Compensation and Bonus Systems

Compensation and Bonus Systems

• Defining a key employee

  How an employer values an employee is reflected in the latter's salary, responsibilities, and authority. But what criteria should a company use to determine which employees get what compensation? And how can an employer compare the value of two employees with entirely different job descriptions?

   

• Cutting worker's comp costs

  One item weighing down every remodeler's toolbelt is the cost of workers' compensation. Some states are admitting that their systems are broken and are trying to fix them.

   
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  Coaching the team to better performance

  Managers who provide fair compensation and involve their field staff in the company score home runs in efficiency, quality, and employee loyalty.

   

• Overtime Regulations

  The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires overtime pay at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

   

• Employees at The Farrell Co. have a big incentive to stay put.

  Steve Farrell, president of The Farrell Co., Los Altos, Calif., pays his field crew a lower-than-average base salary, and they like it. That's because he then hands out yearly bonuses — big ones. Last year he distributed one that more than doubled one employee's salary.

   

• Pay Yourself What You're Worth

  How much money can a company owner expect to earn from a remodeling business? And how many hours should an owner have to work to earn that amount of money?

   

• Face Off

  We have distributed performance-based bonuses for the past year and a half. The teamwork bonus is an equal amount for everyone and is based on meeting and exceeding budget goals.

   

• Big50 Averages: statistical highlights

  Although this year's class of Big50 remodelers displays great variety in size, business structure, target market, project focus, and geographic location, the averages tell a fairly consistent story. By this measure, small- and large-volume companies in this year's Big50 class performed about the...

   

• Owner's compensation at greatest risk when business grows or shrinks

  A recent Benchmark column prompted an e-mail response from Bob Hanbury, CGR, of House of Hanbury Builders in Newington, Ct. Hanbury points out that the relationship between risk and owner's compensation isn't static and is affected by any change in a company's normal course of business. More...

   

• Total compensation worksheet: shows prospective employees value of their package

  Halsey Platt, of Walter H.B. Platt Builders and Cabinetmakers, estimates that at least 50% of his new hires have previously worked for him as subcontractors. So Platt developed a "total compensation worksheet," which shows prospective employees the value of the package they'll receive.