There are numerous factors that have to be considered before giving employees a raise in a work environment. Considering that it is the role of the Human Resource to ensure that there are equity and equality in pay, a raise in pay usually requires that proper strategies are used ( Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2015) . In this case, I have been tasked with the role of giving a pay rise to members of my team who have different job experience and skills. Unfortunately, some of the records that I can refer to are unavailable hence it becomes difficult to view employee history. In that case, every employee will earn an increment that that is equal.
Each person will earn 8 percent/ 5 people = 1.6% increment
Sam Jones will earn 1.6%* $44,000 = $704
Sue Davies will earn 1.6% * $46,000 = $736
Evelyn Boyd will earn 1.6% * $42,000 = $672
Jane Simond will earn 1.6% * $43,000 = $688
Ralph Dubose will earn 1.6% * $48,000 = $768
The criteria that I have used in determining how much each person gets has been analyzed to be the most rational method in this context.
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Sam Jones has been in the company for merely five months that means it would be irrational to adjust his salary based on time and performance over time. Therefore, it was only necessary to increase his salary with a given percentage, 1.6%. Thus, his increment was $704.
Sue Davis on the other hand has worked for the company for three years and her previous performance appraisal indicates that she is a performer. Unfortunately, there is a new supervisor and I don't trust the initial appraisals. Therefore, the best thing to do is to increase his salary of uniformly compared to other employees. It means he earns $736 extra.
Evelyn Boyd has been in the company for over four years. Her performance on the other hand indicates that he is below average. She also feels the reason she is performing below average is that she is discriminated at work. This excuse is subjective and does not hold waters. Considering that the economy is growing and the prices of things go up, it would only make sense to increase her salary uniformly in comparison to her colleagues. Her salary will increase by $672
Jane Simond is considered to be one of the best employees the company has. Even though she needs a pay rise the company will only offer what it can. She is also respected by her colleagues which means she could get promoted as well but not now. Her salary increment will increase uniformly compared to other employees. Her salary will increase by $688.
Ralph Dubose is considered to be one of the oldest employees the company has. Although he is a good employee, it is compensated by the salary he earns. When it comes to salary increment, I decided to reward him a uniform percentage compared to other employees which is a 1.6% increase. In this case, he earns $768.
Discussions about pay often happen in workplaces and this insurance company is not an exception. This company value each employee it has therefore it is only practical to compensate employees as much as their input to the company. As these employees were being hired, they were told that matters relating to salaries and bonuses are confidential but that does not mean that employees are under-compensated for their contribution to the firm. As a new supervisor, it was my mandate to recommend a pay rise to my team. As a professional, I needed to use a criterion that was not biased in ensuring that each employee is compensated for their worth. Matters salary require that the procedure for determining salaries are as objective as possible and cognizant of the industry salaries (Byars & Rue, 1997) . In my own opinion, these group members of mine have their weaknesses and strengths, some have more experience than others so it does mean that I have to take this into consideration when determining their pay rise too. The determinants used in computing salary and salary increment vary from firm to firm.
The procedure I used to determine pay rise in my own opinion was fair and other people in the group would feel so too for the following reasons (Byars & Rue, 1997) :
The process made sure that each employee in my group gets a pay rise. It is always important to take into consideration the dynamics of the economy and that prices of commodities increase with time. This means that it was only logical for each employee to realize a pay increase.
The fact that there is uniformity in pay rise means that an employee who earned more got more in terms of a pay rise. This is a fair measurement and appreciation of the value of each employee. The fact that Ralph Dubose who earns the highest gets the highest whereas Evelyn Boyd who earns the lowest gets the lowest rise.
Some employees in the group would feel that they have not been rewarded as they deserve. This criterion does not take into account the quality aspect of an employee. Jane Simond who appears to be well respected by her colleagues and so far, is the best employee doesn't get equal compensation to match it.
