When I think about a person focused pay structure I think of a skill based pay (SBP) compensation system. I have a very large background in the sports world and could not look at the National Football League as a prime example of a SBP. In this type of structure it has been taught that the pay is determined by that persons characteristics or skillset from our classes learning materials. Rather than just the job itself. I use the NFL as example because its players are paid based on their skillset and athletic capabilities. The higher skilled the athlete the more they are generally paid. A good way to measure this is based on production and statistic the individual athlete produces. For example before this NFL season the Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes signed a $500 million dollar contract. Becoming the highest paid football player in history because of many factors. He has been able to put of some amazing production, winning lots of games and even the super bowl. Doing all of this and at an early age has made this contract possible for himself. The contract is paying him for what he has already done and for what he can do in the future. In essence saying hey you are doing great and please keep it up and we want to reward you for your work and kind of bribe you to keep it up. He was able to set his own salary and if the Chiefs refused to offer him this deal another NFL team could and the Chiefs could lose their most important player. If another pay structure was used it just wouldn’t work. The athletes who are the employees would more than likely not support the idea. For the most part to get top level football played and win you need to pay based on skillsets. This is not like paying a cashier who you can easily be replaced and receive the same production. A cashier has no leverage to demand more pay. Where a NFL quarterback can because its like saying good luck finding someone to do what Patrick can because you probably wont. Now the players benefit from this greatly but the NFL would make even more money then it already does if they could just set a pay structure and the players had no option. Though if this was the case it would not make football what it is today.
