Societal ClassIntroduction and Alignment

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to better understand the implications of pay policy on three societal classes: poverty, middle class, and the wealthy. A look at each of these will take place but special emphasis will be placed on poverty. According to the most recent Census data (2011), poverty is on the rise. What does this mean for employers? Are employers a part of the problem or part of the solution? This research effort looks for some answers to these questions and more in an aim to locate strategies for building bridges out of poverty. In this assignment, you will create a PowerPoint presentation with embedded notes, discussing the implications of pay policy on societal classes - including an in-depth discussion of whether organizations have any responsibility to its employees who may reside in the societal class - poverty.

Upon successful completion of this assignment you will be able to:

• Explore the implications of strategic compensation policy on three societal classes: poverty class, middle class, and wealthy class; formulating ways to encourage positive implications and mediate negative implications in the current workplace.

Resources

• Textbook: Compensation
• Article: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=28330

Assignment Lecture

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. is a leading U.S. expert on the mindsets of poverty, middle class and wealth. Two of the books that she has written include: A Framework for Understanding Poverty and Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities. After much research, Payne has defined poverty as

'the extent to which an individual does without resources.' These resources are the following:

• Financial: Having the money to purchase goods and services.
• Emotional: Being able to choose and control emotional responses, particularly to negative situations, without engaging in self-destructive behavior. This is an internal resource and shows itself through stamina, perseverance, and choices.
• Mental: having the mental abilities and acquired skills (reading, writing, computing) to deal with daily life.
• Spiritual: Believing in divine purpose and guidance.
• Physical: Having physical health and mobility.
• Support Systems: Having friends, family, and backup resources available to access in times of need. These are external resources.
• Relationships/Role Models: Having frequent access to adult(s) who are appropriate, who are nurturing to the child, and who do not engage in self-destructive behavior.
• Knowledge of Hidden Rules: Knowing the unspoken cues and habits of a group. (Payne, 2005, p. 7)

Therefore, based on Payne's definition of poverty, impoverishment can occur whenever a person does without any one or more of the above listed resources. She does provide some additional guidelines as well. A few include:

(1) poverty is relative - it exists only in relationship to known quantities or expectations, (2) poverty occurs in all races and in all countries, (3) economic class is a continuous line, not a clear-cut distinction, (4) generational poverty and situational poverty are different, (5) an individual brings with him/her the hidden rules of the class in which he/she was raised, (6) to move from poverty to middle class or middle class to wealth, an individual must give up relationships for achievement (at least for some period of time), (7) two things that help one move out of poverty are education and relationships, and (8) four reasons one leaves poverty are: it's too painful to stay, a vision or goal, a key relationship, or a special talent or skill. (pp. 2-3)

Payne, R. K. (2005). A framework for understanding poverty (4th ed.).Highlands, TX: aha! Press, Inc.

Instructions

1. Locate and read the following article from the organization World at Work:

World at Work. (2000). World at Work total rewards model: A framework for strategies to attract, motivate and retain employees. Retrieved from World at Work: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=28330

1. Other potentially beneficial resources to locate and read for this assignment:

IRP. (2011). What are poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines? Retrieved from Institute for Research on Poverty: http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq1.htm

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). 2012 HHS poverty guidelines. Retrieved from ASPE: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml

1. Create a PowerPoint presentation titled The Implications of Pay Policy (Total Rewards) on Societal Classes. The presentation is to be made to the prospective audience of HR managers, and is to present on the timely topic - given the rise in poverty over the past few years due to the economic downturn and effects of globalization -the implications of pay policy on three societal classes: poverty, middle class and wealthy. Address the following in the robust and professional slideshow presentation (i.e., slides, graphics and web links and potential YouTube clips, and embedded notes):
2. Definitions of Societal Classes. Provide a definition for each of the three societal classes: poverty, middle class, and wealthy.
3. Implications of Pay Policy. Discuss the implications that pay policy decisions (total rewards) can have on each of the three societal classes.
4. Top Twelve Benefits. Using the World at Work Total Rewards Inventory (see the document link above), identify what you believe to be the top twelve total rewards desired by each of the three societal classes (i.e., 12 for poverty, 12 for middle class, and 12 for wealthy). Provide support for your hypothesis through statistics, examples, interview findings, stories, or personal experiences. Were there any surprising revelations in your list?
5. Organizational Total Rewards. Complete the total rewards inventory for your organization to include all rewards the company makes available, especially noting if there are different offerings for different "classes" of employees. From the findings, what philosophical conclusions may be drawn about your current organization?
6. Poverty is on the Rise. According to the most recently published Census data (2012), poverty is on the rise. What does this mean for employers? Employees? Are employers part of the problem or part of the solution?
7. When a Good Worker is Poor. In the closing paragraph of this tragic story (see available links above), Zigarelli (2008) writes, "I left that place shaken, thinking about the power each one of us has to affect the lives of our co-workers" (p. 298). What is within your power to affect the life of another co-worker(s) - a good worker who is poor?
8. Biblical Perspective. Answer the question: From a biblical perspective, do managers have a responsibility to ensure that their employees are not in poverty? Support your response with at least five (5) biblical passages (at least two from a biblical book other than Proverbs which was part of our Faith & Learning in this course).
9. Bridges Out of Poverty. What are some benefits or programs that human resource managers might propose for organizational implementation to help lift impoverished employees out of poverty? Identify separately: (1) low or no cost benefits or programs and (2) more costly benefits or programs.
10. Outside Research. From your additional outside research, what lessons have you learned or what advice can you give to others - especially human resource managers, regarding how to build bridges out of poverty?
11. The five-six minute, 8 to 10 slides PowerPoint should be professionally constructed with a good balance of words and space and graphics. Embedded speech notes are to be single spaced, but otherwise adhere to APA requirements (i.e., in-text citations, 2 spaces between sentences, 1 space all else and so forth) and mechanics (i.e., sentence structure, punctuation, word choice, spelling, and grammar). A title slide and reference slide are to be included, in addition to the required slide count. The PowerPoint presentation is to have embedded notes totaling at . A minimum of two credible outside reference sources (not already identified in this assignment) are to be included in the presentation.
12. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy as a PowerPoint to your instructor using the Dropbox by the end of the workshop.