wian making some calls. I just had our two top candidates lor that software position turn me down. Both of them said we weren't offering as much as they were hoping for. Could it be that we don't pay well? That seems weird to me. I've heanl some people say that we are very penerous." "Hoth those candidates said no" Rehecea asked, her voice heavy with disbelief. "It took forever to find them. As she sat down in Rebecca's office, Charlotte said, "How sdid the exit interview go?" Retecca sat down behind her desk and slipped off her shoes. She was feeling a little worried. She said. "Not great. I mean he was really open, but the news is bad. The com- pensation problem might be even bigger than we thought." "Uh oh." said Charlotte with a grinace "Whul did Let's look at upping the offer." he say" Looking at her notes, Rebecca replied, "He said he decided to leave when he found out Abigail Desai, the new accountant, was getting paid S13.000 a year more than him." Charlote gasped, "How did he find that out? Salaries are supposed to be confidential" Shrugging, Rebecca said. "They always find out. Charlone. You can count on it. No natter what we say, peo ple will talk. Salaries never stay fully confidential." Charlotte countered, "Still,I don't get why he's mad, She should make more than him Abdul's job as a financial coordinator is important, but Abigail is an accountant and that joh has some serious responsibilities, That's why that job requires a lot more education and certification. Plus, ste has a naster's degree! That has to count for something. On top of all that, She is really good at her job. She has worked for some pretty progressive lech companies. I know she has brought in some great ideas even in the short time options like huring bonuses and retention bonuses. One- she's been here." Charlotte replied. "The offers were already a little abewe what we usually start people ouf at. But I guess we can do it if you think that's a good idea Rebecca sat back in her chair and gazed out the window, As she said, "Let me think fora minute. This is a tough one. Talk about being stuck between a ock and a hard place. If we don't go higher, we won't be able to hire good people. But if we do go higher, the people we already have will feel like they are getting the short end of the stick. I'm honestly not sure what to do next." "What if we're focused on the wrong thing"" Charlotte thought out loud, and then continued, "What if we should he looking at other ways to pay people that won't make salary comparisons between old and new employees a problem" Rebecca picked up Charlotte's conversation thread and said, "Charlotte, that's it! We should be looking at time paynents that won't be ongoing increases in our staffing costs." Now caught up in their brainstorming and happy to use SOne of her HIR education, Charlotte replied. "And we could look into variabke pay options to reward our, strong Tempting Employees Away Continuing, Charlotte said, "I was talking to her boss about this just last week. He was asking what the process way pertormers, We need to think beyond just salary to keep to increase her salary when she finishes her probationary the employees we've got happy and bring on some more period, She is so good that he is afraid he's gong to lose her to another company Apparently, she was seen having lunch with sonue people in suits, and the rumour is that it DISCUSSION QUESTIONS was an interview Rebecca groaned "Don't tell me that! We can't have another person lured away. Alex would lose his mind From what I can tell he's still reeling from kasing that project nanager named Jake a few months back. He brought me in at least partly to stop this sort of thing from happening But first let's get back to Abdul and his problem with Abigail I don't know if he knew about her master's de gree. He just noticed that their johs are somewhat similar but she makes a lot more money even though he has been here longer. That really didn't seem fair to him. And he mentioncd that his new job pays a lot more than what he was getting bere. The scary part is, if he starts telling people that, I wouldn't be surprised if more people start considering other options." fop talent." 1. Based on what you know about the company so far. what compensation philosophy is WEC using? 2. How can WEC use job evaluations to determine base pay levels? Which job evaluation method should it use and how should that method be designed and implemented? 3. What forms of variable pay do you think would be use- ful for Charlotte and Rebecca to consider implement- ing Why? 4. What can be done in the future to help ensure that WEC is perceived as having both internal and external equity? In the next installment of the WE Connectionos Alory (at the end of Chapter 10), the HR manager tries to convince her boss that they need to beef up their benetit program in order to koep employees satisfied. Underwhelming Pay Looking troubled, Charlotte replied, "I don't want to add fuel to the fire. but while you were meeting with Abdul I