Compensation and benefits

John and Peter are two salesmen for the XYZ corporation. John sells twice as much as Peter. John earns twice as much as Peter, right? Wrong. John may even earn less. The XYZ corporation’s sales compensation plan is not unique in the modern business world. In the past decade many companies have turned to sophisticated […]

I was just a year out of college, and interviewing for a sales assistant position at PaineWebber. One of my prospective bosses offered me $24,000. I countered with $27,000. He pulled out his calculator like a gun from a holster, punched in $3,000, divided it by 52, and in a clipped tone responded, “That’s only […]

(Editor’s note: This post forms part of the month-long HBR Debate, “Finance: The Way Forward.” It is the third post on this week’s topic: “Who is regulation for — the individual or society?”) Who is regulation for? This is a question that always intrigued me ever since I got involved in my research passion: share […]

The country’s recent reforms don’t go nearly far enough.

The gap between CEO compensation and that of the average worker continues to grow at an astounding rate. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, CEO compensation in the United States was approximately 40 times greater than that of the average worker in 1960 and is now over 400 times greater (a much larger gap […]

Most professional women step off the career fast track at some point. With children to raise, elderly parents to care for, and other pulls on their time,...

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Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and regular blogger for HBR.org, explains why women’s compensation and advancement to the highest ranks have failed to keep pace with their impressive inroads into the workforce.

Plus three reasons they quit.

"Please don't tell me that I need to have a baby to have this time off." Those words were still ringing in the ears of Jessica Gonon an hour after a tense...

Six mistakes that companies make—and how they can do better

Paid time off is just a start.

Most organizations approach flexibility either as an ad hoc work-life accommodation or as permission for employees to get their work done on their own...

Using the results of a survey of 380 companies in 34 industries, this author examines three basic types of compensation plans: salary, commission, and combination (salary plus commission). Most companies in the study favored a combination plan, but such plans have some disadvantages to offset their obvious attractiveness. The author sets out the possible reasons […]

Cyrus Maher, CEO of Waterway Industries, thinks he may be facing a human resources problem. Lee Carter is a relatively new employee whose high-powered...

A manager has to force change. My role was to make people change at a faster pace than they would ever have chosen.

The other story behind the bleak numbers.

A closer look at the benefits for both employees and employers.

A recent study found that one retailer slashed hours, scrambled schedules, and cut benefits after a minimum wage hike.

By aligning executives' financial incentives with company strategy, a firm can inspire its management to deliver superior results. But it can be hard...