1. What are the reasons companies adopt such person-focused pay programs?

The main reason the person-focused pay method was developed and implemented is to "set pay based not on your connections but instead on the work you did." (Newman, Gerhart & Milkovich, n.d. 2014). However, this method can show its beginnings dating all the way back to the era of the Egyptians and the building of the pyramids it has really come into its own in the industrial age.

1. Distinguish between the three types of person-focused pay programs (i.e., pay-for-knowledge, skills-based, and competency-based)

Skills based: This pay program evaluates pay based on the person's skills in a specific or range of critical areas of job performance. It also forces a company to create skills matrix that shows what skills an employee has and only allows the employee to -perform tasks for which they have been confirmed to have the skill.

Knowledge based: This method pays a person based on the amount of knowledge they possess regarding a process or fields of expertise. Again, this method overlaps with skills based due to how the knowledge can be tracked and applied to the company's processes.

Competency based: This method overlaps into skills based and includes the alignment of the person to the goals of the company along with the objective performance of skills or tasks on one's job. This model has pitfalls for falling into too many categories that can be difficult to quantify and therefore has the potential to not be effective. This method requires a significant amount of leadership investment to accurately track and offer feedback to the person.

1. What are the advantages of person-focused pay for the employee? For the employer? What are the disadvantages for the employer?

The person-based pay builds in a condition to support the individual who wishes to do more/know more. It incentivizes the effort of the individual in aligning their efforts to achieve the company's goals. I have seen this is direct contrast to pay models that pay based on time of employment, where each person with the same amount of time in a job all make the same amount of compensation for different levels of work quality.

A company could find that they have more highly skilled workers than they need. This can add costs that are not providing the same level of return for the company. Employees may become frustrated that they are not using the skills they have acquired, and their job satisfaction becomes lower. The company could be exposed to legal issues regarding disparate treatment regarding differences in pay between employees.

1. Does your current employer have a person-focused pay structure as part of the overall compensation system? If so, explain. If not, would you suggest the company consider it? Why or why not?

The hourly employees at my job are unionized therefore their pay is entirely based on time at the job. The salary team has pay graded for job title and the raises and bonuses are based on personal job performance. So yes, the salary team does have person-based pay. At the beginning of the year each member of the salary team used the business metrics from the Hoshin to outline their individual contribution to each metric. At the end of the year the results are measured against the Hoshin metrics and then the level of involvement of each employee is reviewed. The raises and bonuses are based on the score.

1. How could an organization integrate the concept of person-focused pay with an understanding of those same or similar concepts from a Christian worldview?

In my opinion about being a Christian, each Christian is always evaluating their personal behavior and thoughts against the example Jesus set out for us in the bible. The method of person-based performance is almost baked into the way we walk out our faith, so this method extending into our place of employment is natural.