Question

Imagine that you are the HR manager for a new company just opening its doors in your community. The owners have asked you to prepare a vision for compensating the staff. They do not want specific policies but rather guiding principles that will help them collect data and write specific HR policies later.

Complete the following:

Describe the type of business, the number and types of employees (such as exempt and non-exempt), and the customer base you will use as your example company for this assessment, as well as the state and city or area of the state where your company is located.

Identify a business strategy that is most appropriate for the company, and include an analysis of why you believe this is the case.

Discuss the appropriate business response, HR program alignment, and compensation system for this new business.

Create a list of essential guideposts for developing a total compensation policy. In your vision, include statements that can be made public to your customers and employees.

Consider whether your vision will be strategic in a strong economy, as well as in an economic downturn. Will you be able to adapt your vision during various economic conditions?

Describe an HR program aligned with the business strategy chosen for the new company. Describe how other existing businesses in your community affect the compensation vision and strategy of this new company.

You can reference the Overview of BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation Web page from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site (cited in the Resources) to help you research information for your response.

Answer 1

We are a new company and we have just started operations in the last 3 months. We are mostly into web development and maintenance. Right now our team size is just 10 with 8 exempt employees and 2 non-exempt employees. We are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

The exempt employees, mostly Web Developers will be paid an average hourly wage of $ 40. The non-exempt employees (telephone operator and office assistant) will be paid an average hourly wage of $ 15.

Our business strategy will be to target small and medium size companies and even freelancers to start with. Initially for the first two years, we will operate only in one city and with one office. After two years, depending on our performance and the condition of economy, we may think of opening another office in the same city and increase our workforce size. For first five years, we will not think of much of expansion. Rather we will concentrate on developing good customer rapport through our quality products and good customer support. We will also try to do some brand building in these initial years.

Regarding our core HR policies, we will be an equal employment opportunity provider and also encourage diversity in our workforce. We are open to hiring of fresh college graduates, depending on their aptitude. We will also recruit people with 5-6 years of web development experience. Our workforce will be mostly a young workforce. We will follow open door policy and encourage an environment of innovation and creativity. Some training programs will be conducted from time to time for our employees to keep them abreast of the latest web technologies. Moreover, we want to have a fun-filled workplace where employees always enjoy what they do. Performers will be rewarded with “Employee of the month” awards. For us, our employees and customers will be our top priority.    

We will always keep a watch on economic recessions, and whenever such situations occur, we will ask all exempt employees to go for wage cuts, without any retrenchment. When economy will be booming with good customer orders coming our way, we will pay good bonuses to the employees.