Determining Compensation for New Positions

If you’re in a hiring mode, you’re probably wondering what the proper compensation is for different positions within your company. In addition, if you’re hiring for a brand new position – one that, perhaps, has never before been needed at your company – you may be especially concerned about setting a salary that’s both competitive and one you can afford.

Below are some tips to help you determine the right level of compensation for a job.

If your company is a large one, your first step should be to check out Salary.com to see if the type of position you’re filling is listed there. Many organizations offer industry-specific salary information on this site. This can give you an idea of what the position is worth to companies throughout the U.S. as well as your region.

You then may want to contact some other companies in your area. Have they filled this type of position before? If so, what kind of compensation are they offering new hires for these positions? What is the differential between the salaries they’re offering people with little experience in these positions compared to those with years working in the industry?

You’ll also want to create a consistent salary range structure, one that is constant among years of experience as well as skills and duties for the position.

Your compensation also should be one that will encourage an employee to be productive and that will motivate the worker to give his or best effort.

In fact, as you set salary ranges, you should set them up with a variety of ranges that include the minimum, the middle and the maximum salary numbers. It’s a good idea to have these benchmark numbers reflect the industry average for the position.

You also should be sure to give yourself some wiggle room when it comes to offering a position to a terrific candidate. Since this may be the first time you’ve ever hired for the position, you very well could find a great candidate, one who will require a bit “more” in compensation. If your new salary structure is too rigid, you may lose the candidate.

If it turns out that you do need to pay the candidate more than you had anticipated a flexible salary range will allow you to give the candidate a higher starting salary while also giving you enough to give the person a raise, as warranted. Bringing the person in at the top of your salary range without having any room to give him or her a raise could be quite detrimental to you should the employee decide in a year or two that he or she could receive more pay at a different company.

If your Inland Empire company needs help determining a salary structure for a new position, give Arrow Staffing a call. We have decades of experience helping San Bernardino and Riverside county companies find great employees – and determine fair and adequate salary ranges for those positions. We look forward to hearing from you.

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