters for evaluating the performance of individuals. The selected evaluation criteria must not be dominated by other organization members because it creates injustice to the deserving candidates. There should be a separate performance system for different groups of employees in the organization on the basis of seniority and experience 9advanced). The decisions made by committee must not be influenced by others if it not based solely on the parameters in which the nominees will be scored against each other. This will help in building trust and motivation among employees on the committee and will increase dedication to the organization. The advanced performance

The final problem that we identified is the incoherence of inclusion of the cumulative merit in the calculation of salaries. In the case-study we can read that the system includes cumulative merit. However it is not clear how it is included in the compensation system. In one hand it is said that they measure performance over time at Vitality but in the other hand it is not accounted for rewarding employees.