Compensation Chapter 1

Among employers that provide health insurance, the cost to provide family coverage per year per employee is approximately _____.

$16,000

Recent surveys show that, on average, an outstanding performer receives a _____ merit increase, an average performer a _____ merit increase, and a poor performer a 0.4% merit increase.

4.4%; 2.8%

A difference between incentives and merit increases is that incentives:

Do not increase the base wage, whereas merit increases the base wage.

Which of the following policy decisions directly affects employees' attitudes and work behaviors?

Employee

According to the text, which of the following decisions should be made jointly?

External competitiveness and employee contribution decisions

Hourly compensation costs for production workers in manufacturing are higher in _____ than in the United States.

Germany

Which form of pay does not permanently increase labor costs?

Incentive

_____ refers to comparisons among jobs or skills inside a single organization.

Internal alignment

In the context of pay relationships, which of the following is illegal in the United States?

Legal examples: Paying on the basis of the nature of jobs; paying on the basis of pay comparisons with competitors; and, Paying on the basis of one's skill level. Illegal example: Paying on the basis of one's age, gender, religion, natural origin, and disability

One of the reasons why 8 in 10 of the uninsured in the United States are from working families is that _____.

Many small employers are much less likely than larger employers to offer health insurance to t heir employees.

Which of the following is given as an increment to the base pay in recognition of past work behavior?

Merit Pay

You are an HR manager, and your boss has told you to find the best way to raise job performance. After some research, you find that _____ have the greatest instrumental value.

Monetary incentives

Which of the following is a fundamental objective, and NOT a policy, in the pay model?

Policies: Internal Alignment, Competitiveness, Contributions, and Management Objectives: Efficiency (Performance, Quality, Customer and Stockholder, Cost), Fairness, Compliance, Ethics

Which of the following is a policy, and NOT an objective, in the pay model?

Policies: Internal Alignment, Competitiveness, Contributions, and Management Objectives: Efficiency (Performance, Quality, Customer and Stockholder, Cost), Fairness, Compliance, Ethics

Which of the following is NOT a question to ask for determining if research has value?

Proper Question: Is the research useful?; Can alternatives explanations be ruled out?; Is correlation separated from causation? Example of an Improper Question: Was the research conducted by Ph.D. researchers

Which of the following is often the largest component in an executive pay package?

Stock options

Which of the following programs introduced by Congress includes restrictions on executive pay that are designed to discourage executives from taking "unnecessary and excessive risks"?

Troubled Asset Relief Program

The best way to establish _____ is to account for competing explanations, either statistically or through control groups.

causation

A measure of how changes in one variable are related to changes in another variable is the:

correlation coefficient

Incentives and merit guidelines are techniques of the _____ policy of the pay model.

employee contributions

The decisions to implement pay for performance, flat rate pay, and profit sharing are examples of _____ policy decisions.

employee contributions

Compensation policy choices that affect the pay level relative to other companies are most closely associated with the _____ aspect of the pay model.

external competitiveness

The degree to which pay influences individual and aggregate motivation among employees at any point in time is referred to as a(n):

incentive effect

Variable pay may also be called_____.

incentives

Managers seek internal alignment within their organization by

paying on the basis of similarities among jobs.

Which of the following is an example of a relational return?

recognition and status, employment security, challenging work, and learning opportunities.

Incentives do not permanently increase labor costs because:

they are one-time payments