Compensation
The term compensation can be used broadly to refer to any money or other benefits given to the workers for their services or it can be used more specifically to refer to a form of insurance which provides medical benefits and wage replacement to employees who have been injured in the course of carrying out their duties in order to avoid lawsuits on the basis of negligence. This can be in form of weekly payments, compensation for past and future economic losses, payment of medical and other similar expenses, and other benefits payable to the people who depended on a person who died in the course of execution of his duties.
There are different types of compensations. These include base pay, overtime pay, commissions, bonuses, merit pay, profit sharing, stock options, travel, housing, meal and other allowances, and benefits such as insurance, dental, vacation, medical, leave, retirement benefits.
Burger king offers different types of compensation for different classes of workers depending on their ranks in the organization. For regular team members they offer limited benefits insurance cover, a saving plan and meals at discounted rates. Shift co-coordinators receive medical coverage, flexible spending accounts, limited benefits insurance, dental and vision cover, life insurance, insurance in case of business travel accidents, benefits for domestic partners, saving plan and discounted meals. The general manager and the assistant manager receive medical, vision and dental cover, flexible spending accounts, disability cover, life insurance, insurance in case of business travel accidents, domestic partner benefits, paid time off, savings plan, adoption assistance and tuition assistance.
Burger King’s compensation plan is ideal for the situation because it encourages workers to work harder and get promotions because the higher one ranks the higher their benefits and compensations. To many employees, other benefits received at work are just as important as their salaries. These benefits give employees job satisfaction and to some are necessities. Benefits such as tuition assistance are very useful to parents with young children of school going age as they reduce the burden on the parents. These benefits boost employees’ morale and motivation while at the same time ensuring employee retention.
Internally Consistent Versus Market Consistent Compensations Systems
In internally consistent compensation systems, the human resource department is solely responsible for worker compensations. They analyze the various jobs and evaluate them in order to determine their worth. Through job analysis the human resource department is able to describe the various duties that should be assigned to the workers, the job contexts and worker specifications. These require the judgments of the people comprising the human resource team. Based on the results of the analysis, the human resource team agrees on the right form of compensation for the particular job group.
The most beneficial system of compensation is one based on performance. This is because it encourages employees to work harder in the realization of the goals and visions of the organizations. At Burger King, worker compensation is based on the position held at the company. This position can be improved based on an individual’s hard work.
Employee Recognition
Burger king is one of the best paying corporations dealing with fast foods. One of the main advantages of working at Burger King is that there is very high likelihood of receiving a pay raise. Although the starting salary is usually the minimum wage, hard workers are assured of several pay raises within their first year. This is meant to encourage workers to put more efforts in the business and in the achievement of its goals.
At Burger King, hardworking employees are recognized and rewarded. The recruitment program is normally fair and indiscriminate. Only the very best are chosen. Once inside, they are trained to equip them for the tasks ahead of them. The work environment is so friendly that it encourages people from diverse backgrounds to thrive both professionally and personally. The relationship between the employees and higher management also provides room for growth. Once talent is spotted, the person is given a mentor holding a higher position in the organization. This mentor is meant to provide guidance and help improve the character and contributions of the junior employee for the general good of the company.
One of the ways through which Burger King motivates its employees is through bonuses. Top management staff is often given rewards for boosting sales in their different areas. These bonuses encourage them to further motivate the people under them and to come up with new and innovative ways of further increasing sales. They do this by integrating respect for all workers under them, embracing new and promising workers, mentoring programs, and offering opportunities for job enrichment and career improvement.
Burger King offers recognition to outstanding employees as a way of motivating them to work even harder. This comes in the form of promotions, and these promotions are relatively easy to get. Promotions also come with higher bonuses and compensations and this serves to further motivate employees. Due to the fast rate at which the organization is growing, there is always room for more employees, and this means that there is room for growth for interested employees. Hard working employees are also entitled to higher discounts at the restaurant.
