Base pay is the single most visible element of the package and in most cases, the costliest. Get it right and few will sing your praises. Get it wrong and your organisation will really struggle. Signs that the base pay structure needs reviewing include –

• High employee turnover
• Inability to recruit
• Low numbers of job applicants
• Inability to recruit into a specific role, location, or business area
• Increases in ad hoc pay rises
• High levels of job evaluation or requests for re-grading
• Low average length of service
• High levels of absenteeism/sickness

As architect of the award winning “New Approach to Pay” at Nationwide, Paul Bissell has the experience to diagnose systemic reward problems and design and deliver any changes to your organisations pay structures that are needed.

Equal Pay

Equal Pay legislation is one of the oldest pieces of EU legislation dating back to the early 1970s, but sadly progress on eradicating the gender pay gap is slow. The CIPD Reward Management Survey shows that the many UK companies have not conducted an Equal Pay or Fair Pay audit, nor have they any intention of doing so.

The legislative landscape is also getting more complex. A Fair Pay Audit needs to go much further than just considering gender and base pay. Age, ethnicity, disability, contract type etc. need to be examined alongside influencing factors such as starting salaries, performance scores, bonuses and service.

Ignorance is no protection from the law. Recent <equal pay> cases against some local authorities have proven that failure to ensure a fair pay system can be far more costly than investing in an equal pay audit.

Fortunately Paul was responsible for the equal pay auditing process at Nationwide which was shortlisted for the Governments Castle Awards. He has assisted Baroness Prosser’s Government task force on equal pay, contributed to the CIPDs work on <equal pay> and has given many lectures and talks on the subject. He is ideally placed to support you in examining this challenging and potentially litigious aspect of reward.

Allowances

Depending on the nature and size of your organisation, allowances can represent a significant portion of your staff costs. Overtime, Shift Pay, Location Allowances, Car Allowance and a host of smaller allowances can dramatically increase take home pay but inhibit the flexibility of the organisation.

Are all of your allowances still necessary and if they are, is there a more efficient way of paying for the work? Allowances can often be related to historic or outmoded ways of working and changing them ineffectively can provoke a much bigger negative reaction than expected. However all organisations need to ensure that their allowances are fit for purpose and delivering good value.

If you need help in reviewing or benchmarking your allowances, please contact us for support.

Union Negotiation

Managing Director, Paul Bissell is a trained and extremely experienced negotiator. Whatever the nature of the negotiations, Paul can help you develop and delivery your negotiating strategy. If you would like to know more about how we can help you achieve the outcomes that your organisation needs, please contact us.

Seen by some as a barrier, the reality is that working closely with Unions or staff representatives can actually speed up process and improve solutions.