Part
6
Performance and Reward
386
The council attributes success in its reward policies to a
strong and united political direction from the top; a long-
term consistency of purpose, but with the appropriate
phasing of changes and with adaptation to local circum-
stances; and a high involvement approach.
Guidelines to managers on
conducting individual pay reviews
Guidelines have to be issued to managers on how
they should conduct reviews. The guidelines will
stipulate that they must keep within their budgets
and may indicate the maximum and minimum in-
creases that can be awarded, with an indication of
how awards could be distributed. For example, in
happy days when the budget is 4 per cent overall, it
might be suggested that a 3 per cent increase should
be given to the majority of staff and the others given
higher or lower increases as long as the total per-
centage increase does not exceed the budget.
Managers in some companies are instructed that
they must follow a forced pattern of distribution
(a forced choice system), but only 8 per cent of the
respondents to the CIPD survey (Armstrong and
Baron, 2004) used this method.
Steps required
The steps required to conduct an individual pay
review are:
●
Agree the budget.
●
Prepare and issue guidelines on the size,
range and distribution of awards and on
methods of conducting the review.
●
Provide advice and support.
●
Review proposals against budget and
guidelines and agree modifications to them
if necessary.
●
Summarize and cost proposals and obtain
approval.
●
Update the payroll.
●
Inform employees.
Case studIes
Kent County Council: successful reward
McDonald’s: demonstrating reward effectiveness
McDonald’s is a company with a strong culture of measure-
ment and has built its own people-profit chain method -
ology to produce impressive evidence that demonstrates
how rewards can enhance employee engagement and
thereby business performance. The operational and cost
focus in the business means that reward arrangements are
reviewed regularly and changed if they are not found to be
delivering. But the subtler processes of consultation and
change management are equally vital in maintaining and
strengthening reward effectiveness.
The NSPCC: approaches to achieving reward effectiveness
The experience of the NSPCC was that while measures
of organizational and reward effectiveness may differ, the
delivery of them is every bit as critical, if not more so, in
voluntary organizations. It also shows that limited resour-
ces need not be a barrier to assessing and demonstrating
effectiveness. Establishing links to the core purpose of the
organization was the major driver behind the extensive
research undertaken into effectiveness. The culture of the
organization and its values were important considerations,
as was ensuring that the values of the people in the or-
ganization were aligned to them.