What is Merit pay?
Merit pay is defined as an increase in pay based on the criteria set by an employer or organisation. It is also known as pay-for-performance wherein a company offers incentives to higher-performing employees on a regular basis.
The purpose of merit pay entails providing employees raises in their base salary or bonuses in exchange for their performance. It is offered to employees who perform their tasks well and meet easily measurable criteria.
Merit pay is most frequent in sales jobs, as it gives a performance-based wage based on an employee meeting or exceeding particular company objectives. It is especially prevalent in education, where teachers can be given merit pay based on student test scores or monitored evaluations. Simple pay hikes, compensation increases based on employee seniority, or general cost-of-living may be replaced by merit pay.
How does a Merit pay system work?
When a corporation uses merit pay, it develops a set of performance standards for its employees. The organisation also develops a plan for evaluating employee performance against those criteria, with check-ins scheduled at monthly or quarterly intervals leading up to the review date. Employers could choose the start and end dates for merit pay increases each fiscal year. A corporation must be able to produce accurate, detailed data to gauge employee performance in order for merit pay to be an effective compensation strategy.
Calculating Merit pay
Most businesses construct a merit pay system based on a percentage scale. Employees are usually offered a modest percentage of their current income or pay rate. During merit reviews, it's typical for a department or business unit to allocate its overall percent increase based on employee performance. For example, a 3 percent raise may be handed to individual employees in.5% increments, with top performers earning more than 3 percent and others receiving less than 3 percent.
Advantages of Merit pay
1. Attracting top talent
Providing merit-based pay might assist a company in attracting well-performing employees. Top performers who understand their worth and believe in their abilities want their remuneration to be linked to their performance.
2. Clear expectations
Employees get clear information regarding what their company deems great work when their income is tied to their performance. Merit pay can assist distinguish between urgent and low-priority tasks in this way.
3. Identifying employee rankings
Merit evaluations can be used by employers to establish a ranked list of employees based on their strengths. Employees who do well receive the highest merit pay, while those who perform poorly receive less or no merit pay.
4. Making corporate objectives clear
When organisations link pay raises to achieving goals, they help employees understand what the company's aims are. Vision and purpose statements become reality when they are presented as an actionable to-do list that leads to increased remuneration.
5. Increasing productivity and efficiency
Employees are more likely to self-motivate when they know there are financial incentives for high-quality work. Merit pay can aid in the fight against workplace complacency.
6. Creating a healthy level of competition
Merit pay can motivate employees to compete for the best performance in a healthy corporate culture. When salary increases are directly linked to meeting company objectives, both top performers benefit.
Disadvantages of Merit Pay
Even though merit pay is based on objective goals, managers may nevertheless award it subjectively. Subjective evaluations are frequently used to determine merit compensation
- Employee relationships may suffer as a result of merit pay systems, as well as morale issues stemming from jealousy, fear, favouritism, unwelcome competition, and job instability.
- Employees who are dissatisfied with their merit pay may believe that their management favours other employees over them, regardless of their performance assessments.
- Employees are more likely to develop divisive and competitive attitudes as a result of merit schemes than they are to cooperate.
- Employees that receive a merit rating are in a competitive position for wage increases. Employee competitiveness may conflict with the organization's goals of teamwork and cooperation.
Merit pay systems involve a lot of resources because they need a corporation to build skills, determine metrics, and create performance baselines in addition to arranging and holding real evaluations. Because they must employ such resources for profit-generating elements of the business, not all businesses can implement merit pay.
1. Managerial burden
It takes a lot of effort from managers to complete the merit pay procedure thoughtfully. Because no two managers are alike, some may be better suited to the task than others. Managers with superior communication skills, for example, may find it easier to communicate what staff must accomplish to get merit raises.
2. Implications for morale
Merit pay has been shown to have a detrimental impact on employee morale. Some employees may be discouraged by what they perceive to be unequal compensation for the same work, while others may believe that they are being compensated in the same way as other employees whose work they consider to be subpar.s for the profit-driving components of the organisation.
3. Unfounded expectations
Regardless of budgetary constraints or changes in employee behaviour, merit pay might cause employees to expect the same raise year after year.
4. Unhealthy competition
In companies with less positive cultures, the promise of merit pay may motivate employees to act selfishly rather than in the best interests of the organisation.
Are Merit pay and Bonus the same?
Merit pay is different from a bonus in that it is frequently added to or incorporated into the employee's base compensation, whereas a bonus is a one-time payment.
The distinction between incentives and merit raises is that incentives are only in place for a limited time. When an employee receives a different type of remuneration for a job well done, that pay is only temporary. A salesperson's bonus for exceeding his sales quota for the quarter is only valid for that quarter. If salespeople wish to get the same incentive the next quarter, they must exceed their sales targets. Merit pay, on the other hand, entails a permanent salary boost.
Also read: What is a Bonus?
