Module 2 Notes
Module 2 Notes
Module Objectives
Readings
Definition of Compensation
Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits employees
receive as part of the employment relationship.
Stockholders view executive pay as a special interest (since pay for executives is intended to be
tied to performance In Canada)
Managers view compensation as an expense and an influence over employees’ work behaviour
Forms of Pay
1. Cash Compensation includes Base Pay-Wage and Salary; Merit Increases; Cost of Living Adjustments;
Incentives/Variable Pay (one time payments for meeting objectives over a fixed period) and Long Term
Incentives (to focus employees on longer term results)
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2. Benefits include indirect compensation including health insurance, dental insurance, pensions and life
insurance provided by the government (CPP/QPP and EI and the employer and work/life balance
programs including vacations, counselling, financial planning, flexible working arrangements)
3. Relational Returns (psychological returns employees believe they receive in the workplace) include
Recognition and Status, Employment Security, Challenging Work and Learning Opportunities.
The Pay Model contains 3 building blocks: Strategic Policies, Techniques and Strategic Objectives.
The Strategic Objectives serve as the standard to evaluating the system based on:
2. Fairness: attempts to ensure fair pay treatment for all employees by recognizing their
contributions and needs ie procedural justice
Policy Choices
1. Internal Equity: refers to pay comparisons between jobs or skill levels inside a single
organization. Jobs and employees’ skills are compared in terms of their relative contribution to
the organization's objectives.
4. Management: refers to the fact that the system will not achieve its objectives unless it is
managed properly. Management needs to be competent and choose the appropriate forms of
pay to include et al.
Pay Techniques
Pay Techniques are procedures used to implement policy decisions such as job analysis and job
evaluation processes and includes wage and salary surveys to establish external equity and incentive
plans to distinguish employee contributions.
Additional Resources
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Summary
1. Compensation refers to all forms of financial returns and tangible services and benefits that an
employee receives as part of an employment relationship
3. Two components of total rewards are total compensation and relational returns. Total
compensation includes cash compensation-based pay and incentives and benefits. Relational
returns include psychological aspects of work such as recognition and status.
4. The strategic objectives of compensation are efficiency, fairness and compliance with legislation.
5. The strategic policy objectives are internal equity, external equity, employee contributions and
management. The internal structure techniques include job analysis and job evaluation; the pay
structure techniques include pay policy lines and salary surveys; the incentive program
techniques associated with contributions are seniority-based, performance-based, and merit
guidelines. Those associated with management are budgeting, planning and communication.