Which of the following is not a criticism of skill-based compensation systems?

This is a preview. Log in through your library.

Journal Information

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) strives for quality, relevance, and originality. The editors give priority to articles that relate their conclusions broadly to a number of substantive fields of public policy or that deal with issues of professional practice in policy analysis and management. Although an interdisciplinary perspective is usually most appropriate, articles that employ the tools of a single discipline are welcome if they have substantive relevance and if they are written for a general, rather than disciplinary, audience. The editors welcome proposals for articles that review the state of knowledge in particular policy areas. JPAM welcomes unsolicited manuscripts from all sources. Potential contributors should prepare manuscripts with an awareness of the substantive goals and presentational styles of the following sections: Feature Articles, Point/Counterpoint, Professional Practice, Policy Retrospectives and Curriculum and Case Notes.

Publisher Information

Wiley is a global provider of content and content-enabled workflow solutions in areas of scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly research; professional development; and education. Our core businesses produce scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising; professional books, subscription products, certification and training services and online applications; and education content and services including integrated online teaching and learning resources for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley has published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Wiley has partnerships with many of the world’s leading societies and publishes over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols in STMS subjects. With a growing open access offering, Wiley is committed to the widest possible dissemination of and access to the content we publish and supports all sustainable models of access. Our online platform, Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) is one of the world’s most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.

Rights & Usage

This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management © 2007 Wiley
Request Permissions

What Is Competency-Based Pay?

Competency-based pay is a pay structure that compensates employees based on their skill set, knowledge, and experience rather than their job title or position. A competency-based pay plan encourages employees to reach the pay rate that they want by taking charge of improving their skills and work.

What Is the Difference Between Competency-Based and Traditional Pay Plans?

The main difference between competency-based and traditional pay plans is employee potential. Because traditional pay plans are based on an employee’s job title and position, their pay can be limited by their ability to move up in seniority at their organization. However, in a competency-based pay plan, employees are able to increase their pay potential by improving on their skills and gaining knowledge related to their field.

Fast, easy, and accurate payroll with BambooHR®.

Pay your U.S.-based employees on time, every time.

Competency-Based Pay Pros and Cons

Like all compensation plans, competency-based pay has both advantages and disadvantages. The following are some examples of competency-based pay pros and cons to help you determine if this pay structure could work for your company

Pros

  • Individual self-motivation: Instead of basing pay on seniority and job level, the employee achieves as much as they’re willing to and is rewarded for it.
  • Company-wide motivation: Competency-based pay encourages a culture of self-motivation and self-improvement within the company. It can create a company of employees who are actively seeking to improve their skills and finding new ways to contribute to the company. Competency-based pay helps to tie your company’s culture directly to the success of the company.
  • Increased transparency: Employees will better understand what they have the potential to earn with a competency-based pay system and what skills they need to acquire to reach the pay they desire.
  • Reduced turnover: Employee turnover is costly for a company, and a competency-based pay plan curbs that by helping employees feel that their skills and knowledge are important to the company, which improves retention.

Cons

  • Greater pay subjectivity: As your company strays away from a traditional pay system, things become more open to interpretation and that brings subjectivity into the equation. The actions of an employee might not be judged correctly or, worse, they might be overlooked.
  • Vulnerability to favoritism: Employees may start to see favoritism when one worker gets rewarded more than another. Employees might think that they are being treated unfairly and that their skills are not being recognized by the company.
  • Inaccurate measurement of company needs: It’s tricky to determine which skills are important to a company or which skills translate to productivity. Since that’s the basis for this pay system, it may introduce more inaccuracy when gauging company needs.

Why Use Competency-Based Pay?

As we mentioned above, a competency-based pay plan can be a great motivator for an employee and could help them take their work to the next level. Competency-based pay doesn’t follow the traditional paying system, but that’s it’s main advantage, too. It might just be the change that motivates your employees to improve.

Affordable, award-winning software

Wherever you are in your journey, BambooHR® has a package that’s right for you.

You might also like

Which of the following is not a criticism of skill-based compensation systems?

Communicating compensation can be tricky, but doing it right can yield incredible benefits. Learn about HR’s strategic outcomes and how compensation connects to them.

Watch Now

Which of the following is not a criticism of skill-based compensation systems?

Compensation strategy is often limited to the financial side of business, but a well-designed compensation plan is much more than a budgeting tool.

Download Now

What is a disadvantage of a skill

What is a disadvantage of skill-based pay systems? It may result in paying employees for skills they don't use.

Which of the following is not a common goal of compensation policy?

Rewarding an employee's past performance is not a goal of a strategic compensation policy. Among the goals of a strategic compensation policy are rewarding past performance, attracting new employees, and reducing turnover.

Which of the following is an advantage of the skill

The main advantage of skill-based pay plans is: they aid in matching workers to the work flow. Skill-based pay applications is most common in: manufacturing.

Under which conditions does skill

The most basic condition for success is that there is a wide range (in depth and or breadth) of skills, knowledge, or competency for employees to acquire and use in their jobs.