Twenty-five years ago, I worked for a local employers association. One of the “hottest-button” issues we faced, and what we continually fought to “protect” our members from, was the evil boogie-man of “comparable worth.” The concept was evil, of course, because it originated on the labor side rather than management side, from protesters rather than […]
Continue readingNew Compensation Metrics – A 2017 Resolution
January 4, 2017 
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The compensation profession suffers from a severe lack of effective metrics. To be frank, the typical measures used in describing compensation program success really have nothing to do with success. This year, try something that makes more sense — focus on metrics that actually tell you if your compensation program is achieving its mission. Traditional […]
Continue readingThe Decline and Fall of “Pay for Performance”
March 29, 2016 1 Comment
[This article was originally published for the Northwest Regional Primary Care Association “Quick Notes” and can be found here.] Congratulations on your new hire. “Ron” looks to be a promising new employee. He came to you with a strong resume and enough relevant experience to suggest that he is the kind of employee you see […]
Continue readingStop Gender Pay Inequity – Repeal (Part of) the Equal Pay Act
March 8, 2016 1 Comment
Well not all of it, of course. Most of it, along with the other anti-discrimination laws, are crucial to fighting intentional discrimination. However, one particularly nagging part of the Equal Pay Act actually enshrines “unintentional” discrimination. It is all in 29 USC Section 206(d)1, a sentence that starts out really well by banning discrimination, but […]
Continue readingHow Your Market-Based Pay Program Perpetuates Gender Pay Inequity
March 8, 2016 1 Comment
Some years ago, the compensation profession turned its back on the sensible pay programs that had been growing and evolving throughout the business world, and allowed itself to fall prey to vendors (primarily market pay data vendors, not surprisingly) who told them that “market-based” pay programs were the answer to all their needs. In doing […]
Continue readingHow You Perpetuate Gender Pay Inequity With Your Merit Program
March 8, 2016 1 Comment
Yes, you heard me correctly, your “bona fide” merit program perpetuates gender pay inequity. It is not hard to figure out… if women take time out from the workforce, they will have fewer years of your 3% average merit increases, and given enough time, there will be a gap — even if you started […]
Continue readingHR Metrics – Ditch the “Compa-Ratio”
March 1, 2016 0 Comments
The “compa-ratio” is such a silly and deceptive “metric” that even not knowing much at 25 years old (longer ago than I care to admit) I could not bring myself to use it in a client report. HR practitioners, and the executives and managers they support, need metrics that really mean something, and for decades, […]
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Incentives Don’t Work, Yet We Keep Using Them
March 1, 2016 1 Comment
For those who haven’t read Daniel Pink’s “Drive,” the best-selling book on what really motivates us today, make the time to do so, because it will illustrate to you quite clearly why it is time to stop wasting your precious time and resources on incentive programs that don’t work. In fact, I’ll give you a challenge […]
Continue readingCompensation Surveys The Right Way — Don’t Make My Mistake
February 16, 2016 1 Comment
Originally posted on FQHC Compensation Resources from Merces:
Before I returned to Merces Consulting, I spent many years working on my own and raising my family. During that time I managed to keep busy doing independent consulting, the majority of which was spent conducting market surveys for local hospitals and other compensation related activities. In…
2016 Resolution #8 – Ensure Base Pay is Predictable
February 1, 2016 1 Comment
Resolution #8 – Examine your base pay program from the perspective of employees, and ask yourself whether they can “predict” changes to their pay. For the vast majority of jobs, hourly wages or annual salaries make up most of total cash compensation. While incentive compensation may be a motivator for some, base pay pays the […]
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