When it Comes to Assessing and Planning Employee Compensation, Software Lacks the Human Touch

March 4th, 2015
Written by: Elizabeth Richards

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, some software can greatly increase an organization’s efficiency by automating tasks and processes. However, this assumes you have identified and tested the right tasks and processes–based on sound strategies and goals.

Employee compensation is a great example. There are a number of software products that can help streamline and manage salary planning, bonus allocation, long-term incentives, and reward statements. But before you invest in software to automate anything, you must do the challenging work of digging into and assessing your current compensation strategy and plan to make certain it meets the 4 Cs: Competitive, Consistent, Compliant and Current.

• Competitive—Have you compared your organization’s compensation to that of other similar organizations? Is your compensation plan designed to attract and retain the right talent—from the talent’s point of view?
• Consistent—Are you applying compensation guidelines fairly across departments and levels, or have inconsistencies crept in over time?
• Compliant—Are you meeting all Federal and State guidelines and regulations related to employee compensation?
• Current—Have you revisited your compensation strategy and approach in the last three years? 

Addressing the 4 Cs requires proper Compensation Assessment, which relies on a combination of data points and expertise—something no software package can provide.