I am often asked : “Do we need job descriptions ?” A lot of managers ask for them. Of course, these managers very rarely think of doing it themselves and writing down the description, maybe even with the input of the employees who hold those roles ! Why do these managers expect HR to write…
Case study – refusing to increase base pay further
I have created, over the years, a “swipe file” of C&B situations I have faced and how I reacted to them. The idea is that I keep a copy of the more seminal communication pieces I have written, mostly one-to-one, not the “all employees” emails that we all have to spend from time to time.…
Comparing salary ranges? Really?
I was recently approached by a well-meaning Organisation Development specialist working for a governmental organisation. This gentleman emailed me the following : “I have been requested to benchmark our salary grades with other (semi-)government entities. Therefore we are approaching some organizations to see what they can share with us. We are mainly interested in the…
Are you constrained to say bonus is discretionary?
One of my recent posts covered the pros and cons of keeping compensation information confidential. There are positives to each side of the coin, but my view is that we should communicate as much as possible when it comes to Compensation and Benefits rules, entitlements and required contributions. There are too many drawbacks to not…
4 considerations when creating a job title structure
In today’s Reader Question, I will explore the topic of how to create a job title family for your organisation. One of my friends recently had to open a whole new area for the company she works at. For the sake of the post, let’s say her company operates in retail and construction, and it…
Compensation trends for 2012 – and how we communicate them
Although we are now officially in June and getting close to the mid-year mark, I thought I would share this infographic from Payscale. It illustrates compensation trends for 2012. I like it for 2 reasons : obviously because the topic is of relevance for this blog 🙂 because it is an infographic, it is a…
Catch up on the Human Assets Middle East Summit 2012
I was honoured to be one of the speakers at Naseba’s 7th Annual Human Assets Expansion – Middle East Summit. The conference turned out to be one of the best I have ever, attended in the region. The speakers were knowledgeable and entertaining, the audience was very active and engaged, there was enough time for…





