“In a World of Pay”, presents an interesting reading in which one woman, Renate

Schmidt is conflicted about a salary issue regarding a new employee. The reading begins by

describing Renate’s day as she discusses the debate with a fellow coworker who like her

believes that paying a new employee named Anne Provost a similar amount to a person who

is both hire up and has been at the company, Typware a significant amount longer is unfair.

Anne Provost although extremely qualified and would be a crucial asset to the company

should not make as much as the head of European marketing for the company’s pay. Renate’s

boss, Thomas however, believes that due to the current circumstances of not being able to fill

that position for such a long time and how Provost is the perfect candidate, that they should

hire Provost for the job with the salary.

As the reading continues, Schmidt and her fellow coworker, Jürgen insist that Anne is

being given much too high of a salary. In turn of this, Thomas meets with Schmidt and asks

her to come up with a suitable salary and benefits for Anne as a recommendation to him.

According to the reading, the 85% of the employees had been in Germany and had been paid

fairly in relationship to the market rates. The expatriates for the majority received a

comparable pay to the employees in Germany with an enrollment in local health care

programs. Over the past couple of years however, complications with expatriate packages

began to rise. Seeking advice, Renate found that there was still no easy answer for this salary

case.

The reading soon goes into detail about research indicating how much compensation

exactly that Typware should offer. The reading states, “The German Software Company

needs to develop a compensation strategy that is aligned with its business strategy” (5).

According to the article, Typware has no strategy to decide compensation for foreign
employees. Anne Provost is not only receiving financial benefits from working for Typware,

but also global benefits for her and her children. Research suggests that Typware should offer

two types of pay packages for Anne. The first package feigns that Typware wants to be a

Germany company operating globally, which centers its employees to focus on pay and the

cost of living. The second package suggests that Typware operates as a global company that

assesses jobs for the company as leadership positions on a worldwide basis. To keep Provost

in Germany, Typware should consider both the compensation package and if it were worth to

hire her with this the amount it would cost to keep her there. It also needs to be made aware to

Provost the benefits in which she would be receiving for working at the company on a global

scale without the pay in mind.

In this case, Renate faces many issues. Among these issues include paying a foreign,

new employee a similar amount to a higher up who has been at the company for many years.

Renate also worries how the rest of the employees will react when they hear that this has

happened. In addition to this Renate faces the problem of it is actually worth Anne joining

the company for the amount in which they would have to pay her and whether or not the

amount they would pay her will be fair for the cost of living in Germany compared to the US

and how Anne will react. If I were in Renate’s shoes the first step I would take would be to

find out exactly how much Anne’s pay would be needed keeping in mind the benefits Anne

would receive to work in Germany. I would find out how much Anne would be offered at the

competing job and then I would go to my boss and make my suggestion based upon this

information.