INTERVIEW FINDINGS BENEFITS CLASS

Interview Protocol
Preparing for the Interview
While preparing for this interview, I conducted preliminary academic research on compensation and benefits in modern-day organizations, making sure to read through the emerging trends and issues. I then identified potential organizations that might help me seek answers to the questions I had generated during the research. I made sure the organizations I selected had established an HR management framework with functional compensation and benefits schemes. This was to ensure the utmost accuracy and relevance of the information gathered. The following were the interview questions:
1. What strategy do you use in your organization to compensate sales employees and executives?
2. What challenges do you experience when managing your compensation system?
3. How do you manage the rising cost of health benefits in your organization?
4. Do you use variable pay or base pay to motivate and reward your employees?
5. Do you use entitlement philosophy or pay-per-performance philosophy?
New Trends in the Industry
There are new trends that are occurring in the industry within which the organization operates. These trends include an increased cost of health insurance, the emergence of new worker compensation and management regulations, as well as new and efficient technology, including machine learning, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. The increasing usage of robotic replacements in the production chain has also influenced the HRM strategies used by the organization.

Initial Post
The first question involved determining the strategies the organization use to compensate sales employees and executives. There has always been a struggle regarding developing a holistic framework for compensating these groups of workers. There have been arguments as to whether to use salary only or commissions to pay this group of people. This question and the subsequent argument are in line with our lesson discussion, which talked of the types of compensation strategies. According to Mathis et al. (2017), sales workers can be compensated using salary only, percentages of the revenues they generate, or a combination of both.
The second question touched on the challenges HR practitioners experience when managing their compensation systems. The practitioner cited increased complaints regarding the equal distribution of rewards and an unstable economic situation. The response regarding unstable economic conditions resonates with the class discussions regarding the compensation challenges they face. According to Mathis et al. (2017), periodic economic recessions force organizations to reduce expenses related to employment. These statements are supported by Prajaparti, Pitroda, and Vyas (2015), who posit that organizations tend to employ conservative strategies in employee recruitment and involvement. This is done in a bid to save on critical resources and maintain the desired profit margins.
The third question focused on how the HR practitioner manages the rising cost of healthcare benefits. The cost of healthcare benefits has risen by 100% since the year 2000 (Mathis et al., 2017). This has prompted organizations to consider strategies that enable them to maintain the costs at sustainable levels. The practitioner responded that they encourage employees to minimize hospital visits. However, there is no framework put in place to ensure that the employees heed to the organization’s request. Reducing hospital visits can be effective if the company can take the initiative to sponsor employee wellness programs and foster health education. This way, employees can observe good health practices, reducing their expenses on treatment and medication.
The fourth and fifth questions focused on whether the organization uses variable pay or base pay and whether they prefer entitlement philosophy or pay-performance philosophy when compensating employees. The practitioner said they preferred base pay and entitlement philosophy. In the base pay system, organizations pay using a predetermined rate, calculated either as an hourly wage or salary (Mathis et al., 2017). On the other hand, entitlement philosophy is based on the presumption that individuals who have been in the company longer deserve more pay. Both the base pay and entitlement philosophy do not take into consideration the critical role of motivation. They do not have a motivating factor, thereby failing to check the level of output of the employees.

References
Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., Valentine, S. R., & Meglich, P. (2017). Human resource management. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Prajapati, N., Pitroda, J., & Vyas, C. M. (2015, August). Analysis of Factors Affecting Human Resource Management of Construction Firms using the RII method. In International Conference on: “Engineering: Issues, opportunities, and Challenges for Development” ISBN: 978-81-929339-1 (Vol. 7).