Employees Paid on Commission Entitled to Separate Rest-Period Pay

Paying minimum hourly rate as advance on commissions not sufficient, California Court of Appeal rules

By Joanne Deschenaux, J.D.Mar 15, 2017

Workers paid on commission must get separate compensation for legally required rest periods, the California Court of Appeal ruled in February. Further, an employer violated this requirement by paying employees a guaranteed minimum hourly rate as an advance on commissions earned in later pay periods, the court said.

Ricardo Bermudez Vaquero and Robert Schaefer worked as sales associates for Stoneledge Furniture, a retail furniture company. After they were fired, Vaquero and Schaefer filed a class-action complaint alleging that Stoneledge's commission pay plan did not comply with California law.

Stoneledge paid sales associates on a commission basis. If a sales associate failed to earn minimum pay of at least $12 an hour in commissions in any pay period, the company paid the associate a "draw" against "future advanced commissions." The amount of the draw was deducted from future commissions, but an employee would always receive at least $12 an hour for every hour worked.

Sales associates did not earn separate compensation for work not involving sales, such as time spent in meetings, on training and during rest periods. Sales associates recorded this time, however, using Stoneledge's electronic timekeeping system. The company allowed sales associates to take rest periods of at least 10 consecutive minutes for every four hours worked.

Stoneledge claimed that under its compensation plan, all time during rest periods was recorded and paid as time worked. Therefore, sales associates were paid at least $12 an hour even if they made no sales. Although the company deducted from sales associates' paychecks any previously paid draw on commissions, the deduction was not taken if it meant an employee would earn less than $12 an hour for all time worked in any week.

Vaquero and Schaefer claimed that Stoneledge failed to pay for rest periods. Stoneledge sought to dismiss the claims before trial, arguing that it paid its sales associates a guaranteed minimum wage for all hours worked, including rest periods.

The trial court dismissed the claims, noting that under Stoneledge's payment system, "there was no possibility that the employees' rest period time would not be captured in the total amount paid each pay period."

Vaquero and Schaefer appealed, and the appellate court reversed.

Wage Order Requires Separate Compensation for Rest Periods

Under the California Industrial Welfare Commission's wage orders, employers must provide nonexempt employees with a paid 10-minute rest period for every four hours of work. Rest periods must be counted as hours worked "for which there shall be no deduction from wages." The order applicable here, Wage Order 7, applies "to all persons employed in the mercantile industry whether paid on a time, piece rate, commission or other basis."

In a 2013 case, the California Court of Appeal ruled that the wage order required employers to separately compensate workers for rest periods where the employer uses an "activity-based compensation system" that does not directly pay for rest periods (Bluford v. Safeway Stores Inc., 216 Cal.App.4th 864). Although Bluford involved employees paid by piece rate and not those earning commissions, the court in Stoneledge concluded that "Wage Order No. 7 applies equally to commissioned employees, employees paid by piece rate or any other compensation system that does not separately account for rest breaks and other nonproductive time."

Plan Does Not Comply with Law

Stoneledge claimed that its commission plan complied with California law because sales associates' rest breaks were counted as hours worked and that time was not deducted from wages. The court noted that the company did treat break time the same as work time but said that the company violated California law by failing to directly compensate sales associates for rest periods.

"The advances or draws against future commissions were not compensation for rest periods because they were not compensation at all," the court said. "At best they were interest-free loans."

Therefore, the court concluded, "when Stoneledge paid an employee only a commission, that commission did not account for rest periods. When Stoneledge compensated an employee on an hourly basis (including for rest periods), the company took back that compensation in later pay periods. In neither situation was the employee separately compensated for rest periods."

Vaquero v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC, Calif. Ct. App., No. B269657 (Feb. 28, 2017).

Professional Pointer: Employers should consider consulting with legal counsel to determine whether their commission payment plans adequately compensate salespeople for rest breaks and other nonselling time. Reviewing—and possibly making changes to—commission-pay agreements may help prevent future litigation.

Joanne Deschenaux, J.D., is a freelance writer based in Annapolis, Md.

