Compensation Management during Lockdown: A Full Guide
Even with a deadly virus like COVID-19 mandating social distancing for months, the U.S. requires a huge class of laborers and employees to keep certain services online. This is not just to help the economy survive with access to essentials but also to protect employee rights with the compensation that they need to survive.
Indeed, the COVID-19 has brought difficult times over us, and finding a way out to keep the economy going seems like an impossible task. However, The Department of Homeland Security keeps reassessing the essential industries to keep unemployment becoming the worst scenario to handle during the pandemic. The sweeping definitions are collectively helping up to 62 million workers within the United States to stay employed.
However, the responsibility is bigger than you think. In addition to the state’s intervention, it is equally important for businesses to consider better compensation management strategies to keep their employees secure during the lockdown.
Unfortunately, the way compensations are being dealt with currently is only creating a vicious cycle of people dying either due to the COVID-19 or due to poverty. Industries must find a way out to ensure they are able to take care of their workforce in these difficult times.
Compensation Management Ideas during Lockdown
Here are some ideas to readjust your compensation management strategies to help your workforce survive during the lockdown.
Pay The Basic Salary
While it is also difficult for organizations to manage the compensation expense – due to lockdown – it is only fair to at least pay the basic salary to employees and cut the incentives. If you’re offering them the work-from-home opportunity, this shouldn’t be an additional cost to the business as the operations will continue.
Employees can contribute and stay productive while working from home knowing they will be compensated for the work done. During these difficult times, you can consider paying employees their compensation on a bi-monthly basis to help them afford the basic necessities.
Determine Competitor’s Compensation Strategies
If you have to reduce the compensation, make sure you still stay competitive enough to prevent losing your loyal employees. Unemployment has become a major concern during the pandemic and losing your top hires and best talent during this time can be a costly mistake in the long run.
Instead of burdening your employees with a major financial cut that discourages them, look at the competitors’ compensation management strategies for inspiration.
Don’t Forget to Keep Up With Rewards
Just because the times are tough doesn’t mean you stop appreciating your workforce for keeping up with the organization and staying loyal. If not much, consider merit increases or a one-off bonus or any other perk to reward your top performers.
Even during these times, an organization must strive to ensure it is able to retain and motivate top employees. That should be your first priority. Identify the fundamental star employees that you believe your company can’t thrive without and focus more on them.
Not every employee can offer the same kind of efficiency or productivity from home. And if that’s what you’ve been experiencing, offering them rewards based on performance will encourage everyone to work at their full capacity.
Compensate for Health Impacts
Offer them financial perks to support your workforce in case of medical emergencies. This is, however, easier for larger firms as they can set a separate budget to take care of their employees’ medical needs. If you do not offer health insurance or any similar coverage, offering them help to take care of their health impact can be a great initiative from the organization’s end.
State’s Funding Policies
In addition to making personal efforts in keeping up with your workforce, you must also be aware of the state’s policies for funding and administering employees during the lockdown, as well as policies regarding subsidized vs unsubsidized loans. Keeping public health safety as the top-most priority during the COVID-19 pandemic demands more than just maintaining social distance.
Providing appropriate compensation and other benefits like health and life insurance to essential employees who are either working from home or leaving their homes to provide their services, provides a better employee experience. It’s a company’s responsibility to set up an effective compensation management strategy with the right benefits and perks on the list to ensure the wellbeing of its workforce during the pandemic.
