How is that for a title? Before I get flamed on this topic, let me pull some excerpts from a Human Resource Executive Online article (emphasis mine): A recent study conducted by DolmatConnell & Partners debunks the myth of runaway executive pay. The findings of the study tell a much different story than what the media has heralded — instead of out-of-control CEO pay, the study shows that CEO pay rises and falls with company financials. … The study looked at compensation of CEOs in The Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past 10 years in relation to company financials, such as revenue, market capitalization and total shareholder return. It… Read More
Continue ReadingCompensation In A Task-Based Economy
Now this is a provocative article from BusinessWeek.com titled Defining A Job. The article is quite thorough in it’s reasoning and well worth the read. But let’s start with this explanation: In a nutshell: how do you define a job? For most organizations today, it’s based on the unit of time—40 hours week, for example—but I believe that definition is rapidly reaching the end of its useful life. Going forward, many jobs in our economy will be better defined by and compensated according to the task performed, regardless of the time spent achieving the desired outcome. Ironically, the switch from time to task takes us back to the way most… Read More
Continue ReadingCompensation – Keep It Simple
Every year we find December to be a fertile time for sourcing salespeople. One of the biggest reasons – the upcoming year’s compensation plan. More specifically, new commission plans tied to new quotas. The salespeople receive the new plan and are, well, disgruntled. Or ticked off. Good salespeople tend to look outside for new opportunities when their commission plan gets over-adjusted following a strong year. Let me speak clearly here – I am all for raising the bar, but you do have to take all factors into account before setting the new targets. ManageSmarter.com offers up this article – Fast Track Your 2008 Sales Compensation Plans – with 10 tips… Read More
Continue ReadingSupplemental Income
You know, I have had fourth quarters where I was tanking on my commission plan. Yet, I never thought of this idea to make up for it: A bank teller in Clearwater had a million reasons not to open an account for an Augusta, Ga., man Monday, authorities said. Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing a fake $1 million bill, said Aiken County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Michael Frank. Fantastic. My favorite line from the article is the last one: The federal government has never printed a million-dollar bill,… Read More
Continue ReadingDirty Jobs Compensation
It is a week to be thankful for many things – especially if you don’t have a “Dirty Job.” No, not that type of dirty. Dirty as in the Mike Rowe series on Discovery Channel. MSN.com has a story today titled They’re Dirty Jobs, But They Gotta Get Done. A sampling of the jobs and their average pay: Butcher Leaving work in blood-stained clothes would be a serious HR issue in many offices, but the practice is nothing unusual for a butcher, whose grisly work involves cutting and washing the innards of slaughtered animals to create sides of beef, steaks, sausage and ribs in slaughterhouses and meat-packing establishments. This job… Read More
Continue ReadingEntrepreneurial Lessons
CareerBuilder.com links to an Entrepreneur.com article that asked… 9 entrepreneurs take a look back at their startup days and reveal what they would have done differently if they knew then what they know now. Great premise. Here’s the response I enjoyed the most (emphasis mine): “We would have spent more time and money on search engine optimization. Top placement in Google is key to any business in this day and age, and the cost of PPC gets higher every day. In addition, we would have placed more emphasis on employee commissions. We’ve learned over time that commissions and incentives drive employees to bring in more business.” How true that is. … Read More
Continue Reading