Payment Systems and Employee Policies

This chapter deals with payment systems and employee policies for those people who are (or who traditionally have been) paid on an hourly basis; it concludes with a short section on management succession. It is opportune, therefore, to comment at the start upon the importance of pay to an hourly-paid person, in order to highlight the significance of this factor in terms of job interest and motivation. Although recently researched views have clearly indicated that pay levels are not a major factor in the motivation of people, it is important to place this in context. Much of the research work on which these findings were based involved salaried staff whose opportunity for job interest and advancement was very different from that afforded to hourly-paid persons. ‘Transposing’ these results should be done only with great care. For the hourly-paid person pay is important, and the wage system should not be lightly changed.