Compensation Management is a crucial part of the management in an organization. It contributes to the overall success of the organization in numerous ways. To be more proficient, the managers must be familiar with the worth of competitive pay, their human resources, and have an overview of payroll costs. It is of primary importance for an organization to maintain pay levels that draw and preserve quality employees while recognizing the need to keep hold of the apparent compensation policies and introducing the competitive benefits for employees.

Scope

With the budding demand of personnel and sturdy challenges in the business environment, organizations have to extend a precise system for evaluating jobs and assessing their merit. Compensation management helps to establish the relative worth of a job in an organization in a systematic, consistent and proper manner. It also helps in analyzing the basic pay for each job in accordance with the importance of the job in the organizational hierarchy. Once a basic pay is established, the rewards, incentives and profit attached worth the pay, designations and performance are also monitored respectively.

The compensation and benefits provides the managers with the compensation kit to put up a difference among employees as the high performance corporate atmosphere can be built within the association. The compensation and benefits department is directly attached to the expansion of the new compensation elements, which sustain the performance and affectivity of the association. It cooperates with the various business units and it aligns their desires into the general rules for the compensation elements, which are transparent and sensible. The compensation and benefits designs new adjustments to the compensation strategy and the compensation policy so that the organization does not lose its competitive benefit on the job sector.

Growth

Despite a sluggish growth, compensation and benefits managers can consider themselves quite lucky, as only 2.7% are currently unemployed as per the present outlook of the job market. There are approximately 49,000 people employed as a Compensation and Benefits Managers. In addition, over the next 10 years Compensation and Benefits Managers will be one of the fastest growing professions all over India. They should experience a 12.0% rate of growth during this tenure.

Skills

Technical skills are largely essential for a benefits management job, since one must exercise productivity software to execute calculations, recommend presentations and inscribe business credentials, as well as get hold of reporting tools and human resources information systems. One ought to illustrate attention to detail in order to precisely enter large amounts of information into company databases. Strong presentation skills are valuable for speaking to widespread groups about benefits programs, and appropriate communication is a necessity for interacting with employees, vendors and company executives.

Organization and planning skills are mandatory for developing benefits plans and assessing current plans for immediate success. The compensation and benefits department should also keep an eye on the external job scenario and optimize the personnel expenses budget of the organization. Another driving factor which is mandatory is the compensation strategy, that sets the apparent and simple compensation policy and defines the general regulations for the unexpected payments, additional benefit schemes applied in the organization and introduces general other compensation policies like the Relocation Policy, Short-Term Assignment Policies, Benefit Car Policies, Concierge services and others.

Job Role & Opportunities:

As human resources specialists, compensation and benefits managers plan, design, implement and control the pay and benefits process for an organization’s employees. In some organizations, it is a dual role or they are divided into two positions like compensation managers and benefits managers. Businesses depend on the expertise of these professionals in order to stay competitive when hiring employees. Compensation and benefits managers develop programs that support a company’s competence to recruit, hire and preserve workers. Specific job roles include managing and administering compensation and benefits plans, conducting surveys and research, and designing strategic plans to support company objectives. They may coordinate and supervise staff activities too. They are usually liable for ensuring compliance with federal, state and local employment job.

Eligibility:

Most employers hiring for compensation and benefits manager positions will need at least a bachelor’s degree, with many preferring candidates to have a master’s degree. A focus in business administration, finance, business management or any related field may appeal to employers in areas such as organizational development, business, accounting and statistics is typically beneficial.

Analytical, decision-making, verbal and written communication skills are the core competencies that compensation and benefits managers are expected to master. For some positions, professional certifications such as Certified Compensation Professional or Certified Benefits Professional may be required. To receive these credentials involves passing a series of exams.

Remuneration:

Employment as a benefits manager or human resources analyst may be a first step on the path towards a career as a compensation and benefits managers. Advanced roles include human resources director and director of compensation and benefits. Despite the current limited job growth, benefits managers can earn high salaries. The mean monthly wage for these managers is about 25,000 – 30,000 in the beginning and with few years down the line, with relevant skills and expertise the competent individuals can earn up to 60,000- 1,00,000 per month.

Prof. (Dr.) Sanjiv Marwah

The author is the Director of JK Business School (JKBS), Delhi’s top Industry anchored B-School (Emerging Management AICTE-CII Survey 2013). An industry-veteran-turned academician, Dr. Marwah is widely regarded for his ability to bridge industry-academia skill gap. He is an active member of various professional bodies engaged in imparting the management wisdom to the budding CEOs and is also an active member of Strategic Management Forum, an IIM consortium supported organization. Presently, Dr. Marwah is the Vice President of Centre for Education Growth and Research (CEGR).