Employee remuneration encompasses the entire compensation that an employee receives, including base salary, bonuses, commission payments, overtime, and other financial benefits.
Remuneration is important because it attracts the best talent in the industry. If employees feel they aren’t compensated fairly, they will head to a service station or other employer who will pay what they believe they deserve.
Remuneration will also help you retain motivated employees. If an employee is compensated fairly, they feel motivated to come to work, and they have high morale. They are engaged in their position and stay long-term.
Getting Pay Right
Even though motivation and loyalty at your service station are incredibly important, getting paid right can go even further. It can increase productivity and profitability at your business because happy employees are productive employees. When employees feel valued, they believe it’s worth it to put effort into the job that they do – and your business will reap the benefits.
Pay Parity
Pay parity ensures that employees who do the same job at the same location are fairly paid in relation to one another – no matter their gender or ethnicity. It’s important to continually monitor your progress to ensure that you’re creating a culture that rewards the contributions and efforts of all employees.
Strategies for Fair Pay
Here are some common strategies for paying people fairly:
Have an honest conversation.
During the recruitment process, have a conversation about your employee’s expectations surrounding compensation and what the company can pay.
Stay updated on the market.
By staying on top of the market, you can get a good idea of whether you’re paying more or less than other service stations.
Be fair and equitable.
Be transparent when communicating how raises, bonuses, and other such rewards are earned, and be clear that you are paying equitably for the same work.
Having Constructive Pay Conversations
It’s not always easy to have conversations with employees about pay. But it is possible.
Before you have a conversation, make sure you’re armed with correct, relevant information – like if your company is paying above or below market rate, which award they are paid under, if the employee is being asked to go beyond their job description, and if they’re exceeding their goals.
When you have such a conversation with an employee, it’s important to do so face-to-face. This way, it’s much more difficult for communication to get misinterpreted.
Let your employee state their case and, from there, have an open discussion about their role and compensation. If you have to turn them down for a raise, be honest about the reason(s) why. And from there, consider what else you might be able to offer to make them feel valued – for example, a subsidised gym membership, health benefits, or a discount at your service station.
Whatever you do, don’t make promises you can’t keep just to tempt an employee to stay on board.
If Employees are Unhappy
If you have an employee who’s less than thrilled about their pay, it’s time to schedule a one-on-one meeting. At the meeting, discuss what the employee feels would be the appropriate pay. After that, talk to them about the award wage they are entitled to and what others in other retail stores are paid.
Then, explain in detail how your service station decided on its offered salary and what an employee might be able to do to earn a bonus or an increase.
Sometimes, employees will be unhappy about pay if they feel underappreciated at work, so it’s important to offer positive feedback to them whenever possible.
Understanding Remuneration
Compensating employees fairly is a major part of running a successful service station. ServoPro members can access a range of services to help with HR issues, including our HR Helpdesk, policy and procedure templates as well as industry-specific online training courses. To learn more about this, get in touch.