Questions and Answers of Strategic Compensation

Variable dollar match: $1 per each $1 employee contribution on the first 2 percent of pay and 75 cents per $1 employee contribution for the next 3 percent of pay. What is the employer’s
Pay Range B: For a pay range midpoint equal to $53,750, calculate the minimum and maximum pay rates for a 25 percent range spread.
What is the employer’s contribution for (a) Amanda, (b) Shiyu,(c) Onkar?
Based exclusively on employing part-time workers, (a) How many are needed to complete the project? (b) What is the estimated total cost of wages and benefits?
Discuss at least one advantage and one disadvantage of increasing the minimum wage. Consider this action’s impact on the company.
What are some of the considerations associated with changing from the use of employee ratings to continuous discussions in appraising employee performance?
From a total compensation perspective, what can companies do to ward minimizing the negative impact of the compensation-productivity gap?
Do you agree or disagree with comparable worth advocates’ perspectives on the gender wage gap? Explain.
Should companies make their pay systems transparent? Explain.
As minimum wage continues to rise, how might companies adjust staffing to minimize increased costs?
What are your reactions to the following statement? Merit pay grids have the potential to undermine employee motivation. Discuss your views.
Compression represents a serious dysfunction of pay structures. What are some of the major ramifications of compression? Also, how can companies can minimize or avoid these ramifications?
From each perspective, what are some of the arguments for and against pay transparency practices?
What do you believe companies should do? Explain.
How should companies address red circle rates for high performers and low performers, respectively?
Briefly discuss designing job-based pay systems (e.g., merit pay, sales incentive pay) and person-focused programs. What considerations arise when making a transition from using a job-based pay
Many compensation professionals are faced with making choices about which discretionary benefits to drop because funds are limited and the costs of these benefits continually increase. What
What are your beliefs about whether discretionary employee benefits should be an entitlement or something earned based on job performance? Explain.
Assume that you are an HRM professional whose responsibility is to develop a brochure for conveying the value of your company’s benefits program to potential employees. Your company has asked you
Conduct some research in order to identify examples of innovative benefit practices. A useful starting point is an Internet search using phrases such as “best companies to work for.” What are
What aspects of Beco’s benefits program would likely be the least appealing to Robert? Discuss.
What are some of the various work and non-work goals after graduation from school for each time frame? Briefly describe them.
What are two employee benefits that will support the attainment of these goals during each time frame? Explain.
If a company’s budget were extremely limited and could only afford to offer one benefit, which would you select? Provide your rationale.
Name at least one discretionary benefit practice that would help companies to have better control over absenteeism.
What are some of the choices an employer may make to help control health care costs? Explain.
How do legally required benefits relate to a company’s competitive advantage? And, which benefit do you feel is most impactful? Explain.
How does the instability for the Social Security system affect retirement benefit planning at Taylor Foods?
Should Gavin consider the possibility of employees delaying retirement in the company’s human resource planning process?
As Gavin Jackson leaves the monthly professional luncheon for human resource executives in his area, he starts to consider how the information he learned will affect his company, Taylor Foods. The
If the taxable wage base were to increase to $135,000, how much do the employer and employee pay in total for OASDI each monthly pay period for(a) Ana,(b) Roberto,(c) Maria,(d) Jim?
What are some of the facts and ideas that you learned? Describe them.
Which fact or idea about the benefit did you find the most surprising? Explain.
Do you think eliminating benefits is a good way to cut costs? Explain.
If you had to eliminate benefits at VentaCare, what would you eliminate? Why?
Do you believe that say on pay should be a binding vote rather than an advisory vote? Explain?
What are the differences between enhanced benefits and perquisites?
Do you feel that executive pay is fair or unfair? Explain.
How does a stock option plan provide an incentive for executives?
Which plan would be better for Safeguard Insurance, the incentive stock option plan or the phantom stock plan?
What are some of the issues you identified for each company? Describe them.
Based on your knowledge of these companies, do you believe the executive’s compensation in each company is justified? (Do not be concerned with the amount. Just assume that the compensation is
Summarize three forms of deferred (stock) compensation.
What are the objectives of the say-on-pay rule? Do you think that shareholders should be limited to taking an advisory vote or should shareholders be able to determine an executive’s compensation?
Will making changes to the company’s healthcare insurance benefit affect the company’s ability to recruit and retain employees?
Should companies limit telecommuting arrangements to some job groups rather than all job groups? Explain.
What do you recommend MedEx do? Why?
What are some of the key features that you found on Freelancer.com, Guru.com, and Monster.com? Explain.
Assume that your company has asked you to calculate the cost of staffing the project with a combination of full- and part-time workers. You’ve already hired 225 full-time workers. (a) How many
Which jobs did you choose? Explain.
