[Bhanu Chander]

Hi Friends,

I have 1+ year of experience in the HR Profession - Recruitment, Training &
General HR Coordination.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK TWO QUESTIONS TO THE SENIORS IN THIS FORUM:

Question 1:
Why Is The Compensation of HR Professionals LOW When Compared To Those
Professionals Who Are Into Technical Works?

Is it because the technical professions contain analytical, logical, mentally-torturing
or stressful work involved in it ?

HR professionals too toil till late hours to get their work(s) done, endure lot of tension,
stress & pain while dealing with varied no.of human problems & situations arising in
the organization; But still their pay seems to be far too low (especially majority of those
with 1-3 years of exp.).

Of course, there are some technical jobs having similar pay range at similar work experience,
but the growth in their compensation is whopping at a later stage in their career, which is not
in the case of the HR guys. Why is there such a great disparity in the compensation ?
That too for us (HR) who actually initiate the talks of fixing the salary & processing the salary
to others !!

Question 2:
I have seen an article in this site, which contained information on the highly paid HR professionals.
What Does It Take, To Sky-Rocket Our (HR Professionals') Pay ??


Can any of the seniors in Cite-HR, answer these questions ?

Please suggest any suitable material / links / E-Books / strategies to enlighten my knowledge in
these two areas.

I hope this information would be useful to other freshers or budding HR professionals also,
who might be having same doubt in their mind.

A good analytical answer, supporting your comments, would be helpful to all the members in this site.

I request everyone to give a serious thought on this topic & please participate in this discussion to
improve our practical knowledge on these areas, enhance our performance and thereby increase the
weight of our pay packets !!!
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

NOTE -
1. Regret, if this query has been asked any time earlier in this site.

2. Also ask for apologies if this query seems to be childish.
[ I have done reasonable research in the job-portals before posting this question ! ]

[rajsawster]

Dear Bhanu,

I am trying to reply your question, In India there is no scientific approach to determine the salary for various positions. In Government sector in India salary scale with fixed yearly increments known as time scale is followed in both central as well as state.
In private sector companies many compensation and benefits practices exist. Most of them are comon in structure from grade M1 to M29 depending upon the numbers of hierarchy of jobs laddes specially in managenent.
Amoung workforce they are broadly classified into following catagories on the bsis of Minimum Wages:
Highly Skilled, Skilled, Semi Skillled, Unskilled plus one more supernumery positioon in semi supervisory level popularly knownas Foreman or 1st line supervisors being placed.
Number of salary grades are depends on the companies pay policy and hierarchy which determines the salary range for different level of level of jobs. Deciding factor for the salary fixation in broader terms is negotiation, nature of job and level of job in the organization to justify salary fixation.

But in western countries, compansation structure is uniform across all major industry and only benefits components are different from company to company.
All jobs are analyse through job analysis then Job Descriptions is prepared and on the bais of job descriptions job evaluations being conducted to determine the relative market worth of the job. There are many eveluation methods but point rating method is more popular and more in use to qualtitatively measure for internal equity and external competitiveness and the worth on the basis of point factors which most of the company approves as most valuable to the company.
Hay three Point Factor is also widely used because they facilitate global salary survey data for all regions to update regularly the point factors and their reference level worldwide.

For your geenral understanding read following guidelines which will enable you to understand how salary is determined. If there is no defined tool to measure position worth to link with compansation then judgemental approach is applied which is more common.

Salary survey is more expensive and updated data is also more difficult where companies have to spend huge sum for importing the data for analysis as well as inhouse expertise to work on such data is also required which makes things more complicated hence most of the companies follow judgement norms based on their market pricing for jobs and negotiate the salaries terms as afordable price veries from company to company.

Following are pay factors which determines the pay for any position:
1. Organizational Level Salary Determination
Focus Group - employees, supervisors, and/or management members from a technical and/or administrative area selected to work on a particular functional area. Members identify knowledge, skill, and ability requirements, determine appropriate training and experience requirements, and develop competency measures.
Classification in the following order for determining the pay grades

Top Management

R&D Staff

Technical Staff

Administrative & Business Management Staff

Technical Support

Administrative Support

Core Competencies/Skills - common to all positions in an company/organization. Core competencies should work in concert with the organization’s management philosophy and reflect the mission and core values of the organization. In skill and competency base pay programs, core competencies have been defined as:
· Teamwork
· Customer Service
· Effective Communication
· Organizational Awareness
Functional Competencies/Skills – may vary from position to position within a work group, an organization, and/or an occupational group. They relate more directly to the occupational specialty within the unit.
Assessment - an evaluation/appraisal of the individual employee's skill(s)/competency(s) and monetary worth as it relates to the needs of the organization.
Pay Factors - the set of requirements, qualities, etc., that are used to determine an employee's salary in a career banded class, such as:
· Organization- PSU/Pub. Ltd.Co/Pvt Ltd Co./MNC/Indian-MNC etc(budget) is
predominantly for the compensation philosophy of the organization;
· Minimum qualifications;
· Related education and experience;
· Knowledge, skills, and competencies, including abilities;
· Duties and responsibilities;
· Training, certifications, and licenses;
· Journey market rate guidelines/market reference rate guidelines and related market
information (average market rate);
· Market dynamics;
· Internal pay alignment (equity);
· Current salary and total compensation.
Market Reference Rate (MRR) - an average market rate as determined by the companies and organizations when comparing their benchmark jobs to relevant local, state, or national market data that allows market and geographical flexibility in establishing appropriate market relationships.
Labor Market Data - labor market information about a particular occupational group that is used to establish the statewide average market range and salary range guidelines.
Performance Management - Appraising employee performance, elevating the
standard of performance and correcting performance that falls below acceptable levels.

2. Individual salary determination
All salaries are determined through a combination of three processes:
1. Job evaluation — A process that identifies the relative value of jobs to the Laboratory, using
ladder and band descriptions and criteria
2. Salary surveys — The process for comparing organizational jobs with those in other companies
through participation in some approved national, regional, and area
salary surveys
3. Pay for performance — The process whereby salaries and salary increases are based upon an
employee’s job performance as established through organizational Performance
and Development System (PADS).

Regards

Sawant

[Bhanu Chander]

Dear Sawant,

Thanks for giving such a detailed information as a reply to my queries.

Expecting other members will voice their opinion too.