All of the following are disadvantages of straight commission plans except ________.

  • 9/80 Work Schedule
  • 147c
  • 360 Survey
  • 401(a)
  • 401(k)
  • 403(b)
  • 457(b) Retirement Plan

  • Absence Management
  • Absenteeism Policy
  • ACA (Affordable Care Act)
  • Accessibility
  • Accruals (Leave)
  • Action Item
  • Actual Deferred Percentage (ADP)
  • Adaptive Device
  • Administrative Services Only (ASO)
  • Advanced Earned Income Credit
  • Adverse Impact
  • Affirmative Action
  • Affirmative Action Plan (AAP)
  • After-Tax Deduction
  • Ageism
  • Agile Organization
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
  • Annualized Salary
  • Annuity
  • Applicant Flow Log
  • Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
  • At-Will Employment
  • Attachment
  • Attrition
  • Automated Clearing House (ACH)
  • Awards and Prizes

  • Baby Boomers
  • Back Pay
  • Base Wage Rate
  • Basic Salary Meaning
  • Before-Tax Deduction
  • Behavioral-Based Interview Questions
  • Behavioral Competencies
  • Benefits Administration
  • Bereavement
  • Bereavement Leave
  • Biweekly Pay
  • Blended Workforce
  • Bona Fide Occupational Qualification
  • Boomerang Employee
  • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
  • Business Agility
  • Business Necessity
  • Business Partnership

  • California Labor Laws
  • Career Path
  • Career Plateau
  • CASDI
  • Certificate of Good Standing
  • Circular A
  • Circular E
  • Common-Law Test
  • Compensation
  • Compensatory Time Off
  • Competency Based Pay
  • Conditions of Employment
  • Constructive Discharge
  • Contingency Recruiting
  • Contingent Worker
  • Core competencies
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • CP 575 Letter
  • CPP (Certified Payroll Professional)
  • Cross-Functional Teams

  • Deduction
  • Deferred Compensation
  • Dependent Care Benefits (W-2)
  • Direct Deposit
  • Direct Reports
  • Disability Leave
  • Disciplinary Action
  • Disciplinary Actions
  • Disparate Effect
  • Disparate Treatment
  • Disposable Earnings
  • Disregarded Entity
  • Dual Labor Market
  • Duties Test

  • Earned Income Credit (EIC)
  • Earnings
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
  • Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Employee
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Benefits Administration
  • Employee Database
  • Employee Deductions
  • Employee Empowerment
  • Employee Engagement in HR
  • Employee Evaluation
  • Employee Handbook
  • Employee Management
  • Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
  • Employee Onboarding
  • Employee Orientation
  • Employee Relations
  • Employee Satisfaction
  • Employee Turnover
  • Employee Type
  • Employer Identification Number (EIN)
  • Employer Payroll Taxes
  • Employment Contract
  • Employment Status
  • Evidence of Insurability
  • Exempt Employee
  • Exemption
  • Exempt vs. Non-Exempt
  • Exit Interview

  • Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
  • Federal Holidays
  • Federal ID Number
  • Federal Income Tax (FIT)
  • Federal Income Tax Withholding (FITW)
  • Federal Mileage Rate
  • Federal Mileage Reimbursement
  • Federal Minimum Wage
  • Federal Tax Deposit
  • Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)
  • FICA
  • Flat Tax Withholding
  • Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
  • Flexible Workplace
  • Floating Holiday
  • FLSA Status
  • FMLA Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
  • Form 940
  • Form 941
  • Form 942
  • Form 1040-ES
  • Form 1042-S
  • Form 1099
  • Form 1099-SA
  • Form 1120-S
  • Form 2553
  • Form 5498-SA
  • Form 8109
  • Form 8233
  • Form 8809
  • Form 8832
  • Form I-9
  • Forms 1094-C and 1095-C
  • Franchise Business
  • Fringe Benefits
  • Front Pay
  • FSA Limits
  • FTE (Full-Time Equivalent)
  • Full-Time Hours

  • Garnishment
  • Generation Y
  • Generation Z
  • Glass Ceiling
  • Good Standing
  • Gross-to-Net (GTN)
  • Gross-Up
  • Gross Amounts
  • Gross Income
  • Gross Misconduct
  • Gross Pay
  • Gross vs. Net Income
  • Gross Wages

  • Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
  • Health Reimbursement Account (HRA)
  • Health Savings Account (HSA)
  • Holiday Pay
  • Hourly Employee
  • Hourly to Annual Salary
  • Hourly to Salary
  • Hourly to Yearly
  • Hours Worked
  • HR Business Partner
  • HR Software
  • HSA Contribution Limits
  • HSA Reimbursement
  • Human Capital Management (HCM)
  • Human Resource Audit
  • Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
  • Human Resources Management System (HRMS)

  • Impute
  • Imputed Income
  • Inclusion
  • Independent Contractor
  • Indirect Compensation
  • Inflation
  • Informal Communication
  • Injunction Relief

  • Job Classification
  • Job Description
  • Job Dissatisfaction

  • Knowledge Management

  • Labor Force
  • Labor Market
  • Leave Accrual Processing
  • Leave of Absence
  • Letter of Termination
  • Levy
  • Limited Purpose FSA

  • Magnetic Media Reporting
  • Medical Leave of Absence
  • Medicare Wages and Tips (W-2)
  • Military Leave from Work
  • Millennials
  • Minimum Wage