Do you believe pay-for-performance is appropriate for all countries? Explain.
Calculate your colleague’s new base pay rate.
Based on your calculations for the previous questions, how much will your colleague receive for her one-year assignment in Beijing, China?
What are two important topics that you will address with the team? Explain the rationale for your choices.
What did you find most unique about the destination country?
Describe the two choices available to companies to protect expatriates from double taxation. Which of the two approaches is most fair to expatriates and why?
From the company’s standpoint, what are the pros and cons of following the balance sheet approach?
What are the main differences between paid time-off practices in the United States and one other country discussed in this chapter.
What are some challenges Ellie is going to face in creating the new benefits packages for the international locations?
Director of Human Resources Ellie Gomez at Suds Microbrewery has helped success- fully open 20 new brewery locations across the United States in the past 10 years. Suds Microbrewery is a successful
State whether the rate of change for the more recent 5-year period (2012-2016) was lower than or higher than the rate of change for the earlier 5-year period (2007–2011) in each country: (a)
For your chosen country, what have you learned about the structure of the government? How does the governmental structure compare to another country of your choice (any country discussed in this
Human capital theory has been advanced as a rationale underlying seniority pay. Identify two individuals you know who have performed the same job for at least 2 years. Ask them to describe the
Consider a job that you have held. Write a brief job description. Then, develop a behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS). What are some of the strengths and weaknesses associated with BARS?
Merit pay plans appear to be the most common form of compensation in the United States. Although widely used, these systems are not suitable for all kinds of jobs. Based on your knowledge of merit
Should companies abandon traditional performance appraisal methods in favor of frequent conversations about employee performance? Explain.
Should HR have the ability to insist that the forms be “completed right away”? Discuss.
Many managers would agree with Rajiv’s beliefs that performance appraisals are a nuisance and unnecessary. What are the disadvantages in doing away with performance appraisals?
All pay rates typically increase each year based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. Calculate the Grade 7 WGI amount based on an overall 3 percent increase.
What are some of the tools available to users of Careeronestop? Which (one or two) resources(s) do you feel will be most helpful as you think about finding full-time employment after earning your
Job descriptions for jobs with the same titles will vary somewhat because companies customize them to fit the situation. What are some similarities and differences that you found? Based on those
Using the principles of seniority pay and merit pay, explain whether you believe it makes sense to apply both programs simultaneously.
What do you think Sally should do?
How did you handle free riders? Explain.
In situations where you experienced free riders, could the evaluation of student performance have been structured differently? Explain.
Write a draft job description (no longer than one page) for a job that you have had according to the principles described in this chapter. Which tasks and responsibilities were most challenging to
Many business leaders maintain that creating and maintaining an internally consistent job structure is burdensome to companies. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
What problems may occur by following Robert’s approach?
What do you recommend Marco do first? Why?
What are three categories (e.g. one category is the job summary) contained in the detailed report? Explain.
What are some of the knowledge, skill, and ability factors listed in the report that you believe are most crucial for distinguishing this job from a job in another job family? Explain.
You are a compensation analyst for a pharmaceuticals company, which is located in Los Angeles, California. What is the scope of the relevant labor markets for chemists and for data entry clerks?
My Lab Management Only – comprehensive writing assignment for this chapter.
What factor(s) in this ethical dilemma might influence a person to make a less-than-ethical decision?
What are the main building blocks of compensation systems? Briefly describe each one.
How can compensation professionals serve as strategic business partners?
The compensation profession is expected grow at a healthy pace through the year 2026. Based on your understanding of how the chapter material blends together, what might be some reasons for this
Stakeholder expectations pose challenges for compensation professionals. At times, there may be conflict among the expectations of different stakeholders. For two stakeholders, how do compensation
As a compensation professional, what would you do?
What factor(s) in this ethical dilemma might influence a person to make a less-than-ethical decision?
What is the rationale for the companies you chose? Explain.
In what way is the opportunity or threat that you identified for each company likely to affect competitive advantage? Explain.
Explain the similarities and differences between merit pay, incentive pay, and person-focused pay. Explain the role of performance appraisals in merit pay programs.
Discuss how compensation professionals contribute to a firm’s competitive advantage.
Which contextual influence do you believe will pose the greatest challenge to companies’ competitiveness? Explain your rationale.
Should the government raise the minimum wage? Explain your answer.
What are some of the pros and cons of adjusting pay based on cost-of-living differences from a company’s perspective and an employee’s perspective?
Why did Martin become disappointed?
Do you think that Beth’s decision was reasonable? Why or why not?
What are some of the factors that Beth should consider when transferring employees from Atlanta to San Jose? From San Jose to Atlanta?

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