Audio Conferences

  May 7, 2008

If you are not expanding the differentiation in pay between high and low performers you are most likely

1. spending more than you should be on merit pay
2. lowering the overall effectiveness and productivity of your workforce, and
3. over-recognizing low performers and under-recognizing high performers.

But how do you define top performer, and how do you communicate little or no increase to the low performers?

Ratchet up your focus on this critical compensation issue now—and be ready to implement it successfully in your next round of merit pay increases.

Companies that utilize best practices in differentiating pay between high and low performers consistently say—by more than two to one—that it is the most effective way to control compensation costs.

Using pay-for-performance, the next most effective, while related is just one of a variety approaches used to differentiate high/low performers. Even more profound is the effect that greater differentiation of pay has on your firm’s productivity.

The biggest questions surrounding an effective company-wide differentiation of high/low performers include how define top performance or contribution to the company, weak kneed managers, how to send a strong message when communicating little or no pay increase, what is exceptional vs. above average, what are typical spreads between high and low performers, how do you build a lasting talent management plan into the process, and how do you hold the line on the top performers?

Don’t get trapped into simply resorting to reducing the overall size of merit pay increase budgets. Join IOMA and its panel of in-the-trenches experts and learn the secrets to differentiating pay, including how to

• Be more proactive in educating and provide guidance on ways to create pay differentials between low and high performers
• Define a top performer
• Convince managers to increase the distribution of merit increases to reward top performers
• Determine who gets raises and who does not
• Communicate low or no increase to low performers
• Recognize exceptional performers vs. above average
• Define an employee’s contribution to the success of the company
• What are typical spreads between high and low performers?
• Hold the line on offering increases to the high performers
• Send a strong message to under-performers with reduced or no merit increase

FEATURED FACULTY

Patricia K. Zingheim,
Partner

Pat founded Schuster-Zingheim and Associates, Inc. with Jay Schuster in 1985. She advises a wide range of companies on total pay and other rewards. Pat received WorldatWork’s 2006 Keystone Award, the Association’s highest honor, for her contributions to the total rewards profession’s body of knowledge. With Jay, she joins only 17 previous recipients in earning this honor. A recognized expert on the role of pay in accelerating company growth and bottom-line performance, she is coauthor of High Performance Pay: Fast Forward to Business Success (WorldatWork, 2007), Pay People Right! Breakthrough Strategies to Create Great Companies (Jossey-Bass, 2000) and The New Pay: Linking Employee and Organizational Performance (Jossey-Bass, 1996) acknowledged as a keystone work in linking pay with organizational effectiveness. Pat has written numerous articles for business and professional journals and magazines as well as book chapters. She speaks throughout the world on how companies can best align rewards with their business goals. Pat is frequently quoted in management literature, including such publications as Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Across the Board, Working Woman, and Harvard Management Update. Pat has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn, NBC, and other business talk shows. She was named in The Guru Guide: The Best Ideas of the Top Management Thinkers as a motivation and pay guru. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Ohio State University and A.B. from the University of Michigan.

Jay. R. Schuster,
Partner

Jay founded Schuster-Zingheim and Associates, Inc. with Patricia Zingheim in 1985. He advises companies on aligning pay and rewards with business strategy. Jay joins only 17 prior recipients and Pat in receiving WorldatWork’s 2006 Keystone Award, the Association’s highest honor, for his contributions to the total rewards profession’s body of knowledge. A recognized leader in the move to new pay, he has introduced many groundbreaking pay and reward innovations. His clients include global companies that have successfully aligned rewards with their business. He is coauthor of High Performance Pay: Fast Forward to Business Success (WorldatWork, 2007), Pay People Right! Breakthrough Strategies to Create Great Companies (Jossey-Bass, 2000), The New Pay: Linking Employee and Organizational Performance (Jossey-Bass, 1996), and two other books plus articles in numerous business, professional, and academic journals and magazines. He speaks frequently at management and leadership seminars and conferences, addressing how companies, people, and rewards interact to add value to a business. In addition to being frequently quoted in the press, Jay has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn, CBS, and other business talk shows. He was named in The Guru Guide: The Best Ideas of the Top Management Thinkers as a motivation and pay guru. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and B.B.A. and M.A. from the University of Minnesota.