Compbearsation Manager? Tanis is Manager, Compbearsation and HRIS for Build-a-Bear Workshop in Saint Louis, Missouri. His “Top 9” came at the recent SHRM Annual Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas.
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6. Get Analytical
Identify the indicators and drivers you’ll use to analyze your department’s work, Tanis says.
- Indicators give you a general direction to look for more information and perform comp-related analysis. As compensation metrics, Tanis suggests:
- Compa-ratio
- Rating Distributions
- Net Income / FTE
- Total Compensation Expense as a percent of Sales/Expenses
- Drivers speak to the business of the organization, and help with understanding the relationship between information and business choice.
- Customer Retention vs. Account Manger Length of Service
- Customer Satisfaction vs. Account Manger Bonus Pay
- Employee Satisfaction vs. Annualized Pay
- Employee Productivity vs. Education Level/Length of Service
Tanis used the chart above to illustrate how some simple charting can identify problems. In this company, it appears that at lower levels, higher bonuses mean higher retention, but then additional increases in the bonus bring lower retention. (Retention runs up the side and bonus payout runs along the bottom.)
- Are there unintended consequences in this bonus plan?
- What other factors are influencing our sales people’s decisions?
7. Prepare for the FLSA Record Keeping Proposed Changes
DOL is planning to issue rules some are calling “Right to Know under the FLSA.” The proposed rule has as goals:
- Transparency with employees on their status as an employee
- Employers to establish processes to document compliance
The big issue, says Tanis, is that employers would have to justify their classification decisions. What should you be doing? He suggests:
- Keep track of what is going on with the rule
- Draft a process to re-evaluate the exemption status of your exempt associates
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8. Keep Up with 200 Now
Tanis encourages all hr managers to keep up with technological advances and to stay familiar with social media and other Internet-related developments.
9. Be an Internal Consultant
It’s a great balancing act, says Tanis. When you serve internal clients, you have to worry about compliance, which is a tactical issue, and advising and coaching, which is a strategic issue. It’s helpful to think of yourself as an internal consultant, he adds. You’re the subject matter expert, you’re a problem solver, and you manage change—all consultant roles.
And none of them is easy. “Maintain internal equity and external competitiveness and control turnover, but still meet management’s demands for lowered costs.” That’s a challenge. Many of the professionals we serve find helpful answers to all their compensation questions at Compensation.BLR.com, BLR‘s comprehensive compensation website.
And there’s great news: The site has just been revamped in two important ways. First, compliance focus information has been updated to include the latest on COBRA, Lilly Ledbetter, and FMLA. Second, user features are enhanced to make the site even quicker to respond to your particular needs:
- Topics Navigator—Lets you drill down by topical areas to get to the right data fast.
- Customizable Homepage—Can be configured to display whatever content you want to see most often.
- Menu Navigation—Displays all of the main content areas and tools that you need in a simple, easy format.
- Quick Links—Enables you to quickly navigate to all the new and updated content areas.
The services provided by this unique tool include:
- Localized Salary Finder. Based on reliable research among thousands of employers, here are pay scales (including 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles) for hundreds of commonly held jobs, from line worker to president of the company. The data are customized for your state and metro area, your industry, and your company size, so you can base your salaries on what’s offered in your specific market, not nationally.
| Try BLR‘s all-in-one compensation website, Compensation.BLR.com, and get a complimentary special report, Top 100 FLSA Overtime Q&As, no matter what you decide. Find out more. |
- State and Federal Wage-Hour and Other Legal Advice. Plain-English explanations of wage-hour and other compensation and benefits-related law at both federal and state levels. “State” means the laws of your state because the site is customized to your use. (Other states can be added at a modest extra charge.)
- Job Descriptions. The website provides them by the hundreds, already written, legally reviewed, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate that essential job functions be separated from those less critical. All descriptions carry employment grade levels to current norms—another huge time-saver.
- Merit Increase, Salary, and Benefits Surveys. The service includes the results of three surveys a year. Results for exempt and nonexempt employees are reported separately.
- Performance Appraisal Wizard. Takes the "dreaded" out of performance appraisal.
- Weekly Ezine and Best Practices Advice. Comp and benefits news updated daily (as is the whole site).
- "Ask the Experts" Service. E-mail a question to our editors and get a personalized response within 3 business days.
If we sound as if we’re excited about the program, it’s because we are. For about $3 a working day, the help it offers to those with compensation responsibilities is enormous.
This one’s definitely worth a look, which you can get by clicking the links below.
Click here to get more information or start a no-cost trial and get a complimentary special report!