Some employees in this group will feel that the pay rise does not take into consideration the market prices. This method doesn't appreciate performance and other qualities such as leadership skills.
Overall, there would be some employees who will be dissatisfied with the raises that I have recommended because of the expectations they have while others will be completely fine with my recommendations since all employees have gotten a raise.
In this day and age companies are moving towards full transparency of salary and any other bonus issued to employees of a given firm ( Dobre, 2013) . It is on this note that I highly think that despite discouraging talks about wages and salaries amongst employees, the information would come out on how much each employee has gotten in form of raise. The company on the other end cannot control the information that employees receive including pay raise information.
The company is also striving to encourage transparency because of the following benefits to both the firm and employees:
The work environment has various kinds of people with different backgrounds therefore, each employee expects to be treated equally in comparison to the rest. The first way to ensure that employees are treated equally is by putting their pay as public information within the firm for anyone to see. This action encourages transparency against gender, race, and any discrimination that may be at a work place. Evelyn Boyd is an example of an employee that thinks she is being discriminated at her workplace. The best way to prove that she is being treated equally to any other employee of the firm it to expose the pay rise information of the group amongst themselves.
The other reason why it would be important to reveal such information to the employees is the fact that employees feel motivated to work more for the company ( Dobre, 2013) . Research has shown that companies that are transparent with their employees perform well compared to firms that still back on keeping employee secrets. An employee is motivated because they can see the progress, they make over time both financially and career-wise. Sam Jones is a perfect example of a new employee who will benefit from the sharing of salary information. He will be able to see the first-hand progress he makes.
Talking about salaries and pay rise with employees acts like giving control to employees of the firm. It is a way of saying that you appreciate your employees for their value and is willing to talk about their compensation with them ( Mas, 2017) . Employees such as Jane Simond who is viewed in the company with a lot of respect can negotiate with the company about her contribution to the firm.
Employees of this firm eventually knowing what each employee has earned diverts the subject of discussion from a monetary conversation at work. The fact that employees know the salary rise they have makes it easy for these employees to focus their attention on other matters that add productivity to the firm. The insurance company will benefit more in terms of productivity when they do away with the secrecy of the salary information of employees.
There are however downsides to employees knowing the salaries and pay rise of their colleagues. Some employees may feel that they are more than the value of the company hence the company underestimates them ( Franzoni, 2010) . The feeling of being undervalued by an employer may cause employees to quit their current jobs and go look for greener pastures. In my current team, some employees may find it insulting that they get lesser raise compared to some of their colleagues thus make them quit their jobs.
Lack of motivation for some employees. Some employees prefer that their pay be treated as a secret by their employers. This kind of anonymity makes it easy for them to work since "broadcasting" monetary compensations mean less to them. If their employment status is exposed to their fellow employees, they find this rude and disrespectful thus feel demotivated to work.
Finally, the fact that these employees discuss their bonuses and pay rise in workplaces and the fact that employee cost is an open discussion in workplaces in firms including mine, it is quite necessary to have conversations of normalizing the discussions of discussing salaries with potential employers to a great depth to feel that the company cares about you ( Idrees, Xinping, Shafi, Hua, & Nazeer, 2015) . Some of my team members may not feel fully satisfied with the recommendation that I have made but they will appreciate the openness and the transparency of the process I have used in coming up with those figures.
References
Byars, L. L., & Rue, L. W. (1997). Human resource management.
Dobre, O. I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of applied socio-economic research , 5 (1).
Franzoni, S. (2010). International comparison of the remuneration system disclosure. Euro Economica , (3 (25)), 35-44.
Idrees, Z., Xinping, X., Shafi, K., Hua, L., & Nazeer, A. (2015). Effect of salary, training and motivation on job performance of employees. American Journal of Business, Economics and Management , 3 (2), 55.
Mas, A. (2017). Does transparency lead to pay compression? Journal of Political Economy , 125 (5), 1683-1721.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2015). Human resource management. Instructor , 2015 .
