Compensation Strategy for Knowledge Workers

To prepare for this assignment, review the below articles about employee compensation, which are also listed in the required reading section of the Unit IV Study Guide.

Hopkins, C. (2017). How to create a compensation plan in 6 steps. Retrieved from https://fitsmallbusiness.com/employee-compensation-plan/

How to design an employee compensation plan [SlideShare slides]. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/FitSmallBusiness/how-to-design-a-compensation-plan-dave?ref=http://fitsmallbusiness.com/how-to-pay-employees/

You are the director of compensation for a midsized organization. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation that justifies the implementation of a new compensation strategy that will support the motivational needs of knowledge workers and reinforce the real-time performance appraisal system that the organization has embraced. While your goal is to retain, motivate, and grow the current workforce of multi-generational knowledge workers, you must also justify to your senior management that this compensation strategy is competitive in the marketplace.

Your presentation should describe a compensation program for knowledge workers. The title of the knowledge worker’s position is entirely up to you (e.g., sales executive I, systems engineer III, etc.). You may use various sources (including the lesson materials), but you must use at least one additional resource from the CSU Online Library. Include a reference slide, and cite any sources used in proper APA format. Your presentation should be a minimum of 12 slides in length—not counting the title and reference slides. You may also use the slide notes function to explain slide contents as necessary, but this is not required.

Be sure to address the questions below in your presentation.

• What is the compensation strategy being proposed?
• Did employees provide input?
• Who else provided input?
• What incentives are included in the plan? How will it motivate the employees?
• How will employees determine fairness of the pay structure?
• Why do you believe the employees will be satisfied with this plan? Justify the compensation strategy that supports the motivational needs of knowledge workers.
• What is your communication plan for rolling out the new program?

Answer preview

Even with the numerous changes that have defined the modern business landscape, the essence of employees in organizational performance remains a constant feature. The workforce is responsible for operationalizing an entity’s resources and facilitating the achievement of company objectives. It follows logically, therefore, that the key to achieving organizational success lies in an entity’s ability to reward its employees for their achievements and to keep them motivated. Knowledge work is an alternative reference to white-collar jobs and therefore, knowledge workers are those whose work is based on specific training programs. Owing to the complexity of their fields, such workers are in high demand and employers must put up a reasonable compensation structure to retain them and to keep the organization running well.