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How to Effectively Implement Merit Pay Systems:
A step-by-step guide to creating and implementing merit pay systems at your company for improved performance and employee retention.
Develop merit pay plans and strategies.
Calculate merit pay.
In order to decide on your merit increase, you can look at your overall merit budget as well as which departments are key to achieving your company goals. With this strategy, the departments that are more instrumental in obtaining the company's goals are allocated higher merit increases. Otherwise, you can use the average pay of each employee or group as a benchmark for determining merit pay.
Do not include merit pay with other compensation increases. Merit pay rewards the performance of individuals or teams, and should be separated from general increases for all employees or salary adjustments for market changes.
The standard merit increase is 3-5%. However, employers can offer more or less than 3% as well as other perks, such as free gym memberships, vacation time, or prime parking spaces.
Determine metrics employees must meet to earn a merit raise.
It is vital to clearly define the requirements employees must meet to qualify for merit pay. You should include a degree of flexibility to your metrics, particularly if your business is in a competitive industry and it is important to hold on to your top talent. In this case, companies can offer incentives that will help them retain high-performing employees.
Develop a strategic plan for the year.
In order to offer fair, unbiased incentives to employees that will not cause frustration and disharmony amongst them, companies must have clear, well-planned outlines for their merit programs.
Consult with senior management, finance, and HR departments to come up with a plan that outlines goals, timelines, and analyzes the overall effectiveness of your merit pay system.
Determine departmental and company objectives.
Think of all the reasons why you're using time and resources to implement a merit pay system. What are your goals in each department and how will this merit pay system help your company to grow?
As the year progresses, it is important to review and adjust departmental goals and company objectives as required.
Create merit pay policies.
Meet with departments to develop policies.
Liaise with representatives in each of the relevant departments to develop effective merit pay policies. Once these policies are drawn up, you will need to communicate them to employees.
Consider the fundamentals of your company's strategy and goals, individual and team goals, reward structure, methods of calculation, potential payouts, and the timeline of the merit pay system. Then ensure that each individual understands and agrees to these policies.
Define employee performance in measurable ways.
Use multiple information sources for this so that you can consider all aspects of employee performance as well as develop accurate and credible ways to evaluate performance.
Differentiate between team performance bonuses for the completion of project goals, and incentives based on individual performance, such as salary increases, promotions, and bonuses.
Agree on a compensation plan.
Merit pay should be based on sustained individual performance of regular duties, and not on projects or events unless otherwise stipulated. You will need to clearly define and agree upon individual and team goals and the methods of measurement and evaluation.
Implement merit pay systems.
Clearly communicate employee performance.
Employees may become frustrated or disheartened when certain efforts are rewarded while others go unnoticed. Managers, supervisors, and team leaders should be trained to clearly communicate employee performance. These individuals should be held accountable for effectively implementing merit pay systems and explaining the relevant models and policies to employees in a clear, objective way.
Use incentive compensation management (ICM) software.
You can ease managers' administrative duties by providing compensation tools integrated with talent management and business analytics. The right technology will allow managers to make informed decisions on compensation.
Review your merit plan.
Get feedback.
Talk to managers, supervisors, and employees—especially those who are leaving the company—about the effectiveness of your merit pay system and measure the results. Then take appropriate action.
It is important to get feedback throughout the year and to adjust your merit pay policies as required. For example, if none or very few of your employees are meeting the performance requirements to qualify for merit pay, it may be time to consider how reasonable your expectations are. Unrealistic goals can leave employees feeling demotivated, so readjust them where appropriate.
Amend merit pay policies.
If your existing merit pay policy isn't working as effectively as it should be, meet with the relevant stakeholders to set new goals, and to develop improved strategies, reward structures, payouts, and timelines.
Keep in mind that the merit pay model that works for certain departments or teams may not work for others, so make the necessary changes where applicable.
Pay attention to how the merit pay system you've implemented affects the workplace culture and the relationships between colleagues. If, for example, there's too much negative competition and employees start to undermine each other, you may want to consider healthier alternatives, such as group incentive pay.
Communicate changes to all stakeholders.
Once a new merit pay policy has been developed, have it approved and ensure that supervisors, managers, and team leaders communicate the changes to employees in their departments. Also ensure that all stakeholders receive a copy of the new policy.
Encourage employees to raise any questions or concerns about the new policy as they arise.
Conditions for and Benefits of Merit Pay:
Merit pay is not required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) but can be added to or incorporated into the employee's base salary as a bonus or increase. Merit pay is a good way to motivate employees to achieve company goals as it directly links their individual effort and ambition to a reward.
This encourages employees to meet and exceed company goals, which increases the company's bottom line. It can also work towards fostering a strong, highly productive workforce with a high rate of employee retention.
Merit Pay as a Bonus:
The employer will typically hold a review meeting with each individual employee to discuss their work performance for a certain time period. This performance is then measured against a set of standards, as determined by the employer, and the results are used to determine a pay increase or promotion.
What is Merit Pay for Teachers?
Merit pay for teachers works in the same way as general merit pay. It is compensation based partly on the evaluation of an employee's job performance. This evaluation can be based on measurable factors such as student test scores, supervisory judgments, or a combination of factors.
Teacher merit pay may be given as a one-time performance bonus, as a salary increase, or as an advancement on the monthly salary. However, merit pay is not common in the public education sector as there has been a lot of opposition from teacher unions because of the difficulty in determining an appropriate basis for merit evaluation.
The success of a school is hard to define and any bonuses need to be pre-budgeted, leaving teachers to compete for a share of a fixed amount which may result in divisive competition among teachers. There is also no universal standard as to what constitutes a good or great teacher, therefore it is nearly impossible to determine criteria to evaluate a teacher's performance.
Merit Pay Systems:
- Salary, promotions, bonuses, and increases based on employee performance.
- Team performance bonuses for the completion of project goals.
- Executive bonuses to ensure accountability for organizational goals.
Pros and Cons of Merit Pay:
- Merit pay communicates the company's objectives to employees and confirms what the company values in its employees.
- Earning merit pay allows employees to know where they stand with the company.
- Merit pay recognizes high-performing employees and so aids in employee retention, allowing employees to be paid for what they are worth.
- Merit pay differentiates between an individual's performance and the company's performance.
- Merit pay can be used to reward individuals for one-time tasks that they may otherwise not receive recognition for.
- Without clear measurables, merit pay can be subjective, leading to concerns about favoritism.
- Determining measurables and merit budgets uses time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
- Depending on the communication skills of the supervisor, employees who do not earn merit pay may not fully understand why not or what they can do to earn it. Lack of clear communication can lead to employee frustration.
- Merit pay may create problems in employee relationships due to jealousy, fear, favoritism, negative competition, and insecurity.
- It can be difficult to determine clear, objective measurables that will not cause negative feelings in employees.
Team Members Involved in Merit Pay Systems:
Human Resources (HR).
HR departments are usually responsible for creating a compensation program to drive a merit pay system.
Accounting.
The accounting department tracks payout metrics (revenue, margin, profitability), determines a merit pay budget, keeps track of the actual cost of compensation, conducts financial analyses, and forecasts future revenue.
Management.
The management team establishes the company strategies, identifies the market and product priorities, and reviews the plan's outcomes.
Employees.
If a merit pay system is implemented in a company, then it should be inclusive of all of the company's employees, including the executives, managers, and front-line employees.
Final Thoughts:
Merit pay relies heavily on effective communication. For it to work, all participants must understand and agree with the plan's structure, rules, and parameters. You may also be interested in learning about incentive pay.
Additional Resources:
