Data, data, data. We live, love and dream about data here at PayScale, and big data is driving business and pay decisions across industries and functions. But when it comes to data-based decision-making, there are a few occasions when decisions…
Compensation & Benefits
Get Your Employees to Work Less and Be More Productive
“They work hard and aren’t afraid to put in extra hours, blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish their goals.” This is how many company leaders would describe their top employees. However, these extra, hard-worked hours actually become overwhelming and are…
4 Steps Before Employees Can Bring Their Pet to Work
Without a doubt, pets have become true members of the family. No longer just “man’s best friend”, but “fur babies” that we love, care for and protect. A Fortune-Morning Consult Poll reported that 76% of pet owners consider their animals…
If You Pay Minimum Wage, You Can Keep the Tips
A few years back, some restaurants around the country made headlines by paying their waitstaff more than minimum wage and putting the kibosh on customer tips. This broke with the traditional way of paying customarily-tipped employees. That is, most employers…
We Want Meaningful Work and a Meaningful Paycheck
I’m going to stop fighting. For years I’ve been fighting morons who claim that millennials would rather do “meaningful work” than making money. That is actually one big lie, I believe perpetuated by employers who don’t want to pay market…
Court Strikes Down Overtime Pay Rule
The Department of Labor rule that would have compelled employers to pay overtime to millions of more workers has been struck down by a federal court in Texas. Agreeing with business groups and the 21 states that had challenged the…
Is Your Unlimited PTO For Real?
I’m part of the 2 percent. I work for the tiny fraction of U.S. companies that offer unlimited paid time off (PTO). That’s right, I get to watch The Price Is Right live as much as I want! Or something like that. Are you…
White House Suspends Pay Data Portion of EEO-1
Employers who were required to file pay and demographic data as part of a revised EEO-1 have been given a reprieve. The EEOC, under direction by the White House Office of Management and Budget, has suspended indefinitely the requirement to…
After Hurricane Harvey, Here’s What Employers Must Do
Hurricane Harvey is relentlessly drenching southeast Texas and the surrounding areas, resulting in unprecedented flooding and damage. As the storm rages, many employers are wondering how to respond and what happens next. After the waters and dangers subside — and…
Rewards Can Help Close the Strategy-to-Performance Gap
I like to argue that we should be holding our compensation programs – and the money they represent – to a higher standard. Research examining how well company strategy delivers on its potential – and where and why it fails…
Why Pay Transparency Is Becoming a Best Practice
Ben Eubanks over at Lighthouse Research and Advisory has written a fascinating white paper on transparency. Transparency in Compensation: Trends and Best Practices, underwritten by salary.com, is a thoughtful and interesting discussion of the impact of different levels of transparency in the workplace – from…
4 Ways to Deal With an Employee’s Social Anxiety
It’s relatively easy to manage the charismatic, sociable employee who gets along with her co-workers and clients. But what about the perpetually uncomfortable, quiet worker who clashes with colleagues and keeps to himself? Many employers might consider cutting their losses…
Court Sends Wellness Incentive Rules Back to EEOC
This week, a federal judge had some scathing words for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as he tossed back its rules on the wellness program incentives telling it to rethink the whole thing. Remind me: What are these incentive rules?…
How Silent Meditation Helped Me Succeed at Work
In this opinion piece published on the Wharton school website, Payal Sheth, a global marketing manager at the Boston Consulting Group, explains how an ancient meditation technique helped change the way she thinks and engages with people. ∼∼∼∼ Yes, you…
What the Chicago Cubs’ Clubhouse Teaches Us About Building Trust and Chemistry
On their way last year to winning their first World Series in more than a century, the Chicago Cubs did something unusual: They changed the shape of their clubhouse. Instead of stretching across a long rectangular hall, the new Cubs…
Boost Productivity With Fidget Spinners and These 4 Other Ideas
Are you looking to improve employee productivity in your organization? If so, you’ve probably done a lot of research and realized that this performance management consideration is a dynamic field. With every day that goes by, there appear new and…
Will Facebook One Day Monitor Your Employees’ Mood?
Journalist Kari Paul wrote an article in Vice about how creepy it was when Facebook’s analytics decided she was depressed and started feeding her ads on depression. Creepy yes, but if you’re interested in analytics you must have a little…
Is There Still a Need for HR?
HR departments are the last thing fast growing companies pay attention to. In the race to become lean, hypergrowth machines, many executives in the tech industry see HR simply as a nice to have at best, if not a symbol…
Labor Department Asks Employers For Input On Revising Overtime Rules
Editor’s note: The DOL rule raising the minimum pay threshold to $913 a week to determine who had to be paid overtime was to have taken effect December 1, 2016. However, 21 states and a number of business organizations sued…
Half of All Candidates Are Not Asked About Salary
As more U.S. cities and states are banned from asking job candidates, “So, what’s your salary?” recruiters and hiring managers at companies are wondering: How do we determine if we’re in the same compensation ballpark with incoming candidates? We have…