Sprint's Pay Structure, Bonuses, and Grades Paper Example

Introduction

Employee compensation is one of the critical issues that any business organization must address because it is a mechanism exploited by business management to motivate and boost the morale of its employees. There are various empirical systems through which business organizations achieve this, and this is how the aspects of pay structures, bonuses as well as grades come to light. Using Sprint Company as an example, there is much evidence that the company exploits the three aspects in compensating its employees, depending on various factors that count in their application.

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Observation

Pay structure is a systematic and logical approach to compensating employees. As with Sprint, the company exploits the differences between the various job positions in which its employees are assigned different tasks (Riley, 2014). This distinguishes the pay between the newcomers and the company veterans. For instance, Sprint's new employees' salary ranges between $20, 000 to $60, 000. However, older employees' earnings are in the bracket of $40, 000 to $140, 000. This is an indicator of how the company has arranged the various wage levels, according to the employee status, and band employees in an attempt to address traditional compensation anomalies (Martin, 2010). Through this structure, the company can easily facilitate compensation changes among its employees depending on their band. This happens so because the company is a position to picture the differences between the contribution and performance of its different employees. The subject of employee contribution transitions into pay grades owed to the strong links between them, and this is a way of justifying the wages of the company's compensation structure that vary from an employee to the other.

Questionnaires

Questionnaire responses from the company's employees indicated that Sprint determined the compensation of its employees through their job descriptions (Flynn, Mathis, Jackson & Valentine, 2015). Consequently, Sprint curates and justifies its pay grades by evaluating the jobs against the performance of various employees. In such a manner, the company justifies the $83, 000 paid to its skilled employees on an annual basis as well as the $126, 000 compensated to licensed lawyers it engages in its legal activities.

Sprint's pay grade system is based on employee performance as well as individual experience. There are four distinct pay grades in the company in which the newly-hired employees compose the first grade followed by employees who have served the company for a long time. The type of employee, whether skilled or non-skilled determines the formation of the third group, and here, skilled employees are the company's favorite because it pays them much money on an annual basis. The last grade touches on the aspect of services rendered, and here, the phenomenon in which the company's legal team is paid more than skilled employees may potentiate a heated debate demanding its justification. In comparison, skilled employees and lawyer are equally skilled in their fields. However, consultative and advisory experts stand chances of earning more than other company employees (Figure, 2014).

The same case applies to skilled personnel, but from a different angle. The high pay in the grade of the company's technical support team is based on the intensity of the work they do (Neu, 2013). It happens that the work these individuals do is labor intensive and more involving. However, the level of performance still counts because an employee may not be competent enough to take down the involving work. As such, he or she may end up rendering low-quality services to the company. This does not warrant the huge pay.

Interviews

A bonus is an additional amount of money an employee is added in reward for excellent performance at work. Sprint indicates the use of this strategy in getting its employees motivated. However, it varies from time to time and is subject to the command of various factors. For instance, depending on the goals of the company to be achieved in any financial year, Sprint offers a 20% bonus quarterly. This is complemented by another 40% at the end of the fourth month of every quarter.

Sprint also award bonuses to its employees basing on the time with which they have served the company. For instance, employees serving the company for at least five years receive $55, 000 annually, and those serving between five to nine years earn $57, 000. In addition to the good salaries and bonuses, the company has provisions for medical insurance as extra benefits to its employees. For instance, the company's employees are guaranteed life insurance, medical cover plans as well as two dental covers free of charge. This was information obtained courtesy of the structured and unstructured interview administered among Sprint's employees.

Conclusion

Therefore, Sprint is an excellent example of a company with a well-structured compensation structure. The company incorporates various determinants of employee compensation in pursuit of employee motivation. Through the differentiation of various job levels, performance, and skills, Sprint draws a compensation scheme that matches every employee concerning their job grade. In addition to this, the aspect of bonuses also counts.

References

Figure, S. E. (2014). Start Your Own Consulting Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success. Irvine: Entrepreneur Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=K1xtAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129&dq=why+skilled+employees+should+be+paid+more&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxu6HH7MHgAhVk6uAKHWVOCosQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q=why%20skilled%20employees%20should%20be%20paid%20more&f=false

Flynn, W. J., Mathis, R. L., Jackson, J. H., & Valentine, S. R. (2015). Healthcare human resource management. Nelson Education. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=7jN-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA156&dq=pay+grades&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjesu_u58HgAhUQAWMBHY2YCegQ6AEIPTAE#v=onepage&q=pay%20grades&f=false

Martin, J. (2010). Key Concepts in Human Resource Management. London: Sage Publications. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=SAOf_dESUEcC&pg=PT287&dq=pay+structure&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijvuHg4cHgAhWQHxQKHUHND-k4FBDoAQhCMAU#v=onepage&q=pay%20structure&f=false

Neu, F. H. (2013). Cutting Costs: Successful Strategies for Improving Productivity. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=UMF9L3vmcisC&pg=PA76&dq=why+skilled+employees+should+be+paid+more&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxu6HH7MHgAhVk6uAKHWVOCosQ6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=why%20skilled%20employees%20should%20be%20paid%20more&f=false

Riley, M. (2014). Human resource management in the hospitality and tourism industry. Routledge. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=1UtpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA128&dq=pay+structure&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijvuHg4cHgAhWQHxQKHUHND-k4FBDoAQgnMAA#v=onepage&q=pay%20structure&f=false