Adjusting Pay Ranges
agill
1 Post
We adjusted our pay grades and ranges in 2000 and now I'm wondering whether we should do this again. Senior Management has pushed against this saying that it will lead people who are at the top of their range to think that they should have an adjustment. Does anyone have some suggestions on how to approach this?
Comments
Looks like you have a case of "pay compression," which ironically often results when you have a number of long-term employees at the top of a pay range--the result of good retention practices and employee loyalty!
If upper management doesn't want employees at the top of the range to think they "deserve" an adjustment, do they want them to leave and go to the competition? Or are they ready to do some promotions and bring in replacements at the lower end of the range?
They may have to bite the bullet and make adjustments to the range; perhaps breaking up increases into 6-month increments to keep them from being "dramatic." Or give the high performers 5 percent and the lower performers 2 percent to balance things off.
Remember to give any of your suggestions a positive "spin" with management.
I agree that biting the bullet and making some adjustments might be a good idea. Have the people at the top of the range done anything to promote themselves (taken classes, gone to seminars, come up with innovative ideas)? Are these people trying to improve themselves and move onto the next level or are they comfortable where they are? Perhaps they need some suggestions on how to improve what they do and some counseling as to why they are at the top of the level and haven't moved on.
I'm assuming that monetary changes have been made to each range since 2000.
I totally agree on putting a "positive spin" on how any suggestions are made.