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The above article is from the Society for Human Resource Management:

https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and-compliance/state-and-local-updates/Pages/commission-rest-period-pay.aspx?utm_source=SHRM%20Friday%20-%20PublishThis_HRDaily_7.18.16%20(38)&utm_medium=email&utm_content=March%2017%2C%202017&SPMID=00330610&SPJD=07%2F25%2F1996&SPED=04%2F30%2F2017&SPSEG=&restr_scanning=silver&spMailingID=28284748&spUserID=ODM1OTI0MDgxMjMS1&spJobID=1002486107&spReportId=MTAwMjQ4NjEwNwS2

What’s Next for Employers Under the FLSA Overtime Rule?

New regulations may not be issued before next year; employer action steps

By Stephen Miller, CEBSMar 15, 2017

Under the Trump administration, a revised overtime-pay rule could raise the salary threshold for exempt status, but not as much as the Obama administration wanted. It could also reduce some of the complexity around compliance that Obama's Department of Labor (DOL) included in its now-blocked rule, according to Tammy McCutchen, former administrator of the DOL's wage and hour division under President George W. Bush and a principal with Littler Mendelson PC in Washington, D.C.

U.S. employers have been in legal limbo when it comes to compensating employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rule, which requires pay at a rate of time-and-a-half for nonexempt employees working more than 40 hours per week, said McCutchen, who served on Trump's transition team. Many employers either reclassified exempt employees (earning salaries) as nonexempt (paid hourly), or raised exempt employees' pay to avoid mandatory overtime. McCutchen shared some ideas on what these employers can do in light of future regulatory changes she expects to see.

The DOL is, for the most part, "not doing anything right now," as the department awaits Senate action on Trump's nominee for Labor secretary, Alex Acosta, said McCutchen, speaking on March 14 at the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Employment Law and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Acosta's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled for March 22.

Blocked but Not Repealed

Before she gave her forecast for what's ahead, McCutchen reviewed some pertinent background of how we got to where we are. Most notably, a DOL final rule revising the FLSA overtime regulations was released by the Obama administration in May 2016. But on Nov. 22, a federal district court judge in Texas placed a temporary injunction, effective nationwide, on the revised rule, preventing it from taking effect on Dec 1.

For now, the rule's implementation and enforcement are on hold. The matter has been appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and on Feb. 22, the DOL moved for an additional 60-day extension—until May 1—to file its brief, citing the absence of a confirmed Labor secretary.

Under the blocked rule:

• The annual salary threshold for exempt positions would have more than doubled from $23,660 to $47,476.
  
  
• Employers would have been allowed to use nondiscretionary bonuses to satisfy up to 10 percent of the general salary threshold, provided the incentives were made on a quarterly or more frequent basis.
  
  
• There would have been no change in the general duties test used to determine whether employees earning more than the salary threshold must be classified as nonexempt from overtime, including the exemptions for executive, administrative and professional positions, among others.
  
  
• For highly compensated employees (HCEs), who may be classified as exempt if they meet the criteria of a less-stringent duties test, the final rule would have raised the annual HCE salary threshold from $100,000 to $134,004.
  

The DOL could drop its appeal of the Texas district court ruling, but the AFL-CIO is seeking permission to defend the rule, should that happen, McCutchen explained. A better path forward, in her view, would be for Trump's DOL "to restart and redo the overtime regulation, setting the salary threshold at about $35,000, where I think it should be," she said.

FLSA Overtime Rule Compliance

For more overtime compliance news, tips and tools, check out the SHRM resources provided below:

· FLSA Overtime Rule Resources Guide
· Overtime Rule Blocked: Now What?
· Compliance Checklist · Infographic

A "restart and redo" would require the DOL to propose an administrative delay of the rule as revised by the Obama administration, followed by a new notice of proposed rule-making and comment period, leading to a new final rule.

Most employers believe that an increase in the salary threshold was needed, or at least inevitable, McCutchen said, but they saw the revised rule's threshold as far too high, "excluding people who obviously meet the FLSA's duties test" because of the discretion and independent decision-making required in their jobs. 

The revision particularly hit hard establishments such as "retail restaurants in the lower South and Southwest," she noted, where the cost of living and average wages are lower than in other parts of the country. "In the 'flyover country' that voted for Donald Trump, there aren't so many people who make $50,000 a year," meaning that most positions would have become exempt, requiring mandatory overtime pay.

Under the Trump administration, she looks forward to a salary threshold "that is workable not only in New York and San Francisco, but also in Mississippi and Arkansas."

