given to employees in the form of a plan(such as health insurance)rather than cash. A benefits package complements the base-compensation and pay-incentives components of total compensation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, benefits cost U.S. companies about $11,586 per year for the average employee.
Employee benefits protect employees from risks that could jeopardize their health and financial security. They provide coverage for sickness, injury, unemployment, and old age and death. They may also provide services or facilities that many employees find valuable, such as child-care services or an exercise center.
In the U.S. the employer is the primary source of benefits coverage. The situation is quite different in other countries, where many benefits are sponsored by the government and funded with taxes. For example, in the U.S. employers voluntarily provide their employees with health insurance, while in Canada health insurance is a right bestowed on all citizens by the country's national health system. For a brief summary of Canada's health-care policy, see the Issues and Applications feature on page 396 titled: \across the border: A look at Canada's Health-Care system.\
The benefits package offered by a firm can support management's effect to attract employees. When a potential employee is choosing among multiple job offers with similar salaries, a firm offering an attractive benefits package will be ahead of the pack. For example, Swedish Medical Center, a hospital in Denver, Colorado, uses its on-site childcare center as a recruiting tool to attract high-quality staff. It is one of only two hospital in its region that offer this benefits.
Benefits can also help management retain employees. Benefits that are designed to increase in value over time encourage employees to remain with their employer. For instance, many companies make contributions to employees' retirement funds, but these funds are available only to employees who stay with the company for a certain number of years. For this reason, benefits are sometimes called \handcuffs.\of the power of benefits to retain employees is the U.S. military, which provides early retirement benefits to personnel who put in 20 years of service. This \years and out\retirement provision allows retired military people to start a second career at a fairly young age with the security of a lifelong retirement income to supplement their earnings. These generous benefits help the armed forces retain valuable officers and professionals who would otherwise be attracted to higher-paying civilian jobs.
Type of benefits
Benefits can be organized into six categories. These categories, which we examine in detail in this chapter, are:
1.Legally required benefits: U.S. law requires employers to give four benefits to all employees, with only a few exceptions: (1)Social Security; (2)workers' compensation, (3)unemployment insurance, and (4)family and medical leave. All other benefits are provided by employers voluntarily
