EMPLOYERS POINT OF VIEW

To be successful, Employers have to do many things right but one of them is establish a pay structure for all departments. Why?

1. to be financially responsible
2. to ensure that people with similar skills don’t have a huge difference in their pay packages.

Unfortunately that pay structure and formality is a double edge sword because over time that guideline turns into a hard compensation wall and limits creativity and revenue growth is lost. How? By not being able to attract an exceptional candidate (who is making more than the typical internal pay range) or by being able to retain a valued contributor who is either asking for promotion and/or increased pay to match what they are being offered on the market.

If they don’t get promoted, get increased pay or recognized in some fashion for the value that they deliver to the organization then they typically leave. For Employers it’s a tough spot as they don’t want to break the bank on the Salary side but also don’t want to lose valued Employees or become a stepping stone/training ground for their competitors. The cost of re-training someone alone and losing revenue momentum is painful and the cost is a lot more than the raise would have cost the Employer.

INDUSTRY INSIDER’S RECOMMENDATION

My recommendation is be prepared to pay competitive Salaries (they don’t have to be market leading but they have to be competitive) with exceptional performance based incentives and a career road map. Internal promotions are a great way to keep employees engaged while allowing Employers to make significant changes to their pay package.

If there is nowhere to promote them to then put the focus on providing them with more opportunities to take on responsibility, change their title to showcase seniority and allow them to earn more via commissions (increased percentages or double dipping). That will answer their needs for respect, mental stimulation and increased overall compensation if they drive profit.

Not being prepared to change on the Human Resources side is one of the major reasons why companies remain stagnant or lose ground. The first handful of months will be pain free but as an Employee’s tenure grows so does their likelihood to leave.

For Candidates, while on one hand it’s been proven that annual Salary increases barely beat out the inflation rate (3% compared to 2.1%) – I recommend that Candidates focus on one thing before deciding to test the market:

Prove your worth.

If you can create a track record of success then you will give yourself the opportunity to earn substantial commissions and performance bonuses WHILE providing you the opportunity to get promoted, trigger compensation enhancement conversations or test the competitive waters.

For the record, the time for those compensation enhancement conversations is not in the first 6-9 months at your current Employer.

To see where you stack up as an Employer or Candidate, feel free to contact us at PerformanceMarketingJOBS