Case Scenario:
You are the Director of Compensation and Benefits for Lansing-Smith Corporation, a 6-month old sales and service organization that currently has a workforce of 150 employees. You recently joined the organization when the Vice President of Operations decided to move the Compensation and Benefits function out of the Accounting Department, into a separate function. From your own observations you have identified several areas in need of review, redesign or development, including projects such as an audit of current pay plans to ensure they are aligned with federal regulations, an analysis of various pay plans to assess which plans will provide maximum benefit for Lansing-Smith, extensive job analyses to ensure a solid understanding of each position, job evaluations to determine the worth of the positions, consideration of various incentive plan designs to identify a plan that effectively drives individual and group performance to achieve production goals and research, development, communication and management training for a company-wide performance appraisal process.
You are dedicated to developing compensation and benefit practices that are motivating and empowering for employees. You are confident that with well-developed programs and practices, employees will be motivated to perform at higher levels, thereby driving overall company performance.
TASK NEEDING ASSISTANCE -
Details: A large division within your organization is the inside sales team. Currently there are 60 sales representatives and that number is growing. The Vice President of Sales and Marketing has come to you, as Director of Compensation and Benefits, to request a review of the pay structure for his staff. He has been given the directive to increase sales volume so that the company may continue to grow and achieve its goals. He has asked for your recommendations on an incentive plan that will increase performance.
When he requests work from an outside department, this VP always wants to make sure he agrees with how something is done, as well as the desired result. Write a 2-3 page proposal to the VP explaining the process you will follow to determine what incentive plan would work for a sales organization. Detail the factors you would consider in your review. Propose your recommendations for an incentive plan design. Specify the end result you would expect to achieve.
Objective: Develop an incentive plan for a given organization.