2.Health insurance: Health insurance covers hospital costs, physician charges, and the costs of other medical services.
3.Retirement: Retirement benefits provide income to employees after they retire. 4.Insurance: Insurance plans protect employees or their dependents from financial difficulties that can arise as a result of disability or death.
5.Paid time off: Time-off plans give employees time off with or without pay, depending on the plan.
6.Employee services: Employee services are tax-preferred services that enhance the quality of employees' work or personal life.
译文
《管理人力资源》，2002年，北京大学出版社，第324~325、327、395~396、399页 作者：Luis.R.Gomez-Mejia、David B.Balkin、Robert L. Cardy
什么是薪酬
员工的总薪酬有三个组成部分。每个的相对比例(即薪酬组合)适合广泛不同的公司。第一个和最大(在大多数公司)元素的总薪酬基本薪酬,员工定期接收固定工资,要么以工资的形式(例如,每周或每月的薪水)或每小时的工资。第二部分的总薪酬是薪酬激励措施,项目旨在奖励员工的良好表现。这些激励措施有许多形式(包括奖金和利润分享),第十一章的重点。总薪酬的最后一个组件是好处,有时被称为间接补偿。好处包括各种各样的程序(例如,医疗保险,假期,和失业补偿),哪一种方法的成本41%的工人的薪酬方案。一个特殊的类别称为额外津贴的福利,或津贴,只提供给员工一些组织中的特殊地位,通常上层管理人员。常见的津贴是公司的车,公司上一个特殊的停车位,公费乡村俱乐部会员。
薪酬是大多数公司最重要的成本。某些类型的生产环境和更高的服务组织(例如,劳动力成本大约80%的美国邮政服务的预算)人员成本高达60%的成本。这意味着薪酬分配的有效性可以显著差异在获得或失去竞争优势。例如,高科技公司提供丰厚的薪酬管理和营销人员但采取研发人员可能失去创新能力,因为竞争对手不断海盗最好的人才。因此,支付多少钱,谁支付公司重要的战略问题是什么;他们在成本方面影响的财务报表并确定公司在多大程度上实现其工资美元低或高回报。
平衡薪酬
理想情况下,一个公司应该建立内部和外部的薪酬公平,但这些目标往往相悖。例如,大学有时候支付新助理教授以上机构的资深教员已经十多年来,企业有时支付工程毕业生超过工程师已经很多年了。
你可能想知道为什么高级雇员接受更低的工资,而不是离开和竞争高薪职位。高级教师通常是终身的,这意味着如果他们去另一个大学他们将放弃工作保障。进而,大学教授和工程师工作在领域知识库是不断变化的,使应届毕业生(更可能是意识到字段)的新发展更有价值的员工。
除了平衡内部和外部股权,许多公司必须确定哪些员工团体的薪酬将会向上调整以满足(或超过)市场利率和组的薪酬将保持在或在市场。这个决定通常是基于每个员工的相对重要性。例如,营销员工更倾向于支付公司,正试图扩大他们的市场份额和更少的老公司,有完善的产品与高品牌认知度。
一般来说, 新的、小型企业在瞬息万变的市场更适合强调外部股权。这些公司通常有很高的需要创新来保持竞争力和依赖于关键人物来实现他们的商业目标。大部分的相
对较新的高科技产业符合这一描述。
例如,每年至少40%的销售增长率在过去的几年中,戴尔电脑的首席执行官迈克尔·戴尔声称公司的首要任务是招聘和留住稀缺人才。根据戴尔的人力资源主管安迪指控,首席执行官不是害怕得到的行为。“我会打电话给迈克尔或电子邮件他说,“我们有一个招募几个相互竞争的报价。你打电话给他吗?”埃说。“他马上拿起电话,或者在回家的路上使用他的汽车电话—无论途中他需要做什么来打这个电话。他是一个伟大的接近。”戴尔与公司每个潜在员工协商制定一个取决于人的价值的薪酬。
更注重内部股票适合成立时间长的,更大的,更完善的公司。这些公司通常有一个成熟的产品,员工花大部分的职业生涯与公司的计划,和不经常更改的工作。大部分监管公用事业行业符合这种描述。
固定和可变工资
公司可以选择支付高比例的总薪酬基本工资的形式(例如, 每月一个可预测的薪水)或变量的形式支付,根据一些波动预先制定标准。例如,花旗银行支付员工(除了那些在最高管理层)几乎只在固定补偿或基本工资的形式。相比之下, Anderson Windows根据公司利润的形式付给其员工总薪酬50%的奖金。
公司在回答固定和可变工资的问题时有一个很大的变化。平均有10%的员工的工资在美国是可变的。相比之下,日本的是20%。然而,在两个国家之间的差距是巨大的—从0%到70%。对于员工团体(如销售)来说，浮动薪酬可以高达100%。一般来说,变量的比例加薪作为员工的基本工资增加,表明那些在更高级别的职位赚得更多,但他们的整体薪酬更危险。年基本工资收入超过750000美元的员工，接近90%的基本工资是可变薪酬。对于那些年基本工资收入低于25000美元的,这个比例下降到低于5%。
在第十一章，我们讨论了可变薪酬拥有许多种形式,包括个人奖金,团队奖金、利润分享、和股票所有权计划。可变工资的比例越高,风险越有员工和公司之间的共享。这意味着收入之间的权衡安全性和潜在的更高的收益。
固定工资是大多数美国组织的规则，主要是因为它降低了雇主和雇员的风险。然而,可变工资可以方便地用于规模较小的公司,建立良好的企业与产品,公司与一个年轻的专业员工,愿意延迟立即满足,希望更大的未来收益,风险资本支持的公司,组织经历长期的现金短缺,否则因为他们的收入波动,公司必须研究裁员。
苹果电脑公司提供了一个极好的例子,使用可变工资自己和其员工的优势。员工愿意为低工资工作好几年以换取公司股票;许多人坚持因为百万富翁后,苹果公司的股票价值在1980年代中期空前高涨。同样,许多沃尔玛商店的经理曾多年在低工资加上Wall-mall股票成为富有的公司的股票价值飙升。
然而，并不是所有的可变薪酬计划都对员工有益。两家航空公司的雇员,美国人民捷运航空公司和美国西部航空公司, 当他们试图转换为现金时发现他们收到代替加薪的股票几乎一文不值。