Discretionary Benefits
Discretionary benefits refer to emoluments given by the employer to the employee without being legally bound to do so or on a discretionary basis. Examples of these include, for instance, emoluments which go beyond those predetermined or set by collective agreements, laws, arbitration awards, ministerial decisions or any other regulatory provisions. These are paid optionally and are not part of or in performance of the signed contract of employment. If, however, the employer gives such emoluments on a regular basis and the employee constantly accepts it, there is a tacit agreement which is established and this means that the employer is no longer allowed to withdraw it or to reduce it to lower levels unless he or she had indicated that he expressly had the right to do so.
There are several ways through which Burger King can improve the effectiveness of its discretionary benefits. First, the company should always give employees the benefits that are actually meaningful to them. These are benefits which make them feel valued and well compensated. Giving people benefits to which they do not attach any value may not be very motivational. For example, employees with children of school going age may appreciate benefits such as tuition assistance or medical covers for their children.
This motivates them to work harder and also serves to improve their relationship with their superiors or the people who gave them these benefits. They could also offer different options for employees to choose from instead of having predetermined benefits. This ensures that people are able to choose what they most value, leading to higher motivation.
Another way through which Burger King could do this is by ensuring that the benefits they give match and outdo those given by their competitors. This will ensure that the company retains and motivates its best employees to continue working for them. The benefits offered at burger king should be higher and different fro those offered by their main competitors if they are to be effective. This would help in ensuring that they remain ahead of their competition and in giving the company a good reputation. Offering unique benefits such as helping workers quit smoking, manage stress or lose weight could lead to happier and healthier workers. Emotionally and psychologically balanced employees tend to be more productive. It helps to boost the productivity of workers when they are in a better frame of mind.
Retirement Plan
Burger king has one of the most effective retirement plans. The retirement plan covers all employees who retire from work at Burger King and have applied for the retirement plan and has been in effect since 1996. Employees are expected to save a small percentage of their income which will be given back to them in the form of retirement benefits. Some of the benefits offered by the Burger king retirement plan include pay related pension benefits and cover by the PBGC insurance program. The offers provided are better than any other corporation and this has encouraged the participation of many employees. The cover is valid for as long as one lives and is only terminated upon his death. This cover is optional but highly encouraged.
One of Burger King’s biggest competitors is McDonalds’s. In 2004, they too began to offer retirement plans for employees in form of rich saving perks for retirement. Their system is also very attractive because for every 5% saved by the employees, the company puts in an extra 11% and this ensures that the savings increase at a much higher rate. in order to further ease this measure, the company has also made these deductions automatic. This, however, has not enabled them to enroll many people. For some reason, people seem skeptical of this new system. Many prefer to make other arrangements concerning retirement instead of saving at their places of work. This could partly be due to the high number of employee turnovers. Many people working at McDonalds may not view their positions as permanent, thus failing to see the need to invest in this particular area. Although their offer is better than Burger King’s, it has not contributed to an increase in the number of people in the retirement plan.
Health Insurance Plan
At Burger King, the higher one ranks in the organization, the higher the benefits these include benefits such as medical covers and health insurance plans. Higher management gets dental, visual and other forms of health insurance covers. This is also true for their biggest competitors, McDonald’s. The higher ranking officials get to enjoy all the benefits at the expense of the lower ranking ones.
Most businesses do not offer a very comprehensive health plan for their hourly workers. McDonald’s hourly workers do not even get the minimum requirements as per the federal requirements. Only the highly paid workers get proper medical covers. Its argument is that these employees cannot afford these covers, and the loss would therefore be theirs to bear. This forces workers to spend the little they earn on medical expenses due to lack of proper covers. This is also true for Burger King, although their system is slightly friendlier as they meet the minimum requirements.
References
Feldstein, P. (1993). Health Care Economics. New Jersey: Wiley.
Spicker, P. (2011). How Social Security Works. London: The Policy Press.
Tschohl, J. (1996). Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service. New York: Best Sellers
Publishing.
