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About Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR
Expertise
I can answer payroll questions, payroll tax questions, 401K questions. No stock option questions please and I have some knowledge of other pensions but am most familiar with the 401K pension.
I can answer U.S.and Canada payroll questions proficiently and have a good general knowledge of UK and South Africa and some knowledge of Australia and New Zealand Payroll procedures.
Please do not ask me homework questions I do not have time to answer them.
Experience
25 years with an international company in the Human Resources, Payroll and Payroll Tax areas.
Organizations
SHRM, APA, I.O.M.A.
Publications
I.O.M.A. and BNA
Education/Credentials
P.H.R., C.P.P., Canadian Payroll Administrator, Successfully passed APA class on UK Payroll Administration.
Boise State University Human Resource Certification
Awards and Honors
APA Hotline Citation of Merit for last 8 years.
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You are here: Experts > People/Relationships > Retirement Planning > Accounting, Payroll & Pension Issues > Pay Scales
Expert: Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR
Date: 3/12/2008
Subject: Pay Scales
Question
QUESTION: In business do payscales ever overlap? Or should they? Should a person potentially make more an hour than a person one rank above them persay they've been with the company longer than their boss? I personally know my job, and my bosses job better than they know either. I'd like to be paid accordingly, but don't know if it is common for pay scales to overlap, or if there is a way to convince upper management to make a scale that operated like that. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks.
ANSWER: Generally supervisory and Managerial positions pay higher wages. They pay higher because they have more responsibility. It is not only the job being done, but they are responsible for people under them and also the work that they do. With authority and responsibility comes the higher pay.
What causes a pay scale to raise is to review the job being performed by the employee. Has the employee taken on any new responsibilities? Does the employee have any new duties that require more individual thinking and less manual labor? Has the workload increased a great deal all at once? Has the duties of the job changed enough to be reclassified into another rank or job title?
Sometimes the job scale raises with the cost of living, but it is slow because the cost of living is a slow rise.
Usually (almost always) with a raise in the wage scale there is a change in the job title.
Shirley
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: You answered questions about commonalities, but I was curious as to if payscales ever overlap? I find in my work that the job is too easy to really say that the managers have any real responsibility. In fact they could be absent and things could work well if not better in some cases. Just a need to keep people moditivated (which managers tend not to do). I gave up management because I didn't want to deal directly with custumers that have petty complaints. I'd rather be an employee and be amused by their stupidity without having to address it. lol. Problem being I have been with the company for at least 4 times the normal turn-over including much longer than the average manager. I know how everything works. Do you think there could ever be a way that senior employees could get paid more than beginning managers to give both other employees, and those managers incentive to work harder. Because many of the managers we have do not work hard. I can do their job in my sleep, but hate dealing with some other organization's custumers that do not put profit into my pocket, and take special effort to make my life tough. :) Would it be a good or bad idea to have something like?
ANSWER: I think that may happen in a dream world. In the real world that is not going to happen. If you pay the employee more than the manager you will not have a manager.Becoming a manager is a promotion and with a promotion comes more pay.
Maybe it could happen if you are in a company with no pay scales such as a very small company, but I don't see it that way.
I can understand your frustration and I know that many employee's long term with a company know everything about the company. I have been with the company for 25 years myself.
I think that the Human Resource Manager or whomever in your company hires and promotes managers needs to work a little harder at getting good managers. Our managers all work very hard and long hours without overtime. I can truly say that we have no bad managers. We have in the past and they are no longer with the company.
I have stricter manager performance appraisels than I do for the regular employees and I expect more from them and I get it.
No I do not think overlapping between employees and management in salaries is a good idea. That tool needs to be there to motivate good employees to become good managers. If you are a good employee and wish to take on the challenges of being a manager (dealing with petty people and petty problems is one of them) than I will promote you and pay you more money. If you wish to remain an employee and let someone else deal with the problems then I will pay the someone else more money to be the manager and deal with the problems.
Shirley
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I understand it and all, but there seems like there must always be some other positions that are not necessarily at the same level as manager, but simply that handle different issues. I've worked places that had different managers (all of which have equal authority of all the same people), but have distinct responsibilities. I think having it be the managers job to deal with the custumers issues is not always tempting hence why nobody want to be promoted. If I could be responsible for store cleanilness, employee training programs, and other things that essentially are a managers current assigned duties I would be happy. I just don't want to be the underpaid smuck that knows that a custumer is taking advantage of us, and be able to do little about it. I mean if I owned a business I would not tolerate dishonest custumers. And if they treat my people badly I would ask that they not come to my place of business. I guess what I'm saying is I think I should get paid more because I am willing to handle all the responsibilties except for the custumers (which actually is all and all the smallest and easiest responsibility if you like to handle complaints and remedy issues like that). This isn't really a question. Just a bunch of ideas.
Answer
That would be a team leader position. Some companies have them, ours does. The Team Leader is a step above the employees and a step below the supervisor who is a step below the manager. The supervisor handles the staff and complaints from customers. The Manager handles the whole department or division. The Team Leader is only the leader of his/her team or area. If he cannot handle the situation he sends it to the Supervisor and if the supervisor cannot handle it he/she sends it to the Manager.
Some of the working supervisors such as the Warehouse supervisor only handle people and not customers.
Managers are top level and handle everything for their prospective department including budgets, wages, reduction in force, hiring, firing, and problem situations.
Supervisors are mid level and handle their department staff, , help with hiring, help with firing, assist the manager in his/her absence, handle small problems on a day to day basis,approve timecards and time off, track absence and vacation time , basically they are the liason between the team leader and the manager. Assist the manager with needs, sometimes schedule manager meetings and staff meetings.
Team Leaders work with the staff only in a team environment. They work between the employees and the supervisors. They motivate the employees, schedule the employees day to day schedules, work with the employees in the capacity of an employee as a team member, mentor new employees and train new in coming employees. The do the same work an employee does with some added duties.
An employee starts out as level I, moves to level II, then to level III. That is where they stay unless they promote up.
The promotion is usually thus unless the employee requests not to be promoted.
Level I, Level II, Level III, Team Leader, Supervisor, Manager.
Shirley
Follow up to Comments:
James,
There is always room for improvement on any system. Once a system is in place is hard to get it changed. Your Human Resource Director would be the place to go. I think you would fit nicely in a working supervisor role.
Shirley
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