Pay Policy: Ethics Versus Pay

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Ethics Versus Pay

Almost two years ago the company where I am employed, RGIS LLC, mandated a pay policy change for the hourly employees. Hourly employees make up over 95% of RGIS’s labor staff. This new, four-tier payment scale, aptly named “Pay 4 Performance” (p4), ultimately affected thousands of employees who had been with the company for years and had high pay rates simply as a result of longevity. The four new levels would have a matching pay scale based upon each individual employee’s production. These levels are what RGIS calls an ASET level: Auditor, Specialist, Expert, and TopGun, with each level advancing to a higher production and pay rank, respectively (Company).

p4 and ASET pay only for performance. According to RGIS, this levels the playing field and gives every part-time team member the equal chance to advance their pay. The following is an example of the philosophy behind p4. Let’s assume a store (event) has 100,000 pieces of inventory. 10 team members are scheduled for the event. As a Calc store – an event that RGIS has minimum standards set for – the overall APH must be 2000pph (pieces per hour). APH or Average Per Hour is the total pieces counted divided by the total man-hours used. The event itself has an APH standard, as do individual auditors counting in the store. 100,000 pieces of inventory divided by a 2000pph standard will require 50 man-hours. 50 man-hours divided by 10 team members equals a 5-hour count. Five-hour counts make up about 3/4ths of RGIS’s target completion times; additional pieces require additional people, and vice-versa. The 2000pph standard that this store has would be met if everyone counted at that speed. But in reality, not everyone has the same production capabilities. This is whe...

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...t be in business very long. But, for instance, what if RGIS was offered the chance to perform one “test” inventory for a company that had many stores and the inventory went extremely well because of the customer service levels provided? RGIS would have the opportunity to service this customer’s other stores not because of the data, but because of the service they received. This human factor played huge role in garnering business for the RGIS and yet their employees have no chance in earning any more compensation than they would have for simply putting data into a machine. Let’s look at other ethics principles and see where an example like the one above would fit in.

Works Cited

Company. United States RGIS, LLC. RGIS, LLC, 17 Apr 2010. Web. 06 Sep 2011.

News. United States RGIS, LLC. RGIS, LLC, 23 May 2009. Web. 05 Sep 2011.

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