Pay Matters: The Art and Science of Employee Compensation

by David Weaver

Most organizations fail to pay their employees properly—not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t approach compensation with a plan. The compensation landscape is changing rapidly. If you don’t pay your employees what they’re worth, not only will your competitors leave you behind, but you’ll also leave yourself open to legal, social, and political backlash. As an HR professional or manager, how do you navigate the confusing world of compensation? Pay Matters is your go-to guide for demystifying the art and science of compensation. Step-by-step, David Weaver explains how to perform a detailed market analysis that reveals exactly how much each position in your organization should be paid. You’ll also learn how to develop a pay philosophy specifically tailored to your organization and strike the elusive balance between profit and labor costs. With precisely calibrated base salaries, rewards programs, and enticing incentives, you’ll be able to keep your best employees. Don’t leave salaries open to the caprices of your organization’s senior leaders. Approach them confidently with a proven methodology. After all, pay matters.

Genres: Business

212 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2020

About the author

David Weaver is Founder of the Compensation and HR Group and is responsible for compensation consulting within the organization. Previously, David spent twenty years managing a human resources membership organization, and he also held positions with industry leaders as a corporate human resources professional.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, David has also made his mark in academia. As adjunct faculty member for both Northeastern University and Newbury College, he taught courses in Compensation Management. Currently, he is an instructor for the certification program at the Compensation Analyst Academy.

Reviews

[Gepser Hoil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good intro about the topic. I'll suggest every CEO, CTO, HR, and Manager should read this book.

It answers the "Why" and "How" about compensation. It adds some examples and stories.

You'll learn about:

Internal consistency:
- Job descriptions
- Job evaluations
- Job structure
- Pay philosophy

External competitiveness:
- Salary surveys
- Market analysis
- Salary ranges (brackets)

Employee contributions
- Increase guidelines
- Incentive programs

Administration:
- Salary planning
- Budgeting
- Party communication
- Program review
- Compensation model
- Policy decisions

It also mentions the topic of Performance Evaluations, which is kind of a bonus in the book but I liked that.

You'll learn what happens if you pay behind the market (high turnover), how much you can pay behind the market (if you choose that option), what happens if you pay the market ranges, and what happens if you pay above the market.

You'll learn that it costs 2-3 times the employee salary if you lose them. Internal equity, External equity.

How to read and what to do with payment data, which ones to choose, how old is too old, how to catch up without constantly looking for new data outside.

All that a some more, so yeah, I liked the book.

[Maureen Forys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, basic overview!

[Jeka · Rating 4 out of 5]

good ideas for starting a payment plan

Simple ideas , good explanation. You should read if you wanna understand the some issues about employees , Hr and the importance of money here

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m currently performing a Salary survey with a company. We have not completed one with our organization since 2004. I wanted to understand the process better. This book helped. Also, I can get SHRM CUE credit for reading it.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that lays out a clear process to developing a competitive and fair compensation plan. Worth the read if you are HR or a leader in the private sector. Knowing about how pay motivates the workforce is critical to success. Weaver offers insights and recommendations that are relevant, especially in todays job market. The only thing I wish there were more of is real-world examples. Otherwise great read for HR practitioners and leaders.

[Lee Tyner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: Pay More

I didn’t really care for it. Pay more, pay more, pay more. Ugh…. Also, it is too casally written. Prose is fine and narrative is good, but it went too far. Furthermore, the author sometimes says to never do _____ and later tells why you should consider _____ . Not enough definitions, almost nothing on payroll, and the advice is too simple. Last, it seems as though the author’s experience is limited to one portion of the U.S. Some of the advice is just not applicable, nor would it be well received, out of major employers in major cities.

[Michael MacRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

The vast experience of the author turns this into a useful read, but it’s very unscientific and does not take psychological drive or larger studies into consideration (which frequently disagree with the authors recommendations). It’s also heavily US based and not as useful for international companies.

[RODOLFO HOLLANDER · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting overview of the subject

I recomend this book for a person who wants tonknow about pay. It covers most areas of the subject, but does not go into any area with sufficient depth for an HR profesional

[Kyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book gave some really helpful insights into all matters compensation (salaries and market value, incentives, merit raises, and even performance review tips). I feel like I've got a good foundation to build on for where I'm at and I've got some ideas to run with.

[Lord Vader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It will be a tool in my desk for a while.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid. Concrete, actionable advice and methods. Good quick foundation.

[Randi Halbmaier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I would have had this book at the start of my HR career! Fantastically laid out.

[Michael Yao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rehashed basics

This just ran through the basics of payroll, but alot of filler. For example, a few pages of rewarding people in alternative ways. Treasure hunts! Pizza parties!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stuff and really good ideas in here though I obviously don't agree with everything, but it was definitely worth the time and money I invested. There's really good info in here about reviewing job descriptions and building the salary model. Not a lot of books on this.

What bothered me though: for starters, he is blatantly anti-union. I don't believe workers should have to rely on the benevolent whims of being lucky enough to have decent management to ensure good benefits and wages. Not everyone is going to do right by their employees. We know this. It's just the way of the world right now.

He was also 100% for merit based pay. I want to be on board with merit pay and tying pay to performance, but there are just so many ways that that system is fraught and I didn't see real solutions here to them. How can I be sure that one manager isn't just rating everyone highly on the team because they're uncomfortable giving negative feedback, or that another manager has implicit bias that's impacting their judgment? I cannot. I'm not saying there's no way to manage those things, but they're difficult and this book doesn't offer satisfying solutions or even attempts at solutions for these major flaws in the merit based pay system.