As you prepare for this assignment, you should research typical United States, Japanese, and German approaches to compensation using your textbook, and the Internet. Consider arguments for and against each of the three countries' approaches to compensation. Research the trends and issues affecting the global workforce. As you conduct your research, make note of the recent trends affecting the three approaches and the factors which might be causing each country's approach to change.
The assignment:
MPBS has requested your assistance in developing a new and comprehensive compensation plan that will meet the company's needs in both their domestic operations and their international operations. MPBS management has asked you to review their current plan and prepare a report describing the new plan.
You have asked MPBS to describe the most important criteria they would like to see in the new plan and they have indicated they would like to have a compensation program that will:
Help align organizational efforts to the company's mission and strategic plan.
Recognize, reward and stimulate good and excellent performance.
Be considered fair and equitable by as many company personnel as it is realistic to expect.
Withstand legal challenges.
Be cost effective.
Address the diverse needs of the scientific, administrative, sales, management, and technical staff.
MPBS recognizes that they have taken a very haphazard approach to employee benefits and have asked you to ignore the benefits they now provide as you develop a new employee benefits package for the company.
Your consulting team has met and worked up the framework of the report that should be submitted. In addition to employee benefits, it must provide for annual adjustments to base pay, whether salary or hourly wage, and a pay for performance plan.
MPBS management has asked you to design the total compensation plan that will cover all employees located within the United States in detail first, then follow that detailed plan with recommendations on how it should differ for employees living and working in Germany and in Japan.
Your report should include the following:
The core of the benefits package [e.g., insurance, paid time off (PTO), and retirement programs].
Lifestyle benefits with appropriate summary details on each of these benefits.
Classification of the percentage of the total compensation budget that should be allocated for the benefits plan.
Annual adjustments to individual base pay. Be specific. Determine the extent (if any) to which adjustments to base pay should be tied to seniority, cost-of-living, or performance, or a specified combination of these. Indicate any difference in guidelines for adjustments that should differ for specific occupational groups and/or geographical locations.
Short-term and long-term incentive, or pay-for-performance plans, including whether the incentives should be based on individual, team/group, or organization-wide performance.
Compare any differences that should be made for employees living and working in Germany and in Japan.
provide rationale for how well your plan meets the most important criteria MPBS provided you in the beginning of the assignment.
Distinguish how your plan will motivate employees to best align themselves to MPBS's goals. Briefly describe the motivational theories that support your reasoning and tie the theories to the different parts of your plan.
Evaluate how the components of the recommended compensation plan shape a consistent message to employees and summarize the message the plan conveys.