BUS 434 Discussion responses 1 & 2

I need someone to respond to the students discussions that is listed.

CompensationStrategy

Select an organization with which you are familiar and describe the type of compensation strategy it uses. 

Guided Response:

Be sure your response is between 200-300 words and includes at least two scholarly references, one of which should be our course text.  Respond to at least two classmates’ posts.

 I need to respond to these two student’s discussion

Reply to

Katise Aiken

An organization I am familiar with is Peoplease. This company has been around forever twenty years. We are a small company with about 60 employees. I am a Payroll Specialist and I have been with this company for over 11 years. The company provides services such as payroll, HR, benefits, and tax for mainly trucking companies all over the United States. The strategy that fits this company is the “total rewards strategy, including compensation, benefits, work-life effectiveness, recognition, performance management, and talent development” (Weathington, 2016. Ch. 1.2). When I first started at this company, the perks are what drew me to this company. The starting pay was decent, especially with no experience. We got a fairly good raise each year in addition to a nice size bonus. The benefits are exceptional. All Single medical coverage is paid 100% by the company. The coverage includes dental, medical, vision, and life. They offer tuition reimbursement for courses taken that is related to your job.

Our company, as well as our clients, recognize employees for doing a good job. With being recognized there is also a reward given whether it’s money or a letter recognition. The 401K plan is great, it consists of a match up to 4%. If a company keep the focus on compensation strategy that can and will build morale and with keep the employees motivated to do their job. “Compensation represents by far the most important element in the employment relationship and is of equal interest to the employer, employee and government” (Bhatia, 2010. pg. 2). Keep in mind compensation strategies will help motivate, but will also attract new good and qualified candidates to the company.

Bhatia, K. (2010). Compensation management. [electronic resource]. Mumbai; Himalaya Pub. House, 2010. Retrieved from: 

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Weathington, B. L. & Weathington, J. G. (2016). 

Compensation and benefits: Aligning rewards with strategy

 [Electronic version]. Retrieved from 

https://ashford.content.edu (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Reply to

Ana Rojas

Hello professor and classmates.

The organization with which I am familiar with is a Bank but have never worked there. The type of compensation strategy it uses is through salary, bonuses, vacation, sick days, 401k, commissions, and insurances. As it says in our text is an excellent strategy “to keep the new potential hire focused on performance and not distracted by personal matters” (Weathington & Weathington, 2016, Sec. 1.2). This organization has a desirable approach to recruit the right employees. This technique will avoid absences, turnovers and the temptation to take advantage to request more of what is set.

They offer salary depending on the experience and market.  They make an appointment specifically to negotiate with the possible future employee before any decision.

Bonuses are always on the table. Every employee who goes to a general doctor will receive an amount of $300-$700 annually. There are other types of written test about a daily routine that they can go and get a bonus.

Vacation is paid for three weeks. In case that an employee does not use it, the money is transferred to them.

They give around ten days for the sick days.

The 401k works by taking whatever the employee wants from 1% to 6% from each check. The bank doubles the amount of each dollar. This amount could be retired in cases that employee leaves for the total amount and in any case.

Commissions work in a private matter. However, chargeback is applicable. This action means that if the customer terminates the offer the employee needs to pay the points back to the organization. This system applies for the next six months people enrolled. After that no chargeback is applicable.

Insurance plan is great. It offers health in vision, dental, general and specialists. They can cover the whole family. The fee is around $600 monthly for all.

Compensation is one of the Bank’s strengths. However, I have heard that some of the bonuses as the one for medicals are not available anymore starting this year and some others will discontinue because their system is interested in incorporating another technological strategy with fewer employees. Another reason could be because of the recent financial crisis our country and society has been experiencing (Proctor & Murtagh, 2014). Many organizations were obligated to implement this cut. Previous employees from the bank say that the rate of commissions and bonuses were multiple times better before than what is today.

Reference

Proctor, R. & Murtagh, J. (2014). Incentive compensation for bank CEOS and CFOS before and after the financial crisis. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 17(2), p.61. Retrieved from http://bi.galegroup.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/global/article/GALE%7CA397579854/9b3aaa91dafaf767eb0a184e7eceb4d4?u=ashford

Weathington, B. L. & Weathington, J. G. (2016). Compensation and benefits: Aligning rewards with strategy [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://ashford.content.edu

 

Overview of Compensation & Benefits

Compare and contrast compensation and benefits strategy of the “people department” of Southwest Airlines to overall strategies of two other airlines.  What distinguishes each approach from the others?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?

