Case Study:

Abstract

While senior managers are increasingly requiring macroeconomic data to justify new pay plans, the difficulties of measuring and assessing the economic impact of a pay proposal pose a dilemma for compensation professionals. In this case study, the authors illustrate how compensation professionals can provide senior managers with some of the data they require by assessing the direct impact of pay systems on employee attitudes toward pay.

While "employee attitudes" may seem like soft, or subjective, data, a rigorously-designed employee survey can provide reliable numbers employers can use to design and evaluate pay systems. Given the established link between pay satisfaction, absenteeism, turnover, and unionization, senior management would do well not to ignore attitudinal indicators.