Making sure employees are compensated accordingly is a very important role for a business. Understanding how to accurately create a pay structure dependent on an employee’s individual skills, or the skills needed for a specific job is up to the business to decide. According to the text, a person-based job structure is when a company “rewards employees for acquiring job-related, knowledge, skills, or competencies rather than for demonstrating successful job performance” (pg. 101). Whereas a job-based pay structure is when a company “compensates employees for jobs they currently perform, which include seniority pay, merit pay, and incentive pay” (pg. 111).
The company I chose to research and decide whether or not they would be best off with a job-based or person-based pay structure was Condé Nast. Condé Nast is a “global media group that produces some of the world’s leading print, digital, video, and social brands”; some of their brands include Vogue, Bon Appetit, The New Yorker, and more (condenast.com). They are an international company with headquarters in in New York City and London.
After closely looking at the values and mission statement of Condé Nast, I’ve decided that a person-based pay structure would be the best and most accurate pay structure for their company. Many of their jobs require an employee’s personal knowledge on specific topics, as well proficient experience within different fields, emphasizing that their pay structure should be built on individual knowledge, skills, or competencies. Condé Nast also takes pride in valuing their employees’ diverse backgrounds, views, and cultures, while also showing a great appreciation for the personal qualities, skills, and contributions provided by each employee (condenast.com). Although some of their entry level positions seem as though they could be paid based on a job-based pay structure, these positions still require an employee to use their own personal knowledge of the industry, experiences, and expertise which ultimately means they should be compensated based on a person-based pay structure.
Overall, I believe that given the type of company that Condé Nast is and the values that they hold, they would benefit greatly by providing a person-based pay structure.
