PERFORMANCE PAY
E-reward survey of performance pay published today
The recession has prompted many employers to restructure their performance pay schemes. But it’s not about to be discontinued, according to a new survey by e-reward. Indeed, the expansion of performance pay through the UK reward landscape appears to have continued unabated in recent years.
Paying for performance has been a reward battleground for years. But in spite of the intense criticism of the “bonus culture” and performance payments by academics, politicians and media commentators, performance-related pay is here to stay. Rather than scrapping their schemes in the face of global recession, employers are attempting to keep a firm lid on costs.
In this context, cost cutting means either lower performance payments or the non-consolidation of awards where they were consolidated in the recent past. The other key theme emerging from the e-reward survey is that the brutal downturn appears to be focusing many employers on continuing to do what they are currently doing, but doing it much more effectively. For example, many respondents say that they intend to place a greater emphasis on their “top performers” as these are seen as the people that will play the greatest role in helping their organisations out of this difficult period. Similarly, others told us that they propose to put in place more focused and clearer performance criteria.
Conducted in early 2009, the e-reward survey produced up-to-date and revealing information from senior HR and reward practitioners in 107 UK-based organisations employing over one million people. It examines all the main aspects of performance pay, painting a picture of current trends emerging in today's organisations.
84%
The amount of organisations that operate a merit pay scheme
52%
The amount of organisations that use two or three different types of schemes
60%
The amount of organisations that relate pay to organisational performance
What the survey covers
To shed light on the situation, the latest e-reward survey provides an in-depth examination of every aspect of performance pay, illustrating its prevalence, the reasons why companies use it and some of the broader messages coming from UK organisations. More specifically, the survey covers:
types of performance pay schemes used
views on the effectiveness and impact of different types of performance pay
changes to schemes resulting from the recession and credit crunch
advice offered based on first-hand experience
formal evaluations of schemes
employee groups covered by the different types of scheme
payments and methods of pay progression
use of ratings and alternative approaches
timing of pay and performance reviews
lessons learnt from the operation of different types of scheme relating pay to individual performance, competence or contribution.
To download the contents page from the report, click here.
Want to know more?
Title: “UK Performance Pay 2009: Survey Report”, e-research no. 66, published by e-reward in August 2009.
Availability: The report is available as part of an annual subscription to e-reward research report series, e-research. Starting at £255 + VAT buys you a single annual subscription. For an additional fee, paid-for subscribers may access our digital archive which contains every research report we have published since 2002. You can then download all the reports via this web site.
To find out more visit www.e-reward.co.uk/whatare.asp.
If you want to subscribe online visit www.e-reward.co.uk/subscribe.asp.