In one of my first compensation jobs, I was handed a pager on the first day. I remember looking at it and thinking, “What comp emergencies are going to cause someone to page me?”
The culture at this workplace was to page co-workers if they didn’t pick up the phone when you called. Email wasn’t used heavily. And everything was an emergency.
Thankfully, I had internal clients that learned that I would respond more quickly if they sent me an email with context and their ask. Yes, I would pick up the phone if they called and I was available. If they left me a message, I would call them back within 24 hours.
Eventually, I was able to put the pager in a drawer because it wasn’t needed.
There is really nothing that should be a compensation emergency.
Situation #1 – The employer overpaid someone. Okay. Let’s figure out why it happened, how to prevent it, and how to handle the overpayment. Do we ask the employee to pay it back? Do we let it go? Do we deduct it from future earnings? How do we communicate with the impacted employee and their manager?
Situation #2 – An employee’s pay increase wasn’t implemented on the date it was supposed to be effective. Okay, then let’s make the pay increase retroactive and make the next paycheck reflect the additional amount they are due.
Situation #3 – An executive new hire is expecting an offer today and it is 4:45 p.m. You must go pick up your kids from the daycare before 6 p.m. so you leave the office by 5 p.m. You let the hiring manager and recruiter know you will send it to them later that evening. You develop the offer for the new hire after the kids are in bed later that evening. Working remotely is the norm, and you respond when you can around the other priorities in your life.
There is no such thing as a compensation emergency. Everything can be fixed if something went wrong.
If you do have these emergencies, we should talk. There are ways to be proactive with your compensation processes and guidelines that eliminate (or reduce) comp emergencies.
What comp emergencies have you experienced? Please comment below.
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