MGT $314$ Case study $1$ Option $2$: Compensation & Benefits

Jenna Diaz was sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. What was she going to do$?$ She checked her email first thing when she got to work that morning, and she already had emails from more than half of the team that was in France. Apparently, yesterday during a virtual team meeting between the team in France and the team in the U$.$S$.$ the topic of pay came up$.$ The team in France realized the employees in the United States earned more than them and they are very angry. The French team was demanding pay increases and threatening to quit. The U$.$S$.$ team said if the team in France gets their compensation increased to match with their counterparts in the United States, then the U$.$S$.$ team should get their paid time off $($currently $2-3$ weeks, depending on job$)$ increased to match the French team$$s paid time off $(5$ weeks$).$

Background:

Diaz worked for PurpleNova, a health technology company. PurpleNova was started by two brothers in the United States in $2013.$ In $2021$ the company purchased a small competitor in France and kept the existing employees on after the purchase. The company did not provide training to employees in either country on the acquisition and employees were getting increasingly frustrated that processes and policies in the two locations didn$$t match up$.$

Problem:

Diaz needs to figure out how to handle this concern about compensation. She knew she needed to fix the problem of disconnected policies and procedures, but first, she needed to resolve this compensation issue before people started quitting. Business was increasing, and Diaz was happy about that. She just needed to get people to focus on getting the work done rather than constantly arguing about what is done differently in the two offices. This new development worries her. She knows the pay and benefits is different in the United States and in France because of cost$-$of$-$

living differences and country regulations. France has universal healthcare and insurance premiums are not deducted from their paychecks. The U$.$S$.$ team paid $25\%$ of insurance premiums while the company paid $75\%$ of insurance premiums. In France, employers are required to give $5$ weeks of paid time off per year. The U$.$S$.$ has no federal requirement for paid time off and PurpleNova provides $2$ weeks of paid time off for entry$-$level job roles and $3$ weeks off for non$-$entry$-$level roles. Diaz thought to herself, $$It all balances out! Why don$$t they realize that?$$ She had already been advocating for better communication from PurpleNova leadership across the U$.$S$.$ and France

locations. She decided to also start pushing for more collaboration on determining business related processes and procedures.

Next steps:

Diaz needs to deescalate the compensation concerns. She has asked you, Director of Compensation & Benefits at PurpleNova, to help address the compensation concerns of the French team and the paid time off concerns of the U$.$S$.$ team.

$1.$ Outline a recommended plan of action for Diaz.

a$.$ Should Diaz advocate for the changes the two teams are requesting? Or should she explain to the teams the reasons for the differences?

b$.$ What information could you help Diaz gather that would help Diaz do what you have recommended in step $1$ above?

c$.$ Explain how your approach can successfully address employee concerns.