The timeframe for putting a new rule in place with a salary threshold in the range of $35,000 to $38,000 "could be a year or so down the road," so probably sometime next year, McCutchen said.

[SHRM members-only toolkit: Calculating Overtime Pay in the United States]

Employers in a Bind

When McCutchen asked conference attendees how many had reclassified exempt employees as nonexempt at their organizations before the court injunction, about half of the audience raised their hands. Some employers who had told exempt employees being paid a salary between $23,660 and $47,476 that they would henceforth be reclassified as nonexempt and paid hourly, subsequently informed these workers that they'd stay exempt after all while regulatory matters are sorted out. While some of these workers would rather stay exempt, others had looked forward to earning overtime pay.

"Here's a radical idea," McCutchen said. "Why don't you ask employees [in this situation] if they'd prefer the flexibility that goes with exempt status—which many also see as a symbol of achievement—of if they'd prefer the overtime pay," and then classifying them accordingly.

If employees were made nonexempt and don't want to change back, new hires for a comparable position don't necessarily need to be nonexempt as well, she noted. But employers must be sure to accurately code these positions to distinguish exempt or nonexempt jobs. For instance, they might code Accountant #1 as a nonexempt position, but code Accountants #2, #3 and #4 as exempt spots.

Another common situation involves employees whose salaries were raised to at least $47,476 to keep them nonexempt. One response would be to "slow down their salary increases over the next two to three years until they get back to where you think they should be" in terms of market pay, McCutchen suggested.

As to the bonus provision in the Obama DOL's rule revision, allowing certain kinds of incentive pay to be included in the salary threshold calculation, McCutchen said if the threshold increase is set back to the $35,000 to $38,000 range, "there would be no need for that extra complexity, which is contrary to the concept of guaranteed salary." She called the allowance of incentive income in calculating the salary threshold "a gift to class action attorneys," since "it would have led to a tremendous number of lawsuits. It shouldn't be necessary at a salary level that is reasonable."

As for the HCE salary threshold, McCutchen said that under a Trump DOL revised rule, it may also go up from the current level of $100,000 if the general salary threshold is raised, "but it also might stay where it is; we'll have to wait and see."

[SHRM members-only toolkit: Determining Overtime Eligibility in the United States]

Enforcement Activity

Under the Trump administration, McCutchen expects there will be more opportunity for employers to work cooperatively with the DOL to achieve compliance. "Submit requests for opinion letters if you have questions," she advised.

McCutchen is also hoping to see the DOL "bring back employer incentives for voluntary compliance," for instance to encourage employers to work with the DOL to correct classification errors, "and more use of carrots instead of the stick."

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Source: The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/compensation/Pages/FLSA-overtime-rule-forecast.aspx?utm_source=SHRM%20Wednesday%20-%20PublishThis_HRDaily_7.18.16%20(43)&utm_medium=email&utm_content=March%2015%2C%202017&SPMID=00330610&SPJD=07%2F25%2F1996&SPED=04%2F30%2F2017&SPSEG=&restr_scanning=silver&spMailingID=28253016&spUserID=ODM1OTI0MDgxMjMS1&spJobID=1002203405&spReportId=MTAwMjIwMzQwNQS2

The Best Perk At America's Best Employers Is The One You Don't See

Parental, Caregiving Leave Benefits Unchanged Since 2012

March 8, 2017 — While many well-known companies are promoting their expansion of paid-leave benefits, the average amount of parental and caregiving leave provided by U.S. employers hasn't changed significantly since 2012.

"Whether high-profile companies offering paid leave are out of step with the majority of employers or leading the way remains to be seen," said Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and author of the "National Study of Employers."

FWI designed and conducted the study on how employers are responding to the changing workforce. Released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Galinsky said that, while it appears a trend has started, the study found otherwise.

"Given our findings that 78% of employers reported difficulty in recruiting employees for highly skilled jobs and 38% reported difficulty in recruiting entry-level, hourly jobs … high-profile companies could be leading the way," she said, referring to Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson and others that have expanded their parental leave.

The maximum length of paid or unpaid parental and caregiving leave was recorded in 2005. Since then, maternity, paternity, adoption and caregiving leave have all declined. Today, the average number of weeks of maternity leave is four and a half, and a little more than 11 weeks is the average leave for a spouse/partner (paternity leave).