  • Nepotism
  • Net Pay
  • New Hire Report
  • Non-Discrimination Testing
  • Non-Qualified Plans (W-2)
  • Non-Resident Alien

  • Occupational Stress
  • Offboarding
  • Onboarding
  • Operating Budget
  • OSHA Form 300
  • OSHA Form 301
  • Overtime

  • Paid Holidays
  • Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • P and L Statement
  • Part-Time Hours
  • Partial Pay
  • Passive Candidate
  • Pay Calculation
  • Pay Group
  • Pay Period
  • Payroll
  • Payroll Activities
  • Payroll Deduction
  • Payroll Service
  • Payroll Software
  • Payroll Tax Rates
  • Pay Stub
  • PCORI Fees
  • Per Diem
  • Performance Improvement
  • Performance Management
  • Performance Review
  • Personal Income Tax (PIT)
  • Pre-Tax Deduction
  • Preferred Provider Organization
  • Prior Period Adjustment
  • Professional Employer Organization (PEO)
  • Profit and Loss Statement
  • Proof of Insurance

  • Qualifying Life Event
  • Quarterly Federal Tax Return

  • Real Time Processing
  • Recruiting Software
  • Regular Time
  • Retaliation
  • Retention Strategy
  • Retro Pay
  • Rightsizing

  • Salaried Employee
  • Salaried Non-Exempt
  • Salary Basis Test
  • SDI Tax
  • Seasonal Employment
  • Secondary Insurance
  • Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction
  • Self-Employment Tax
  • Shift Differential
  • Sick Leave Pay
  • Skills Gap
  • Social HR
  • Social Media Background Screening
  • Social Media Recruiting
  • Social Security Administration
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Social Security Tax
  • Social Security Tips (W-2)
  • Social Security Wages (W-2)
  • Sourcing
  • Standard Deduction
  • Standard Hours
  • State Tax Withholding
  • State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA)
  • Statutory Employee
  • Stay Interviews
  • Straight-Time Pay
  • Substantial Limitation
  • Succession Plan
  • SUI (State Unemployment Insurance)
  • Summary Dismissal
  • Summary Plan Description
  • Supplemental Unemployment Benefits
  • Supplemental Wages

  • Talent Acquisition
  • Talent Management
  • Tangible Rewards
  • Targeted Recruiting
  • Taxable Wage Base
  • Tax Levy
  • Termination Letter
  • Time-to-Hire
  • Time Tracking
  • TIN Number
  • Total Remuneration
  • Transitional Employment
  • Turnover Rate

  • Upward Mobility
  • Utilization Analysis

  • Vacation Pay
  • Virtual HR
  • Voluntary Benefits
  • VTO (Voluntary/Volunteer Time Off)

  • W-2 Form
  • W-3 Form
  • W-4 Form
  • W-5 Form
  • Wage Drift
  • Wages
  • Wage to Salary
  • Withholding
  • Work-Life Balance
  • Work Behavior
  • Worker
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Workforce Analysis
  • Workweek

  • Year to Date (YTD)

  1. HR Glossary
  2. Competency Based Pay

What Is Competency-Based Pay?

Competency-based pay is a pay structure that compensates employees based on their skill set, knowledge, and experience rather than their job title or position.  A competency-based pay plan encourages employees to reach the pay rate that they want by taking charge of improving their skills and work.

What Is the Difference Between Competency-Based and Traditional Pay Plans?

The main difference between competency-based and traditional pay plans is employee potential. Because traditional pay plans are based on an employee’s job title and position, their pay can be limited by their ability to move up in seniority at their organization. However, in a competency-based pay plan, employees are able to increase their pay potential by improving on their skills and gaining knowledge related to their field.

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Competency-Based Pay Pros and Cons

Like all compensation plans, competency-based pay has both advantages and disadvantages. The following are some examples of competency-based pay pros and cons to help you determine if this pay structure could work for your company

Pros

  • Individual self-motivation: Instead of basing pay on seniority and job level, the employee achieves as much as they’re willing to and is rewarded for it.

  • Company-wide motivation: Competency-based pay encourages a culture of self-motivation and self-improvement within the company. It can create a company of employees who are actively seeking to improve their skills and finding new ways to contribute to the company. Competency-based pay helps to tie your company’s culture directly to the success of the company.

  • Increased transparency: Employees will better understand what they have the potential to earn with a competency-based pay system and what skills they need to acquire to reach the pay they desire. 

  • Reduced turnover: Employee turnover is costly for a company, and a competency-based pay plan curbs that by helping employees feel that their skills and knowledge are important to the company, which improves retention.

Cons

  • Greater pay subjectivity: As your company strays away from a traditional pay system, things become more open to interpretation and that brings subjectivity into the equation. The actions of an employee might not be judged correctly or, worse, they might be overlooked.

  • Vulnerability to favoritism: Employees may start to see favoritism when one worker gets rewarded more than another. Employees might think that they are being treated unfairly and that their skills are not being recognized by the company.

  • Inaccurate measurement of company needs: It’s tricky to determine which skills are important to a company or which skills translate to productivity. Since that’s the basis for this pay system, it may introduce more inaccuracy when gauging company needs.

Why Use Competency-Based Pay?

As we mentioned above, a competency-based pay plan can be a great motivator for an employee and could help them take their work to the next level. Competency-based pay doesn’t follow the traditional paying system, but that’s it’s main advantage, too. It might just be the change that motivates your employees to improve.

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