On Forbes.com, Maureen Farrell and Lisa LaMotta discuss the importance of good human resource management during the economic downturn and offer advice on calculating the right pay package for key employees.
"It's a buyer's market for firms lucky enough to be hiring," they say, but the challenge is to land loyal, talented staff without overspending or overstretching resources.
The authors explain that by tackling the issue in logical steps, a manager's chances of earning a solid return on the appointment of a key decision-maker can be increased.
First, each department in the company should be examined and all the required tasks and their value to the organisation should be defined. For instance, which positions have the greatest impact on overall performance?
The next step is pay comparison shopping, through methods such as benchmarking surveys from human resources consultants, using pay comparison sites (such as PayScale.com and Salary.com) and analysis of official data. Also request that all potential candidates state their current and expected salaries.
Health benefits, shared profits, stock options and even a slice of equity are effective ways of attracting key employees, especially when cashflow restricts the salary you are able to offer.
Farrell and LaMotta suggest looking in-house for candidates first and also advise managers to keep resumes of all interesting candidates on file.
How Much Are Key Employees Worth?
Maureen Farrell and Lisa LaMotta, Forbes.com, 03/12/08