In the past 11 years, the number of organizations offering at least some replacement pay for women on maternity leave has increased 12 percentage points, from 46% to 58%, Galinsky said. But the study also found that, among employers offering any replacement pay, the percentage offering full pay has continued to decline from 17% in 2005 to 10% in 2016.

Telework also has been in the news in the past couple of years and, despite several big-name companies dropping their telework options, 40% of employers allow employees to work some of their paid hours at home on a regular basis. This is up from 33% in 2012, according to the study.

Of the 18 forms of flexibility assessed, there were few changes between 2012 and 2016, representing a pause in the growth of flexibility. In addition to regular work at home two forms of flexibility have increased:

• The percentage of employers allowing employees to return to work gradually after the birth of a child or adoption (from 73% in 2012 to 81% in 2016)
• The percentage of employers allowing employees to receive special consideration after a career break for personal/family responsibilities (from 21% in 2012 to 28% in 2016).

One form of flexibility decreased during this time, according to the study: the percentage of employers allowing employees to take time off during the workday to attend to important family or personal needs without loss of pay, which declined from 87% in 2012 to 81% in 2016.

"While more employers are being supportive in how employees return from parental and caregiving leave, there is less support for flexibility during the workday," Galinsky said. "What people need most is time off during the day, and fewer are getting it."

One finding that may have contributed to the pause in flexibility was a drop in management support for flexible work arrangements, a drop from 31% in 2005 to 14% in 2016.

Lack of management support is a theme WorldatWork also found in its 2015 "Trends in Workplace Flexibility" report. Of the 3% of organizations without flexibility programs, resistance from management and lack of jobs conducive to flexible work arrangements were frequently cited by respondents. Top management tended to be a bigger barrier than middle management, often acting as an obstacle to telework programs, according to the WorldatWork report.

"This is worrisome because having policies is not enough," Galinsky said. "Without management support, employees can't use policies. This suggests the need for more training for supervisors and others who manage employees."

Rose Stanley, CBP, WLCP, WorldatWork senior practice leader, agreed with Galinsky about the need for additional training. "Flexibility training for managers and employees is a rarity in many organizations."

Contents © 2017 WorldatWork. For more information, contact the Copyright Department at WorldatWork.

Source: Inc.com ... http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/glassdoors-top-20-employee-perks.html

PUBLISHED ON: FEB 8, 2017

This Year's Top 20 Company Perks for Employees

It's not just about parking spaces anymore.

By Suzanne Lucas 

CREDIT: Getty Images

Glassdoor pulled together a list of some pretty great perks that it describes as going "beyond the basics" and entering "legendary status." While I'm not quite sure all of these reach legendary status, I will say that most are pretty awesome.

1. IKEA offers up to four months of paid parental leave to both part-time and full-time employees who have at least one year of experience at the company, regardless of whether they work at a retail store or the corporate headquarters.

Why this is "legendary": The thing I like most about this perk is that it hits two neglected categories--part-time employees and retail employees. Lots of times, big companies announce major perks but limit them to the highest-paid people. I'm happy to see part-time and retail employees getting a great perk.

2. Reebok encourages employees to reach their personal fitness goals by providing an onsite gym with CrossFit classes.

Why this is "legendary": Gyms are common. CrossFit is unique. Plus, it goes with the overall company culture and product lines.

3. Bain & Company, the Best Place to Work in 2017, holds an annual two-day, global "Bain World Cup" soccer tournament open to all employees. Last year's event was in Brussels. The 2017 tournament will be held in Los Angeles.

Why this is "legendary": This is definitely a unique perk. However, I'm going to say this one isn't as awesome as Glassdoor thinks, because it's limited to one sport and doesn't appeal to the whole population. That said, since Bain is Glassdoor's Best Place to Work in 2017, this is clearly not the only perk.

4. Goldman Sachs offers coverage for gender reassignment surgery, a benefit the company has offered since 2008.

Why this is "legendary": If you want gender reassignment surgery, start working on landing a job at Goldman Sachs. This is a rare benefit.

5. Facebook provides health care coverage and free housing for interns. The company is known for its competitive benefits package--many Facebook interns report earning more than $7,000 per month.

