Tuesday, May 24, 2011

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nextcompTV - Episode 14

Day one of the WorldatWork conference and exposition was jam packed with sessions, booth traffic, and a social event at the historic Midway aircraft carrier.

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Monday, May 23, 2011

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nextcompTV - Episode 13

Setup day at the 2011 WorldatWork conference and exposition in San Diego with the 8x super speed booth setup and an interview with Audrey Johnson, Visibility Manager at WorldatWork.



Be sure to follow @nextcomp on twitter to get ongoing updates from the Expo.

I'll also be at the social event this evening on the Midway.

I hope to see you there!

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Friday, May 20, 2011

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nextcompTV - Episode 12

Bob and I met on Wednesday, May 18th to talk about the "job" and why this concept is still a very important part of the work that we do as human resources and compensation professionals. Also if you are headed to San Diego for the WorldatWork show please stop by booth 227 and say "Hi".



Here's a link to the Compensation Café article:

Evolution or extinction

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


Sunday, May 15, 2011

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nextcompTV - Episode 11

Bob and I met on Tuesday, May 12th to discuss a couple of fund raising luncheons that we had attended, the ever changing landscape of executive compensation and to tape some footage for a video demonstrating a paperless job evaluation approach.




Here's more information on the paperless job evaluation methodology that we've developed through several client engagements.

Here are some links that we referenced in the video.
The next video will go into some detail on the state of "the job" and some recent articles indicating or suggesting that maybe "the job" has seen it's day and it's time to move on to something new. We'll also talk a bit about innovation and where and when it's appropriate.


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Paperless Job Evaluations


If you're involved in compensation then you are most likely familiar with job analysis or job evaluation. Reviewing new or updated job descriptions is an integral part of our work.

And this process remains relatively unchanged over the last 15 years.

Typically we create the job evaluation document in our favorite word processor. We print the document for proofing. We may send it off to a manager or client via e-mail for review. If we're working on a larger project, there will be team members to keep in the loop. At some point the team will need get together to review all the jobs. This usually involves printing all the job evaluation documents, and putting them in binders. The team sits around a conference table looking at job documents and arriving at a final evaluation for the job for placement into the organization's salary structure.

Often times a new job document will arrive during the process or an existing document must be edited. Those changed documents are printed, copied and bound for use by the team. It's a laborious process. It's a hassle.

The graphic below (click for larger version) gives the general work flow for the current process, in the lower left corner and a new process, in the upper right corner.


The new process starts the same way. You create and edit the job document in a word processor. Only instead of printing it, copying it and binding it, you save it to the "cloud". The "cloud" may be a bit of an ambiguous and even over-used term, but it simply means that you save the document to a secure folder that exists in a location where you and your team can access it from anywhere you have an internet connection.

We use Dropbox. It allows us to connect our computers and our iPads (and iPhones and really any device with a web browser) to a shared folder in the "cloud".

Here's an example of the file selection pane in Dropbox on the iPad along with an open document on the right side ready for viewing.


Here's an image of a note taking application called PlainText on the iPad that we used for taking notes electronically during the job analysis process.

This app connects to your Dropbox account for saving and loading files. The files can be opened in your regular computer's word processor for later editing and/or printing if necessary.

And as an additional resource, we are able to access NEXTCOMP.NET via Safari on the iPad for market pricing and checking the results of the job analysis against the market data.


The biggest challenge we faced in working totally paperless was to change our habits. We've been working with paper for so long that it seems strange to not have a hard copy as a reference. We did print one set that we used during meetings as not everyone on the team had an iPad available, but the vast majority of the work leading up to the final meetings was completed in a paperless environment. And that's good for our efficiency and for the environment.


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Updated Version 2 Report Page

I've made an update to the Reports page in Version 2.

This update should make working with pay plans that have several hundred or more jobs more manageable.

The graphic below explains the update. You may click the graphic to see a larger view.


Basically this page is a bit smarter now. It will remember the last report you viewed and it allows you to filter the list of jobs based on matching partial or whole job titles or job numbers.

Hopefully this will be a help in working with larger pay plans.

As always please contact me with any questions.

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Wednesday, May 04, 2011

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nextcompTV - Episode 10

We're back (after a long hiatus) for another episode of nextcompTV. We discuss a new book about salary surveys, the new focus on cash compensation at Microsoft, and the "Best Places To Work" in Seattle.


Here are some links to websites we reference in the episode:

http://minimsft.blogspot.com



And for reference, here are three of my favorite videos from the past.

WorldatWork 2009 Setup and Interview with Audrey Johnson


Interview with my Dad on Father's Day


Interview with Catherine Dovey