From job evaluation to salary scales – the basics

One of my readers Naim asked me about how job grading and salary scales / salary ranges are linked so I will cover the steps leading to the design of the salary structure in an organisation. “Banding” or “job grading”  is done in order to enable comparison of roles across departments and functions within and…

This C&B job opportunity made me stop and think

Today’s post is going to be a little different. I just came across a job opportunity in Compensation and Benefits and Payroll and I wanted to share it with you, as some of my readers may be interested in this kind of position. What made me want to post it ? The job is a…

One lesson from the Zynga stock scandal

CNET.com reported a few days ago on an article from the Wall Street Journal about Zynga, the company that created Farmville, the famous game that everyone seems to be playing on Facebook. It seems that in view of their planned IPO (they are due to go to the stock exchange in the coming days),  some…

The Formula One effect on performance management

As I reflect on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that took place two days ago, I can’t help but make some parallels between Formula 1 and performance management. Here are a few not-so-random thoughts : Even the best can face failure. Sebastian Vettel was in pole position on the starting grid. It was his 14th…

How to use vlookup in Excel

In today’s Sunday Skills I will cover one of the most useful functions in Excel for the Compensation Manager. Vlookup is like an advanced copy/paste function, which automatically copies for you only the information for data which is present in both files  (the main file and the source file). For example, imagine you are participating…

How to get started in your new Compensation job

One day, one of my acquaintances on LinkedIn wrote to me. His company never had job descriptions and he wanted me to share some of the JDs from my team. He also asked how to get started as he was getting into his new position as Performance and Compensation Manager. Here is some of the…

How do you link performance management and a performance-driven culture ?

Today’s Reader Question comes from the comments on one my recent posts, “Percentiles – an easy way to figure it out”. Ahsan asked : “In your opinion how do you link performance management in building a performance driven culture in the organization?” First of all let’s make the assumption that all companies are looking to…