Guided Response: Be sure to include links to the companies, as well as the course text, among a minimum of five references. 

Respond to

at least two classmates’ posts.

I need to respond to these two student’s discussion post

Respond to

David Geren

I reviewed the compensation and benefits information for Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines. For the compensation piece of my research I chose to focus on Flight Attendants to establish a baseline for comparison. I did this because all three airlines utilize them and I believed it would be easier to show the data within a like career path.

 

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Benefits

Southwest (Flight Attendant)

United Airlines (Flight Attendant)

Delta (Flight Attendant)

Salary

$25,491 – $121,942

$24,271 – $115,944

$24,705 – $105,098

Medical

Y

Dental

Vision

Retirement/ 401K

Vacation

 

The chart above depicts salary range and major benefit package offerings for all three airlines (payscale.com)

The first thing that jumped out to me when comparing the three airlines was the average starting salary, Southwest Airlines starting pay is slightly higher than the other two, which tells me their compensation strategy might be a bit more aggressive than their competitors.

All three employers offer the option of Medical, Dental and Vision care plans. According to their respective company benefits websites there are multiple options to choose from within each plan, to include family coverage.

The financial awards programs for all three are comparable as well, Southwest’s 401k program is more beneficial to the employee than the other two in that they match dollar for dollar up to 8.3 to 9.3 percent of the employee’s salary, United and Delta are below that.

One major area that Southwest distinguishes itself over United and Delta is in their Training and Development program. Southwest has what they call Southwest Airlines University, “it provides technical training and personal and professional development opportunities through classroom and online formats” (southwest.com). Either Delta or United mention this type of program being offered for their employees.

As you would imagine the three airlines offer very similar compensation and benefits packages to their employees with regard to medical, dental, retirement planning, and paid time off but Southwest appears to be a step ahead in what they offer. If I were to find a disadvantage in Southwest it would be that when they began operations they only used one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737. While this strategy helped them with maintenance costs, it probably hurt them with regard to employee knowledge development given they were only familiar with one airframe (Weathington, B. L. & Weathington, J. G. 2016)

 

https://www.deltajobs.net/travel_and_benefits.htmLinks to an external site.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Southwest-Airlines-US-Benefits-EI_IE611.0,18_IL.19,21_IN1.htmLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Flight_Attendant/Hourly_Rate/cbc9177c/Southwest-Airlines-CoLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Flight_Attendant/Hourly_Rate/4bf8a22a/United-Airlines-IncLinks to an external site.

.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Flight_Attendant/Hourly_Rate/8220585c/Delta-Air-Lines-IncLinks to an external site.

https://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/careers/workperks.htmlLinks to an external site.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/company/career/benefits.aspxLinks to an external site.

Weathington, B. L. & Weathington, J. G. (2016). Compensation and benefits: Aligning rewards with strategy [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Respond to

Elyse Willfong

In addition to Southwest Airlines, I chose to research pay scale and benefit summaries for JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines. Below is a chart of my findings: Pilot, Co-Pilot, Captain

Benefits

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

 

 

Y

 

 

Y

 

 

Y

 

 

Y

 

 

Y

 

Y

Southwest Airlines	JetBlue Airways	Alaska Airlines
Pay Scale	$60k-$298k	$50k-$220k	$102k-$293k
Profit Share
401K
Pension Plan
Health Insurance
Life Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Temp Disability
Long-Term Disability

 

When comparing and contrasting these three airlines for the said position above, I noticed first that Alaska Airlines pay their pilots/captains quite a bit more for their base pay than the other two airlines. I then began looking at the summary of benefits for each airline, expecting great benefits. However, I was shocked to learn that neither JetBlue nor Alaska companies offered any type of health insurance. I did see that Alaska Airlines offered two different pension plans, whereas, the other two only offered one.

Looking at the benefits that both companies carry, I wonder how Southwest and JetBlue have any employees, as much as Alaska Airlines are paying their employees. But, I also wonder why the two latter airlines do not offer the same benefits. How do you keep employees who are not offered health benefits? I believe these to be the weaknesses.

Ref:

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Southwest_Airlines_Co/SalaryLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Southwest_Airlines_Co/BenefitsLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=JetBlue_Airways_Corporation/SalaryLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=JetBlue_Airways_Corporation/BenefitsLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Alaska_Airlines,_Inc./SalaryLinks to an external site.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Alaska_Airlines,_Inc./BenefitsLinks to an external site.