BUS681 Ashford University Week 1 Compensation Practices Discussion Compensation PracticesDiscuss the various factors that influence a company’s competitive

BUS681 Ashford University Week 1 Compensation Practices Discussion Compensation PracticesDiscuss the various factors that influence a company’s competitive strategies and compensation practices. Assess how a company can mitigate these factors using effective compensation practices. Respond to at least two of your fellow students’ postings. Weekly Lecture
Week 1 Lecture
Welcome to BUS 681 – Compensation & Benefits. Throughout this course, you will gain
an in-depth knowledge into compensation theories, policies, systems and practices with
emphasis directed towards designing effective compensation programs. Overall, this
course will provide knowledge of the art of compensation practice and its role in
promoting companies competitive advantage. Additionally, this course will examine the
context of compensation, the criteria used to compensate employees, compensation
design systems, employee benefits, and the contemporary challenges organizations will
face in the future. In Week 1, this course will provide an overview of compensation
systems as well as assess compensation strategies and their impact on an
organization.
Strategic compensation is a human resource management approach employers use to
attract, retain, motivate and grow talented employees as organization’s goals and
objectives are maintained. The importance of a strategic compensation approach is to
meet the organizations goals but to also obtain a competitive advantage. Since the early
“1980s, there has been increased recognition in the business field that human
resources contribute to the competitive advantage of an organization” (Martocchio,
2017). A competitive advantage results from having the right employee working in the
organization. Therefore, to have the best employees, they need to recruit and maintain
said employees via a competitive compensation package.
When HR professionals are deciding on a strategic compensation policy there are a few
questions that need to be asked including:
1. Is compensation strategy suitable for the overall objectives of the competitive
business and HR strategies;
2. Is the choice and design of the compensation practice suitable for the compensation
strategy; and
3. Does the implementation of the compensation practices effectively increase
employee job performance?
(Martocchio, 2017).
Additionally, organizations should understand the workforce they’re looking to attract,
have a realistic budget in mind and be able to implement the compensation plan in a
way for all employees to understand regardless of learning style.
The total compensation package is made up of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. An
intrinsic reward includes personal achievement, professional growth, sense of pleasure
and accomplishment. An example of this will be training and considerations the
organization would make to improve the self of an employee. Overall, it is the value
employees receive from doing their job. While extrinsic compensation is a tangible
reward such raises, or other mandatory or discretionary benefits. Most employees are
more familiar with the extrinsic rewards are it may deal with retirement plans, health
insurance, and/or bonuses.
Overall, for an organization to retain the right employees, it is important to pay the
employee a competitive wage and compensation package. Accordingly, an organization
shall have a competitive strategy which includes a competitive compensation and
benefits package when it comes to retaining and motivating their employees. However,
not all employees will be interested in the same compensation and benefits package.
For example, an employee who is more focused on retirement may be more interested
in a retirement plan as opposed to an employee who is more interested in their wages
to pay off student debt. Therefore, the organization will not have a one stop shop when
it comes to compensation packages for all employees. This is also true from
organization to organization; as each will have a compensation and benefits package
that will not be the same as a similar organization. Overall, an organization will
strategically develop a compensation and benefits package that will best suit the needs
of the organization and the employees. It’s important to be creative during the process
to ensure they’re meeting the intrinsic and extrinsic need of the employee as well as
organizational goals. Every organization wants to recruit and maintain the best
employees for its business and doing so requires a competitive compensation package
as employees will compare packages while considering a potential place of
employment.
Please review the HR Basics: Employee Benefits (Links to an external site.) video which
will provide an overview of employee benefits.
References
Gregg Learning. (2017). HR basics: Employee benefits (Links to an external site.) [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fX9eQubzEE
Martocchio, J. (2017). Strategic compensation: A human resource management
approach (9th ed.). New York, New York: Pearson.

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