Homework 1- Read the Case Study entitled, "Pay Decisions at Performance Sports", then answer all of the questions at the end of the case.

Case -Katie Perkins's career objective while attending Rockford State College was to obtain a degree in small business management and to start her own business after graduation. Her ultimate desire was to combine her love of sports and a strong interest in marketing to start a mail-order golf equipment business aimed specifically at beginning golfers.

In February 2003, after extensive development of a strategic business plan and a loan in the amount of $75,000 from the Small Business Administration, Performance Sports was begun. Based on a marketing plan that stressed fast delivery, error-free customer service, and large discount pricing, Performance Sports grew rapidly. At present the company employs sixteen people: eight customer service representatives earning between $11.25 and $13.50 per hour; four shipping and receiving associates paid between $8.50 and $9.50 per hour; two clerical employees each earning $8.25 per hour; an assistant manager earning $15.25 per hour; and a general manager with a wage of $16.75 per hour. Both the manager and assistant manager are former customer service representatives.

Perkins intends to create a new managerial position, purchasing agent, to handle the complex duties of purchasing golf equipment from the company's numerous equipment manufacturers. Also, the mail-order catalog will be expanded to handle a complete line of tennis equipment. Since the position of purchasing agent is new, Perkins is not sure how much to pay this person. She wants to employ an individual with five to eight years of experience in sports equipment purchasing.

While attending an equipment manufacturers convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, Perkins learns that a competitor, East Valley Sports, pays its customer service representatives on a pay-for-performance basis. Intrigued by this compensation philosophy, Perkins asks her assistant manager, George Balkin, to research the pros and cons of this payment strategy. This request has become a priority because only last week two customer service representatives expressed dissatisfaction with their hourly wage. Both complained that they felt underpaid relative to the large amount of sales revenue each generates for the company.

Questions-

1. What factors should Perkins and Balkin consider when setting the wage for the purchasing agent position? What resources are available for them to consult when establishing this wage?

2. Suggest advantages and disadvantages of a pay-for-performance policy for Performance Sports.

3. Suggest a new payment plan for the customer service representatives.

Homework 2 - Response this 2 questions in 150 Words

Question: Many organizations are concerned about the rising cost of employee benefits and question their value to the organization and to employees.

In your opinion, what benefits are of the greatest value to employees?  To the organization? Why?

What can management do to increase the value to the organization of the benefits provided to employees?

THEN

Response to the comments bellow in 150 Words each

Comment 1

In my opinion, the greatest value to most to most employees would be benefits, regarding health insurance and life and disability insurance.  The reason why this is most important to people is because your overall health is something that is a determining factor as to your ability to work.  Most people today, children included have some type of health issues, whether they progressed over time, or they were born with an illness or disease. Diabetes is a disease that one can be diagnosed at any age, and even some people are born with it; diabetes is something that can be life threating depending on how severe the case is, but if someone needs to be on insulin every day, and the average cost for a vial of insulin in $300 due to lack of health insurance, this is something that could affect your ability to work, so having health insurance could help cut cost on chronic medications that someone may need to survive. There are so many people in the world that are uninsured and unhealthy due to lack of money, connections and insurance. Most people need to feel like if they get sick or ever diagnosed with an illness they can receive the help they need, which is why health insurance is a top priority among most people when looking for a job. The second, or I will say equal to health insurance, would be disability. There are thousands of cases where people are getting hurt on the job, or hurt outside of work, and they are unable to complete their job duties due to an injury. Without disability insurance, sometimes people are out of work and have no means of income to live. Most people look for not only preventative care, but also look for the benefits if there is ever an issue with their wellbeing. The greatest value to the organization is going to be cost control, and employee retention.  Due to economy changes over the past several years, the priorities of employee benefits have changed. The cost has gone up tremendously and having to pay to replace employees and continue benefits becomes very costly for organizations.  With insurance overall becoming more expensive every year, it makes it difficult for some companies to offer great benefits that will accommodate all employees. Some incentives for the employees may be a way to help with the lack of benefits. Some of those rewards could be a free membership or a 50% off discount for gym membership for those who want to stay or get in shape to help with their overall health, for the employees that have perfect attendance for like 3 or 6 months, a gift card to a place of their choice, or even a free health screening provided by the employer. These incentives can sometimes make a difference with employees when they feel they are not receiving the best benefits from their job.

Comment 2

Typically there are two types of benefits or, we can say incentives while considering in taking a position in any organization as an employee.  Such as monetary benefits for lower level employees can be allowances, bonus, commission, perks etc. and non-monetary benefits include coveted parking spaces, retirement plan, housing facilities, cabins etc. for higher profile employees (www.hiring.monster.com).

Although, in my opinion benefits that are greatly valued by employees are health care benefits, paid time off, pension plans, and domestic partner benefits and other benefits and service. However, employers today offer a vast range of benefits depending on the organizations size and profitability. On the other hand, benefits organization are mainly concerned about would be health care benefits because as we know they could be costly, but nearly a quarter of the benefits provided is legally required. Furthermore because they would want to ensure the safety of its employees and give them a sense of comfort knowing if anything was to occur they'll be protected while still staying within budget (Snell & Bohlander, 2013).

In my opinion management can increase value to the organization of the benefits to employees by getting a strategic benefit plan that meets the needs of each individual. We all know that these plans can be costly but by tailoring down the key benefits and doing a little research on how the management can improve employee productivity (Snell & Bohlander, 2013).