Why this is "legendary": No explanation needed. Sign me up. Or rather, sign my kids up for this internship.

6. Scripps Health cares about the well-being of its employees' furry family members, offering pet health insurance for cats and dogs.

Why this is "legendary": Nothing says you care about your employees like caring about what they are about, and people love their pets.

7. Starbucks provides full tuition reimbursement for its employees, covering an online bachelor's degree program through Arizona State University.

Why this is "legendary": Tuition reimbursement is common, but not full tuition reimbursement, and this benefit is available to their baristas as well--not just corporate people.

8. American Express's parental leave policy offers up to five months of fully paid leave for both mothers and fathers. Birthing mothers generally receive an additional six to eight weeks under salary continuation for medical leave. Parents are also given access to a 24-hour lactation consultant, and mothers traveling for business can ship their breast milk home for free.

Why this is "legendary": Not only is this a fantastic parental leave program, but allowing nursing mothers to ship breast milk home for free means that more women can grow their careers while still nursing their babies. Fabulous.

9. Eventbrite helps keep employees healthy by offering a monthly $60 wellness stipend, which can be used on everything from gym dues to juice cleanses.

Why this is "legendary": The flexibility makes this fabulous. If you like the gym, you can go to the gym. If you prefer something else on the wellness spectrum, you can do that.

10. Whole Foods Market offers a 20 percent store discount to all employees, including those who are part time.

Why this is "legendary": While Whole Foods is often joked about as Whole Paycheck, this discount means that employees don't have to spend their whole paycheck there.

11. In-N-Out's employees can treat themselves to a free Double-Double burger and fries during each shift.

Why this is "legendary": Much like the Facebook perk, this one is self-explanatory. If my kids can't get internships at Facebook, I'm sending them to apply at In-N-Out.

12. Deloitte offers two sabbatical programs: an unpaid one-month sabbatical that can be taken for any reason, and a three- to six-month sabbatical that can be taken to pursue personal or professional growth opportunities with 40 percent pay.

Why this is "legendary": Vacations are awesome and fun, but a sabbatical allows you to chase your dreams. Wow.

13. Gap provides free access to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to corporate employees. Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher worked closely with the museum to feature their prominent private collection.

Why this is "legendary": To be honest, I'm not sure about the legendary status of this perk. It's a great perk, to be sure, but lots of companies provide museum memberships and discounts, and this one is only for corporate employees.

14. Microsoft offers an annual $800 "StayFit" reimbursement program to help cover the cost of gym memberships and fitness programs.

Why this is "legendary": Again, a great perk, but hardly legendary. Gym benefits are a common perk.

15. Insurance company Swiss Re's "Own the Way You Work" program encourages employees to embrace flexibility in their schedules and work remotely.

Why this is "legendary": Hopefully, the legendary status of this will go away shortly, as more and more companies embrace flexibility, but right now, this is a perk lots of people chase.

16. Amazon offers two programs for new parents: Leave Share, which allows employees to share paid leave with their partner if the partner's company does not offer paid leave, and Ramp Back, which gives new moms more control over easing back into work. All perks are available for corporate, customer service, and fulfillment center employees.

Why this is "legendary": I've never heard of Leave Share before, which sounds awesome. Ramp Back offers a path back that many new moms want.

17. USAA offers a strong 401(k) program with an 8 percent matching policy. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the average company in the U.S. matches 6 percent.

Why this is "legendary": An 8 percent match is awesome. Talk about making retirement savings easy.

18. Southwest offers all employees and their dependents access to Clear Skies, an employee assistance program that provides confidential counseling, work/life services, and legal consultations.

Why this is "legendary": Many companies offer employee assistance programs, but this sounds like an EAP on steroids. A nice perk that's one step up from normal.

19. Genentech offers unique onsite amenities, including car washes, haircuts, child care, a mobile spa, and a dentist.

Why this is "legendary": Everyone hates to go to the dentist, but if you don't need to take a huge amount of time off work for it, it makes it not as terrible.

