Notifying Employees of Wage Scale Adjustments

Dgross

We are in the process of adjusting our wage scale to reflect current market changes.

I would love some ideas on the most effective approach of communicating these changes to the staff. Not all employees will be receiving an adjustment on this round due to budget restraints. I would really like to avoid any hard feelings or miscommunications.

Any suggestions are appreciated!!

System

Will the employees who are not receiving an adjustment this time around be getting one in the next pay? If the adjustments are 'market adjustments' then will only some positions be getting the increase?

Don D

It may not be this simple for your situation, but each year when we adjust the wage scale, we publish a copy of the new scale by pay grade on the bulletin boards as well as the maximum allowable percentage available and what it will take to get that. None of it is automatic except moving the cap out.

HRCalico

Don has a good idea - kind of puts it back in their lap. We don't have wage scales (sometimes that's a good thing), but I wonder - do you NEED to make it public/post it, etc? Or just let the people know who are getting the increases? Small town politics dictate that everyone has been talking about this for a while, though, and I'm sure your every move is being watched. $$$

Something that I do when employees feel underpaid, or we're wondering how much a position SHOULD pay is check out our state DOL's website - do you use it? It's [url]www.nebraskaworkforce.com[/url]. Let me know if you would like help navigating - there is a TON of info but it can be hard to find. Great resource, though. You can search by occupation (of course) and by region of our great state, and it also shows surrounding states so you know what Kansas is up to.

How have you handled it in the past?

Dgross

We have had the direct Department Managers communicate changes in the past. But, I am not confident they are communicating things appropriately. I am under the impression they say they have NO control over it, they wish they could do more but HR won't let them, etc.

I am considering sending a notice to employees directly at their home address to avoid discussions at work with employees who will not be receiving the increase.

HRCalico

Sending things might not be a bad idea; I would caution you that the written word doesn't communicate tone, facial expressions, etc . . . that stung me pretty badly earlier this year on an unrelated matter. Besides, they'll most likely talk about it amongst themselves anyway.

Regarding your managers - that's a tough row to hoe. I have tried to form relationships with mine to get them to see me as a person because there is a lot of s*** that rolls uphill here (and you thought that was only in Lincoln x;-)). If I have a good relationship with them, they're less likely to blame me. I have seen an improvement in the year I've been here, so if "it's always been that way" for you, there may still be hope. We did have to come down pretty hard on a mgr - I don't think it did much for our overall morale, but he snapped into his place pretty quickly.

Ah, well, the good news is they'll still have to cross state lines to gamble their increases away!