How many points on your performance rating scale ?

In this instalment of Reader Question, I deal with a common issue when designing the performance appraisal system. I was asked recently about the number of points you should have on the rating scale for your performance management system. Which number is right ? 3 ? 4 ? 5 ? or even 6 or 7…

New hires vs employees : 3 salary situations and how to handle them

Imagine the scene : you are sitting at your desk, happily going along your normal HR activities, when an employee (let’s call him John) enters your office and expresses some concern over his compensation. More specifically, he says, he knows that some of his former colleagues at his previous employer, “who were earning the exact…

The best order in which to apply salary increases in any organisation

Salary review time is approaching fast and so today I wanted to write about  the order in which we apply salary increases. Does it matter ? Or is it totally irrelevant to what you are trying to achieve when going through your internal and external equity reviews ? First, let’s have a look at the…

Reader Question – What to consider for salary planning ?

Today’s reader query is suggested by a question asked by a LinkedIn member, who wanted to know : “What indicators are important in your company planning (changing, reviewing) pay policy for next year ?”. Just like for any other year, I suggest going through a four-step approach : 1 – Is my pay policy still…