Month: February 2021

When discussing our rankings in class it was really interesting to see how we all had very similar rankings for our benefits. For example, we all had Health Insurance, Paid Time Off, and 401k plan in our non-negotiable benefits. These were all three discretionary benefits that we felt as though were necessary in a benefits package offered from a company. As for our top three that we felt were most likely to eliminate, we all had different rankings which is understandable. The non-negational benefits are ones that are necessary to have in order to set yourself and possibly your family up for success. Whereas the others such as tuition reimbursement, transportation services, gym memberships, etc., are more luxuries than necessities and will really differ based on an individual’s specific values and goals. These rankings can really change over time as an individual grows, and their values and goals change.

The demographic composition of the company’s workforce can really influence the needs and wants in a benefits package. As I stated, depending on an individual’s specific goals and values, and stage in life their wants in a benefit package will change. For example, if a workforce has a high number of young adults who are about to begin their families, those employee’s might put a lot of value in a maternity, and paternity leave plan, as well as flexible work schedules. But if the company has mainly older adults that are near to retirement, they are not going to find as much value in that so therefore the company’s package might be different.

The choices for benefits package greatly influence the overall commitment to a company. Your benefits are included in your total compensation package, therefor it plays a key role in your overall commitment to a company. Overall, offering good benefits is key for a company to attract new talent, and retain their current employees by offering benefits that appeal to their overall demographics.

Pay Structures are an important framework for every business to have. They provide a framework for recognizing differences in employee contributions. When deciding on a pay structure there are two different types of structures that a company can choose. The first being Person Focused pay structure, which rewards employees for acquiring new job related skills, knowledge or competencies. On the other hand there is Job- Based pay structures, which rewards employees based off of compensable factors determined by the company, including responsibility, effort, skills, etc.

I decided to look at Apple as a company and what type of pay structure I think fits appropriately with their business model. Apple’s competitive strategy is product differentiation, where they strive to always be creating their own design and developing their own hardware, software applications and services. They are a part of the electronic Retail product market in which they compete with Samsung, Dell, HP, Sony, etc. Apple has to continuously be creating a competitive edge against their competitors by making new products and software. I believe the best structure for Apple would be the Person-based structure. The person based structure supports apple’s organizational strategy by continuously motivating their employee’s to acquire new skills and knowledge. By providing an incentive to employee’s for their new skills, and knowledge, it motivates the employee’s to want to continuously educate themselves which in turn leads to higher productivity. Instead of directing the employees to be motivated through getting promotions to increase their pay, this strategy motivates employees to gain new knowledge and skills that are applicable to their work to increase their pay. As it is stated in our textbook “Evidence does suggest that person-focused pay plans lead to increased employee commitment, enhanced work motivation, and improved employee satisfaction. These results are probably due to the fact that well-designed, person-focused pay plans promote skill variety and autonomy. “(Page 112)

Overall, I believe that Apple would benefit greatly from a person-focused pay structure that would motivate employees to continuously be learning and gaining new skills and knowledge.