How can we allocate a budget for employee increments for the year? What factors will be considered in this?

Budget Allocation for Employee Increments

How can we allocate a budget for employee increments for the year? What factors will be considered in this?

Department-wise Budget Allocation

Will the department-wise budget be allocated or not? If yes, how can we divide budgets for different departments?

Departmental Budget Allocation for Salary Increments

Departmental budgets can be prepared based on company policies. Some companies prioritize the Sales and Marketing department in terms of salary increments, while others give secondary importance to Production/Operations departments, followed by R&D/QC, with the least importance given to HR/Administration. However, some companies give equal importance to all these departments.

Setting Organizational Goals for 2023-24

You should have an organizational goal for the year 2023-24, which may include a growth percentage. Suppose your expected growth is 20%; the expected revenue can be easily ascertained. A portion of this increase in revenue can be allocated for salary increments. The actual disbursement/increment will be decided after the actual results come in April 2024, once the financial statements are prepared. Still, you can make a budget out of it.

Apportioning Increments Based on Departmental Goals

If you have fixed departmental goals separately for each department, then the increment shall be apportioned based on the results. In the budget, you can allocate the amounts of increments based on the above parameters. If it is equally distributed, the work is easy, but if you have weighted goals, the process would not be that easy. You should decide the percentage of the amount to be allocated to each department. For example, you can allocate 35% of the total increase in revenue to Sales and Marketing, 25% to Production/Operations, 20% to R&D and QC, and 15% to HR/Administration. You can keep 5% for rewarding employees who are not on your direct rolls or are casually employed.

Monitoring Growth and Departmental Roles

In this exercise, you need to monitor the expected growth, the increase in revenue expected, and the roles of each department in achieving the said results. It is beneficial to fix departmental goals so that each employee under the department can be assessed, and based on their contribution, the salary increment can be offered. This process is called goal-based performance appraisal.

To allocate a budget for employee increments for the year, you should consider the following factors:

Company budget: How much money can the company afford to spend on employee increments?

Performance: How well did employees perform in the previous year?

Market value: How much do similar employees earn in other companies?

Internal equity: How do employee salaries compare to each other within the company?

External equity: How do employee salaries compare to salaries in the market for similar jobs?

Once you have considered these factors, you can start to allocate the budget. One common approach is to give each employee a percentage raise based on their performance. For example, you might give employees who exceeded expectations a 4% raise, employees who met expectations a 3% raise, and employees who failed to meet expectations a 2% raise.

Another approach is to give employees a flat raise, regardless of their performance. This approach is often used in small businesses where it is difficult to differentiate between employee performance.

A third approach is to give employees a combination of a percentage raise and a flat raise. This approach is often used in larger businesses where there is a greater range of employee performance.

No matter which approach you choose, it is important to be transparent and fair in the way you allocate the budget. Employees should understand how their raises are calculated and why they are receiving the amount of money that they are receiving.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to allocate a budget for employee increments:

1. Determine your budget. How much money can the company afford to spend on employee increments? This will depend on the company's overall budget and financial performance.

2. Gather data on employee performance and market value. This data can be collected from performance reviews, salary surveys, and other sources.

3. Develop a salary increase formula. This formula should take into account employee performance, market value, internal equity, and external equity.

4. Calculate salary increases for each employee. Use the salary increase formula to calculate the salary increase for each employee.

5. Review salary increases and make adjustments as needed. Once you have calculated the salary increases, review them to make sure that they are fair and equitable. Make adjustments as needed.

6. Communicate salary increases to employees. Once you have finalized the salary increases, communicate them to employees in a timely and transparent manner.

By following these steps, you can allocate a budget for employee increments in a way that is fair and equitable.