Task identity Tasks should be fit together to make a complete job since this gives the employee asense of doing a whole job from the beginning to the end, with a visible output. Important bene- fits can be derived from task identity. Itcan help a worker trace his performance to the overall goals and target achievement of the organization. In addition, workers develop a sense of belonging Exercises Concept Review Questions 1. In what ways is job analysis different from job assessment? Select any job and analyse its indi- vidual content. 2. Write short notes on (a) Job characteristics model (b) Assessment centre approach in job design as DimondSoft is a US-based software major, which is in the business of executing turnkey projects in ERP software devel- ‘opment, The company has an account of more than 100 large conglomerates, spread across the world. Team leader manages client accounts with support from software developers, who are stationed at client site till successful develop- ment and implementation. Team leaders are Managed by regional vice presidents, who are stationed in the respective regions. Most of the deliberations, which include reporting and clari- fications, between the team leaders and the regional vice presidents take place through vide- conferences, Due to their exposure to differ- ent areas of business, software developers can Compensation Management and Job Design 165 and start realizing that they are parmers in the organizational progress. ‘Task variety It varies the tasks to be performed so that an employee can move from one job to another within the organisation. Such variation provides a change in the employee's mental activity as well as physical well-being. Critical Thinking Question Pulkit Shah is the HR manager of your organiza- tion, He does not understand the need for job descriptions. The company periodically restruc- tures its operation and activities, including fre- quent changes in product lines. The company recruits multiskilled professionals. Critically comment on the Shah’s argument from the per- spective of compensation management. Compensation Practices of DimondSoft quickly acquire knowledge in multiple business domains and become a target for poaching by other competing organizations. Software development is not an entry-level Job at DimondSoft. The company deliberately recruits people who are engineers with manage- ment degrees from leading business schools as management trainees. These trainees get a year-long induction training, which among other things includes three months of on cam: pus fulltime training in SAP from Siemens and Six-Sigma training from Motorola, Cost to the ‘company per employee for induction training ‘and their compensation comes to an astro- nomical figure of £25 lakh in the first year alone. The company puts each trainee under (Conta)166 compensation Management CASE STUDY (Contd) ‘a mentor team leader, who helps the train- ees get exposure to functional areas through onthe;ob assignments. As a policy, the com- pany restricts lateral entry and grooms man- agement trainees to climb the ladder through structured succession plans. For any competitor, DimondSoft's software developers are a prized possession. Hence, employee retention is the biggest challenge. Apart from nurturing a proactive work environ- ment and giving selfrespect to employees, DimondSoft offers a pay package designed, balancing the fixed variables, longterm incen- tives (LTI) and short-term incentives (STI) com- ponents, with strategic focus on employee retention. The company recognizes that com- pensation and benefits are critical factors in attracting and retaining good talent. In a regent review of employee compensation, the company observed the following features of its compen- sation management practices: * substantial differentials in gross compensa- tion of the team leader with that of the soft- ware developer * differentials in gross compensation and some- times compensation structure between the projects and support functions * personalized salaries out of a basket of op- tions for individuals at senior levels * significant increase in basic salary and hence in d@ferred benefits (both statutory and vol- untary) restriction of non-tax perks in the form of reimbursement under various heads to only certain top levels of management * discrimination in increment percentages across levels, projects, and functions * group and team incentives at lower levels, with individual based incentives at higher lev- els, resulting in less pay-outs of performance incentives, commissions, performance pay- ments, and performance bonuses to out- standing software developers. provision of non-taxable allowances like soft furnishing allowance (curtains, carpets, cut- lery, and crockery, etc.) for team leaders on wards, but not for software developers wide variation in conveyance allowance across levels, projects, and functions medical benefits are liberal across levels restriction of sabbaticals for higher studies to only those who are with the company for more than five years special interest free loans are extended to the tune of 3 lakh for various purposes reimbursement of books, periodicals, newspa- pers, journals, ete. against a pre-determined limit is common. Membership subscription to professional bodies is also reimbursed corporate club membership for all soft loans for purchase of furniture, appli- ances, and computers for all housing loans or interest subsidy is also pro- vided for all discretionary rewards such as reimbursement for travel for a holiday including accommoda- tion in guest houses, transit flats, etc. This is practised mostly for senior managerial employ- ees. From team leaders onwards, the compa- ny has a system of offering fixed annual leave travel allowances sign-off bonuses and reimbursement of relo- cation expenses for top level managers expensing stock options to all ~ annual profit sharing across levels compensation deferrals include provident fund, gratuity, pension, and loyalty bonus with separate time cap as vesting period ; ;CASE STUDY (Contd) The company systematically benchmarks “compensation in order to remain in the top slot, | attract talent, and increase retention. Recently, {pthe, company observed that the attrition rate for software developers has increased from _ | 2per cent to 5 per cent. Most of these left after _ | gaining at least three years of experience with | the company, Human resource accounting has “ eflabled the company to assess the cost of " such attrition, It comes to an estimated sum of | 34.5 crore. Exit interviews and human resource audits, through a diagnostic questionnaire about References Ahonen, M., M. Launis, and T. Kuorinka (1989), Ergonomic Workplace Anabysis, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki. Banks, M.H., and RL. Miller (1984), ‘Reliability and convergent validity of the job component inventory’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, vol. 57, pp. 181-184. Bhattacharyya, D.K. (2006), Human Resource Plan- ning, 2nd edidon, Excel Books, New Delhi. Bhattacharyya, D.K. (2007), Human Resource Research Methods, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Brown, R. 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