Several years ago at work we were asked to create new name tags for our work areas. They were supposed to be a fun way of describing our work, rather than just listing our official title. Being somewhat creatively challenged, I decided to go with alliteration and put “Earnings Educator” on my name tag. At the time I thought it was the best I could come up with, but now I’ve come to think it was the best choice I could have made. It describes really well what I believe my day-to-day job consists of.
I’ve been working in Compensation for quite a while now and I’ve studied extensively to gain the understanding that I have of Compensation, and I know that I still have a great deal to learn. So how could I expect others with little to no experience in Compensation to understand how it all works? The simple answer is that I can’t, so it is my job to help them to understand so that we have excellent Compensation plans in place that help our business.
When I think back on the teachers that I had during my educational career, what made the good teachers stand out was that they taught me to think for myself and come to my own sound conclusions. They asked the right questions to start the process. If there was one right type of Compensation plan, the silver bullet that would fix all of our woes, we’d all be implementing it (and making much less money). But the reality is there are a variety of different types of plans, and the kind that will work best in an individual organization depends on a great many factors. The organization’s culture, predominate management style, the industry and competitors, and of course the legal environment all play into which types of plans will be successful in any given organization.
I view it as my job to educate senior management about the options they have, and guide them by asking the right questions. What is the business trying to accomplish? What behaviors do we want our employees to exhibit? What end result will we achieve with different plans? What unintended consequences will we experience if we put a plan in place? These and many other questions start their education and help them onto the path to choosing the right plan.
Talking to line managers about how best to apply the FLSA often works best when we ask questions such as “What are you trying to accomplish?”, and help them to find a way to do that without running afoul of legislation while teaching them about the legislation. Finally, the one-on-one conversations we have educating people about our plans and our Compensation philosophy and strategy can help to alleviate some of the concerns about being underpaid (but never all concerns, some people will always think they’re underpaid!)
So what started as a whim has become a great reminder of what I need to work on each day, and what makes me valuable as a professional. It is our job to share our knowledge so that others in our organizations can contribute to the process and create programs that help our business to achieve its strategic goals.
Darcy Dees works as the Compensation Manager for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Louisville, CO. She has been working in Compensation for over 5 years now and recently attained her Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation. She spends what little free time she has hiking and reading.
Image: Creative Commons Photo "Student and Teacher" by Wonderlane
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