Changing Salary Schedule- How do you implement the change?

Balloonman

We are getting set to meet on discussing updating our wage rates. One of the issues we have discussed is do we make across the board increases or not once the change is made. I am interested in others input. Myself I do not believe we should be just increasing someones salary because the wage rates have changed, but make the adjustment at review time with a large increase if warrented.
I need objective opinions, of what other have done and what you think.
Thanks for you $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

deniseE

I work in government...so there are no merit increases...everyone gets the same raise. In some cases that's nice...but I believe that it leads to complacency. Why work so hard if you know the end result ($$$ wise) will not be impacted?

maybe you could split the difference, offer a small 1% across the board-cost of living sort of thing...and then provide an incentive for 2-4% as a merit raise?

ray a

Last time we adjusted our Wage Index, we gave the lowest paid mfg. associates enough of an increase so they would be earning more than new hires. Others were adjusted, if necessary, at the time of their scheduled increase.

Sunny

In our union facility of course, when we have a wage increase it is across the board and all union workers get the new rates.

In our non-union plant, when we change the rates, we evaluate everyone and based on the evaluation they either get the higher rate or go on a 90-day probation.

Don D

We're about to implement a 2% increase in our hourly structure. Most ee's are at the top and will increase. We'll also increase the start step at the same time. This is to coincide with the annual reviews. Most of them, except new folks are done in September, which is when our annual increase is typically increased, but we just went through a corporate-wide 6-month delay in all wage increases. In my experience, though, it is typical to study wage stuctures periodically and adjust scales for affected positions and then let the annual increase hit where it may as long as it's in the range. Typically 2-4.5%

System

I, too (like Denise) work in government. We have a step table, set at 4% increases between steps. Employees get a 4% increase on their anniversary date regardless of performance. I agree it's a poor system. I've been pushing for "pay for performance" for about 4 years now.

I participate in a bi-annual salary survey with other local governments. When our salaries appear in the lower half, I begin a process to increase wages for the next budget cycle. If the wages increase, the table is adjusted and all employees are increased at the beginning of the next fiscal year.

LeeR

We have step scales. We allow one step increase for each year of outside experience up to step 7. If you are on step 8 of the pay scale and we adjust the pay scale you go to step 8 on the new pay scale.

rad

Our union employees get across the board, same rate increases. The salaried emplopyees get an increase at the same time every year but the amount is a combination of a team review and individual review and can not be more than a certain percent that varies from year to year depending upon the budget allowances. Its a little complicated, the comp guy explained it to me once and my eyes glazed over, I'm glad I'm not the one trying to figure it all out.