Task

Map in a line graph a personal set of compensation objectives and the objectives of an organization or another person. Interpret elements of the intersecting lines$/$compensation objective values that are illustrated by the graph.

Purpose

Learn how to map compensation objectives, a tool for building a compensation strategy and pay system.

Compare your personal compensation objectives with the objectives of an organization or objectives of someone you know.

Determine what compensation objectives are most important to you.

Practice perspective taking by processing the compensation objectives of an organization or another person.

Practice using a graphing tool, or drawing a graph.

Instructions

$1.$ Map $10$ personal compensation objectives and those of an organization or another person on the same graph.

For example, you might include $$Seniority$($time employed by the organization$)$ as an objective that falls under the Employee Contributions policy area.

For You

Reflect on the compensation objectives you chose, and determine how much$/$little you value each one. Use a scale of $0$ to $5,$ with $0$ indicating it is completely unimportant and $5$ being it is extremely important. The idea is to determine a score for being compensated ideally, it does not have to match how you are currently compensated. For example, work$-$life balance may be extremely important to you $($score of $5)$ but you may not get that in your current job because that objective is not valued by the organization where you work. It would be the score of $5$ that you would use for yourself in this example.

$-$AND$-$

$-$EITHER$-$

For an Organization

Determine values on compensation objectives for an organization by asking a business owner or a relevant HR manager how important the objectives are in their compensation strategy$/$pay system using the same scale of $0$ to $5.$ Alternatively, you can glean this information based on how you personally experience an organization$$s compensation values as an employee, or how you interpret any organization$$s values based on research into the organization using publicly available information.

$-$OR$-$

For Another Person

Interview a friend, family member, or coworker to determine values on compensation objectives for that person, asking them how important the objectives are to the way they would ideally like to be compensated for their work by an organization. Use the same scale of $0$ to $5.$

Choose to make your graph using the Excel template provided in the weekly module, create your own graph from scratch using Excel or another graphing software, or draw the graph by hand. For hand drawn graphs, make sure to submit a very clear image of the graph.

Fill in your chosen objectives and the corresponding values $($from $0$ to $5)$ for you and the organization$/$person$.$

Include in the graph:

Names for the objectives

Policy area abbreviations alongside objective names $($see no$.2$ for abbreviations$)$

Labels for the graph lines$$your name and the name of the organization or other person

$2.$ Answer in brief statements $($up to $100$ words each$)$ the following questions related to your graph:

A$.$ Describe your personal pay brand

What patterns do you notice?$$What policy area do most of the objectives you score high on fall into? What policy area do most of the objectives you score low on fall into? How do you interpret this difference in terms of what you value most and least?

Policy areas and abbreviations to use in your graph

Internal Alignment $($IA$)$

Competitiveness $($C$)$

Employee Contributions $($EC$)$

Management $($M$)$

B$.$ What is the biggest difference in the objectives between you and the organization or other person? $($In other words, what is an objective where you score very high and the organization$/$other person scores very low, or vice versa?$)$ How do you interpret this difference in terms of both your values?