Spot Salaries, (Individual Pay Rates, Spot Rates)
Spot Salaries, (Individual Pay Rates, Spot Rates)
Spot Salaries, (Individual Pay Rates, Spot Rates)
to the organization.
In other words, remuneration is the compensation an employee receives in return for his or her
service to the organization. Remuneration or reward or salary or wages paid to an employee
plays a very important role in his or her life because his or her standard of living, status in the
society, motivation, loyalty and productivity depend upon the remuneration received by him or
her.
A pay structure is a system that defines what each individual and job role is paid based upon
their value to the business and effectiveness in their role. For each type of pay structure, there are
a variety of different methods for deciding upon and separating employee pay, each with its own
advantages and disadvantages.
With a spot salary there is a single hourly or weekly pay rate or a single annual salary attached to
each job, or possibly to each person, in an organization. Spot rates are often used for lower-
skilled, or in trades type roles, where the ‘rate for the job’ or the ‘going rate’ is well publicized in
the market. Conversely, spot salaries often also occur at the other end of the scale for more
senior positions, such as senior managers or directors, where the remuneration package may need
to be designed to attract or retain a specific individual. Spot salaries can be created for larger
structures using a job evaluation scheme to align roles to a market tested rate. With spot salaries
is no formal structure in place for pay progression, although there will usually be policies for
moving to a higher spot rate or for spot rates to be increased in line with inflation or market rates.
Narrow graded pay structures are made up of a large number of grades, typically 10 or more,
with jobs of broadly equivalent worth slotted into each of the grades. These types of structure are
often found in the public sector or services which were once closely aligned. Progression is
frequently by means of service increments – usually annual or 6-monthly. However, because the
grades are very narrow, most employees reach the top of the pay range for their grade fairly
quickly, potentially leading to demands for upgrading and grade drift (jobs being ranked more
highly than justified)
In this case there are fewer grades than narrow-graded structures, perhaps six to nine. This means
that the salary band within the grade is usually wider, which can help counter the problem of
‘grade drift’ as there is greater scope for individual employee’s pay to progress further along the
pay grade. These types of structures are sometimes included within a definition of ‘broad
banding’.