Which Jobs Are Paid More or Less - Case Study Example

Compensation Questions Which jobs are paid more or less? Is this what you have expected? Why or why not? What factors could explain the differences in the salaries? Accountant III is paid an average of $67,507; the financial analyst is paid $79,018 while the product manager is paid $101,426. It is evident that product manager is paid higher than the accountant and the financial analyst. These findings are as per my expectations as the product manager is highly experienced and qualified compared to the accountant and financial analyst (Salary, 2011). 2. Do the jobs have different bonuses as a percentage of their base salaries? Why or why not? What could explain these differences? The bonuses given to the different jobs vary and are not a given uniform percentage of the basic salaries. The explanations that could be given for the differences could be attributed to the levels of education and experience of the professionals. Majority of accountants are bachelor’s degree holders while product managers are masters graduates. Moreover, most managers have a higher experience of between 10-15 years while accountants have only an average experience of 2-5 and 5-10 years. 3. Do the data include value stock options? What are the implications of this? Stock options are offered by firms as means of compensation for lower salaries. Given the above mentioned jobs, companies do not include stock options as benefits on top of the salaries offered. This is because the salaries offered by the organizations are high enough for the professions. 4. Job Descriptions and their accuracy The job descriptions vary for the different professions. Accountant III is responsible for preparation of balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and preparation of other financial reports in the organization. Other tasks include analysis of business trends for costs, revenues, obligations and commitments. The financial analyst is responsible for compiling necessary financial information for an organization. Some of the important information includes preparation of analyses of revenues and expenses projections, reports and presentations to the firm. He/she is also required to prepare financial reports of organizations including forecasting and reconciliation of internal accounts. Product manager in a bank is on the contrary responsible for marketing products of the bank and ensuring that the bank makes profits. These job descriptions are what I expected and once I attain the required credentials, I would apply for the job (Dundon & Rollinson, 2007). 5. Comparison of jobs pay levels with school career office levels The comparison of the compensation at salary.com for the professions with local/regional compensation reveals that the compensation offered by the local career office are lower than the compensation offered by salary.com. The reason for this could be due to lower responsibilities for jobs at the regional level, demotions, working in small companies compared to large multinationals and jobs being offered at the local level could be in a low paying industry. In addition, the organizations could be undergoing less than expected performance. 6. Use of information for Salary negotiation The information on salaries is important for negotiation of one’s salary as an individual seeks employment. In the course of seeking employment, one would have information concerning the job description, responsibilities and salary ranges. Given the responsibilities that the employer would be offering, one is able to compare with responsibilities of salary.com compensation based on responsibilities and thereby argue his/her way out regarding the compensation being offered. 7. Relevant labour market for the professions Chicago iL Washington AR New York Chicago iL Washington AR New York Accountant III Financial analyst III Low Average (25%) $60,704 $45,803 $67,917 $73,192 $53,888 $79,907 Median Salary (50%) $67,507 $50,9333 $75,524 $81,674 $59,618 $88,402 High Averages (75%) $75,113 $56,671 $84,033 $91,278 $65,740 $97,480 Chicago iL Washington AR New York product Manager $74,008 $55,837 $60,708 $101,426 $76,523 $67,507 $121,286 $91,507 $75,113 The saturation of the different labour markets for the professions varies and could be the reasons for the variations of the salaries in different regions. The salaries for the professions are given in the above table for Chicago, Washington and New York. Accountants in Washington earn the lowest of the three cities with accountants in New York earning the highest salaries. This is same for financial analysts. However, product managers in Chicago earn the highest with an average salary of 101,426 compared to their counterpart in Washington and New York that earn $76,523 and $67,507 respectively (Salary, 2011). 8. Comparison of low, median and high averages for the jobs Accountant III Financial analyst product Manager Low Average (25%) $60,704 $73,192 $74,008 Median Salary (50%) $67,507 $81,674 $101,426 High Averages (75%) $75,113 $91,278 $121,286 There is no much variation for the low, median and high salaries for the jobs as the variation could be termed as average. The variations could be explained by various factors such as responsibilities, performance of the industry and the firm, company size and regions of operation. 9. Development of salary estimates The salary estimates are developed by salary.com through interviewing of over 29 million employees that work in different companies in different regions in the U.S. the company reports the compensation levels if the outcome of the salary is consistent with multiple sources of information. This description on the sources of salary compensation is not valid and reliable mainly because the company relies on information from employees only. In order to make the data reliable, employers should be included as sources of salary estimates (U.S., 2006). 10. With the information available, why would you bother with consultants’ surveys? In spite of the availability of the information free, it is important that one compares the figures with consultants’ figures because the consultants’ compensation levels are usually reliable given that they obtain information from both employees and employers (Drake, et al. 2007). 11. If you were a manager, how would you justify paying one of your employees either higher or lower than the results shown on this website? The salary paid to an employee is based on many factors. I could justify paying the employee either higher or lower than indicated figures on various factors. First, if the employee has higher responsibilities, qualifications and experience, he/she will receive a higher salary and vice versa. The level of compensation could also be determined by the size of the firm. A new firm that has just entered the market is likely to pay an employee a lower salary compared to the market leader in the industry. In addition, the industry in which the firm operates matters as a profitable industry would lead to higher compensation compared to a poorly performing industry (Spreitzer, 1995). 12. Conclusion, lesson from the salary estimates From the salary estimates from salary.com, I have learnt that salaries of organizations are based on many factors including the profitability of the firm and the industry, company size, job responsibilities, experience and education levels of the employee. This information is very important for me as a job seeker because it help me to successfully negotiate a favourable salary for my employment. References Drake, R. U. et al. (2007). Empowerment, motivation and performance: Examining the impact of feedback and incentives on non-management employees. Behavioural research in accounting, 19, 77-89. Dundon, T. & Rollinson, D. (2007). Understanding employment relations. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Salary, (2011). Salary compensation. Retrieved on 17 Nov. 2011 from: http://swz.salary.com/ Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace:  Dimensions, measurement, and validation.  Academy of Management Journal, 38(5) 1442-1465. U.S., (2006). Employee compensation: employer spending on benefits has grown faster than wages, due largely to rising costs for health insurance and retirement benefits: report to congressional requesters. New York, NY: GAO. Read More