Compensation philosophy

Before you jump into week 2’s the assignment, please make sure you are taking time to read the example pay philosophies that are posted in the weekly material. I’m going to spend some time breaking down this assignment since many students fail to include the key elements or focus on the intention of the assignment.

Where I see mistakes on week 2’s assignment is that students fail to review what a pay philosophy is and fail to review samples before they start the assignment. Additionally, this week’s paper should focus in on the Managed by Q case. What I will be looking for in your paper is that it is clear that you understand what Q’s pay philosophy is; which may include writing it out within the paper. Then you need to really analyze how this philosophy impacts the profitability of Q and then discuss what (if any) competitive advantage it gives Q. The purpose of the assignment is to explore the importance of a compensation philosophy on an organization and we’ll be doing this by looking at the Managed by Q company.

So, let’s breakdown the assignment, it reads as follows:

Q Case Compensation Philosophy: Using the Q Case Study listed below, (1) you will be writing a compensation statement for Managed by Q and then (2) looking at how this philosophy impacts their financial performance, competitive advantage, recruitment, etc. Please consider all the stakeholders who are impacted and how their particular approach impacts these different view points.

Utilizing the case study and additional information found via research (minimum three additional resources), (3) present an academic analysis of Managed by Q’s strategic compensation philosophy, its impact on the profitability of the organization, and any competitive advantage this strategy creates (please utilize data to support your conclusions). Must be 5 to 6 pages plus cover and references.

Elements that I will be looking for is Q’s compensation philosophy written out and identified. You may have to do this yourself based on what you find in the case.

Next, I will be looking for an assessment of this philosophy on how it has impacted the business. Think of items like: how has it impacted profitability? What type of impact on the finances of the organization has it had? Has it given Q a competitive advantage? Or, has it cause them to fall behind their customers? How has it impacted recruitment? And, so on –

I don’t know how to emphasize this enough – though “how much” Q pays is important data and should be included in the analysis – it isn’t a pay philosophy. Rather, a pay philosophy is a written statement that guides a company on their pay decisions. Listing what Q pays is not enough.

Week 2: Case Study

This week the focus is on compensation strategies. This is a very important first step of designing any compensation system and one that it actually utilized within the human resources community. It is not only a way to communicate with employees and candidates around how you intent to pay, it is an important tool to ensure that management is on the same page around compensation and benefit costs.

Q Case Compensation Philosophy: Using the Q Case Study listed below, you will be writing a compensation statement for Managed by Q and then looking at how this philosophy impacts their financial performance, competitive advantage, recruitment, etc. Please consider all the stakeholders who are impacted and how their particular approach impacts these different view points.

1. Utilizing the case study and additional information found via research (minimum three additional resources), present an academic analysis of Managed by Q’s strategic compensation philosophy, its impact on the profitability of the organization, and any competitive advantage this strategy creates (please utilize data to support your conclusions). Must be 5 to 6 pages plus cover and references.

There are examples of pay philosophies out on the internet. Here are a few examples:

• University of Iowa
• Citi Group
• City of Alexandria

Q Case Study

Assignment Rubric

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us | When Paying Doesn’t Pay Off | Exploring Employee Incentives | 25 Low-Cost Ways to Reward Employees|7 Keys to an Effective Compensation Strategy|5 Steps to a Compensation Strategy that Helps your Company Thrive