30 year employee

joyce

We have an employee who has been with our organization for 30 years. She is an executive assistant. Rather than to contine to increase her base salary (she is already over the top), would a longevity bonus fit here and if so what amount would be appropriate?

Jackson

When you say that she is already "over the top", I assume that you are paying her in excess of the top of her established salary range. In that case you are going to have to explain to her why she has been allowed to go "over the top" in the past, and why you are going to stop that practice. When someone tops out on our salary range they are considered to be "red circled", or in other words, no more base salary increases until the ranges are adjusted. Employees who are "red circled" with us are still eligible for lump sum merit payments - usually an amount equal to the percentage of increase she would have been eligible for in a base raise. You may have to readjust your ranges and advise that no one will be allowed to exceed them in the future. Hope this helps.

Down_the_Middle

Think about offering a retention lump-sum payment (in lieu of her annual merit increase). The message is very strong, offers her some immediate cash (maybe $1-3K) and avoids the on-going addt'l cost of higher base salary. We're doing this and also requiring a work agreement (1 yr) to show our committment to retaining that person.

bsa

I've had red circles and lump sum merits in one of my other lives. It was nice to receive a chunk of change (10% of my base) all at once, I wasn't expecting anything because I knew I was highly paid for the position I held. Also, it wasn't a bad precedent for the company because it was something they only had to use for highly paid long term employees.

sonny

I agree with Jackson. At a former employer, policy was supposed to be to red circle, but we were being nice..until we had a clerk who was making outrageous money. When we switched it made for one unhappy employee. Current employer gives 1% lump sump of annual salary, plus here ranges are adjusted annually based on cost of living increase so they get COL and 1%. .no merit. So even long termers get something. They complain CONSTANTLY that it isn't enough, but it is something and at former employer (once implemented) people could go 3 years with no increase as ranges were usually adjusted with CBA every 3 years and the union had negotiated no merit increases and that did not do much for the morale and incentive to stay for long termers.