20. Timberland employees can take up to 40 hours of paid time off per year to volunteer.

Why this is "legendary": Not only does this help its employees, it makes the whole world better off when people take the time to help others.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

PUBLISHED ON: FEB 8, 2017

Source: Bloomberg BNA ... https://www.bna.com/executive-compensation-irs-b73014450274/

IRS UPDATES GOLDEN PARACHUTE PAYMENT AUDIT TIPS

Jan 25, 2017 / by Sharon H. Lee

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION: IRS UPDATES GOLDEN PARACHUTE PAYMENT AUDIT TIPS

Companies and individuals tapped to undergo Internal Revenue Service examinations of golden parachute payments should review the updated Golden Parachute Payments Audit Technique Guide (2017 ATG) issued by the IRS on Jan. 20.

Golden parachutes are arrangements that provide executives or key employees with significant financial compensation in the event of a change in ownership or control of the employer. The IRS examines golden parachute payments to determine whether:  (1) the payer can claim a deduction for the payment under I.R.C. § 280G, and (2) the recipient is subject to a 20 percent excise tax as an excess payment under § 4999.

Audit Technique Guides

The 2017 ATG conforms the previous version of the ATG with current tax code provisions and Securities and Exchange Commission filing requirements. The IRS initially issued ATGs on several executive compensation topics, including golden parachute payments, in 2005.  The 2005 Golden Parachute Payments ATG provided guidance on the following topics:

• the types of documents reviewed by IRS examiners in golden parachute examinations, and
• the nine steps performed by IRS examiners in golden parachute examinations.

The IRS website states that ATGs “help examiners during audits by providing insight into issues and accounting methods unique to specific industries.” Although the ATGs primarily are referenced by IRS examiners, the ATGs contain helpful information for companies and individuals to defend themselves during IRS examinations.

Key Takeaways

1. The 2017 ATG specifies two additional types of documents reviewed by IRS examiners in golden parachute payment examinations, including:

• Information Statement (Schedules 14A and 14C). The 2017 ATG states, “The rules of the Dodd-Frank Act require the disclosure of golden parachute payments in proxy statements and informational statements filed on Schedule 14A as well as Schedule 14C.”
• Registration Statements (Forms S-4 and F-4). The 2017 ATG states Forms S-4 and F-4 “provide information related to mergers, acquisitions, or when securities are exchanged between companies.”

2. The 2017 ATG specifies the interplay between I.R.C. § 162(m) and golden parachute payments.  The ATG states, "Section 162(m) provides that the $1 million limitation should be reduced by any amount of excess parachute payments. For example, if the chief executive officer of a publicly-held company received $2 million dollars from his company in the year it was being acquired, of which $200,000 was excess parachute payments under IRC § 280G, the IRC 162(m) limitation for the CEO would be reduced to $800,000 ($1,000,000 - $200,000). However, this provision for reducing the $1 million limitation for the excess parachute payment may not apply if the executive of the target is not considered a covered employee during the year of an acquisition since the target goes out of existence and his pay is not reported in the proxy statement."

Job descriptions have traditionally been written in a static manner. Beginning in the 1970s, the original goal was to comply with the Uniform Guidelines in Selection Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Act, and Americans With Disabilities Act or to meet other contract and business requirements to defend hiring decisions and minimum employment standards. So what has changed?

The advent of computer technology provided the opportunity to revise job descriptions more easily. In health care, employers began to score the performance of each job function using the job criterion method. Many employers began to link job description updates with the performance appraisal cycle or timing of reclassification studies. However, the purpose of the review has largely been limited to facilitating market comparisons and internal equity comparisons.

More recently, some employers have begun to write their job descriptions around competency clusters such as project management, writing skills, software applications, and equipment utilization in work cells. Other employers have taken their core values and written behavioral statements that show the employee understands and shows these values. Both the Company values and the competencies are being prominently displayed on the first and second pages of the job descriptions.

What appears to be lacking is the emphasis on key result areas and key performance indicators, particularly when the organization does not have a separate incentive plan. We know that we can write these standards into the performance appraisal forms but the criteria will not be centered upon the each employee’s position. The outcome is less than perfect.

Some organizations have accepted this challenge, such as Kwikset, and quantitatively defined and scored the competencies, continuing training requirements, and performance outcomes for each job. In this context, the job description, training plan, and performance evaluation plan are all part of one document. In other companies, simply listing the performance measures under the abilities section in the Qualifications Guidelines appears to be an important first step.

What else can be done to improve the active use of the job descriptions?