Compensation Final
variable pay as a percent of payroll is
12%
The typical employee can recall less than ________ of the benefits they receive?
15%
In 1959, benefits were approximately ______ of payroll and in 2010, the percent was ______
25%, 35%
The total cost of employee benefits in the U.S. is ____________ dollars?
4 trillion
Data from WellPoint shows that ___of its customers' accounts for over 60 percent of its medical costs
7%
What is not true about individual spot awards?
A majority of companies do not feel that these rewards are effective.
What best supports a culture of flexibility and innovation?
A strong commitment to job security
What is not a benefit administration issue?
Benefit adequacy
What is not a major benefits planning and design issue?
Diversity compliance
Advantages of employer sponsored life and health insurance means employees have options to choose coverage levels? False
False, employees DO NOT have options to choose coverage levels
Compensation security is highest for workers who fail to complete tasks within the standard time under the
Gantt plan.
___________________ theory contends that success-sharing plans will be motivating but at-risk plans will be de-motivating.
Herzberg's two-factor
Which theories would support a higher minimum wage?
Maslow and Herzberg's two-factor.
In ____________ theory, incentive pay is motivating if it helps an employee gain a sense of achievement, recognition or approval.
Maslow's
When developing a flexible compensation system, which theory or theories would be most useful?
Maslow's theory and Herzberg's theory.
An incentive system with three piecework rates is the __________ plan.
Merrick
What does not use the time period per unit of production to determine the rate?
Merrick system
What is not a disadvantage of flexible benefit programs?
New benefits are more difficult to introduce
Is an administrative expense increase an advantage of flexible benefits?
No, an administrative expense increase IS NOT an advantage of flexible benefits
Which is not a benefit that is required by statutory law?
Pension and retirement benefits
What benefits are not mandated by state or federal legislation?
Pensions
___________ relieve an employer's liability when a pre-employment injury combines with a work-related injury to produce a disability greater than that caused by the latter alone
Second-Injury funds
Jennifer is hurt at work while driving a forklift. Her employer claims that she was driving too fast and therefore she is responsible for her own injury and is not eligible for workers' compensation. What will be the outcome of the employer's challenge to her workers compensation claim?
She will likely receive workers' compensation benefits
In which of the following incentive pay plans does the wage rate not increase for production above the standard?
Standard hour plan
Standard hour plan is to Rowan plan as straight piecework is to
Taylor or Merrick plan.
What is not true of lump-sum bonuses?
They help maintain competitive pay position relative to competitors.
Identify the factors as reasons for the growth of benefits?
Wage and price controls, unions, employer impetus. Foreign competition IS NOT a reason for the growth of benefits
has been described as a major cost of doing business
Workers compensation
The common feature to all types of incentive plans is
a standard of performance to determine magnitude of incentive pay.
When employee performance measures are ambiguous and vary from time to time and the organization's performance is fairly stable over time, the most effective type of compensation is to offer
a variety of rewards with significant incentive.
Desired employee behaviors are influenced by
ability, motivation, and environment
A key factor in increasing trust in top management is
an acceptable appraisal system.
A business has a centralized structure and a compensation system that rewards sales volume. However, sales volumes are low compared to competitors who respond more quickly to changes in consumer demand. What is the most likely source of low sales performance?
an inappropriate organization design.
When an organization's performance has regular and large swings and individual performance is unclear and hard to measure, the most effective compensation mix is to offer is
base pay with low incentives and a variety of rewards.
A ________________ plan divides a task into simple actions and determines the time an average worker takes to complete action.
bedeaux
A comparison of employee benefits for private and state and local government sector reveals that
both wages and benefits are higher in the state and local governments
The key ingredient in _________________________ is careful cost analysis to make sure the dollar cost of the package an employee selects meet employer budgetary limits
cafeteria-style compensation
_____________ is/are the primary reason why businesses adopt flexible benefit programs
cost savings
The motivation triangle includes
culture
A major approach to increasing employee awareness of health care choices and its cost is
customer driven health care
Tiered networks, managed competition and health savings accounts are all examples of choices for
customer driven health care
A study of the factors affecting MBA students' job choice showed ________________ was ranked as least important
employee benefits
Experts attribute the decline in dollar cost of workers' compensation cost after 2005 to
employer safety programs
______________ theory argues line of sight is a critical part of performance-based pay systems.
expectancy
A type of benefit plan that allocates a set dollar amount to employees and allows them to select benefits is called __________ plan
flexible benefit
Surveys show the most popular type of variable pay plan is
gainsharing
Usually ____________________ are awarded for exceptional performance, often on special projects or for performance that so exceeds expectations as to be deserving of an add-on bonus?
individual spot rewards
Compensation should reinforce which behaviors
keeping turnover to nearly zero
Across five studies ranking preference for benefits, ____________________ had the lowest average rating
long term disability
Surveys show that the most highly valued benefit is
medical insurance
All of the following are true regarding merit pay except
merit pay tends to cause higher performers to quit.
When an organization's performance has frequent highs and lows and individual performance is fairly stable and performance measures are clear, the most effective compensation mix is to offer
monetary rewards with large incentives.
When employee performance is easily measured and the organization's performance is fairly stable over time, the most effective type of compensation is to offer
monetary rewards with large incentives.
____________ involves identifying what is important to a person and offering it to them in exchange for some desired behavior.
motivation
Is greater trust between workers and management an advantages of individual incentive plans?
no
the primary guiding force that determines needed employee behaviors is organization
organization strategy.
a recent survey shows that the majority of employers are responding to increased benefit costs by
requiring employees to pay higher deductibles and copays
A penalty for poor performance rather than reward for good is an example of
reverse incentive plan.
The ability triangle includes
selection
In the _____________ benefit package, a package is designed with the average employee in mind
standard
If you had repair work done on your car, the compensation system the shop uses to pay the mechanics is most likely the ___________ plan.
standard hour
Paying a dime for every bottle collected and turned into a collection center is an example of a
straight piecework.
The most frequently used incentive system is the
straight piecework.
Research shows that all of the following except __________________ are in the top three aspects of pay systems desired by workers
team-based pay
The authors argue that for merit pay to live up to its potential the following should not be done:
use more peer than supervisor raters.
It is observed that ________________ is commanding a larger share of the total compensation for all employee groups.
variable pay
The first issue in setting up a benefits package is
who should be protected or benefited
