Assignment 4: Recognizing Employee Contributions

You are the HR manager of a relatively new retail company that has both retail stores and Internet sales. Your company is steadily growing in revenue and profitability. The company realizes that in order to retain the solid, highly productive workforce it currently has in place, it is important to enhance the base compensation and benefits package offered to the employees. The company currently offers a basic compensation program and only federally mandated benefits. Employee surveys suggest the compensation and benefits program may be out of date. Employees are beginning to consider leaving the organization.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Propose two (2) methods an HR professional could use to determine incentive pay. Specify the principal manner in which the proposed methods take into consideration individual, group, and company performance. Justify your response.

2. Examine the core legal requirements affecting employee benefits in today's competitive environment. Determine the legally mandated benefits that the company must currently offer to its employees.

3. Recommend at least four (4) additional benefits that the organization should consider providing to its employees. Suggest at least three (3) important concepts that a company must consider when designing benefit plans. Provide a rationale for your response.

4. Assess the efficiency of common techniques for effectively communicating compensation and benefit plans to employees. Support your answer.

5. Suggest two (2) ethical risks of making incentive pay a large portion of employees' total compensation. Propose two (2) recommendations for ways the company might mitigate or reduce these risks.

6. Use at least four (4) quality academic (peer-reviewed) resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Examine the influences on and various approaches to compensation.

· Analyze issues related to developing and implementing employee benefit packages.

· Apply relevant theories and knowledge to human resource practices in organizations.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in human resource management foundations.

· Write clearly and concisely about human resource management foundations using proper writing mechanics.