Shape of Future Compensation Professionals’ Work (Essay Sample)

Shape of Future Compensation Professionals’ Work Name Institutional Affiliations Course Number Course Instructor Date Shape of Future Compensation Professionals’ Work The epilogue outlines five essential issues that will likely face compensation professionals in the future. They include a possible federal minimum wage rate increase, performance appraisal trends, compensation-productivity gap, gender pay gap, and pay transparency. All these issues relate to compensation professionals' duties in different ways. The first issue concerns a possible increase in the federal minimum wage. There have been varying legislations in different states to increase the federal minimum wage rates, with some implementing these legislations while others have yet to implement them (Martocchio, 2020). Irrespective of the situation, this issue will likely become influential in different ways. First, the differential increment in minimum wage rates across different states poses the challenge of managing pay inequities across different states by compensation professionals. Secondly, compensation professionals face the budgeting problem caused by uncertainties about whether the minimum wage rates will increase and by what amount. These uncertainties arise from political activities, debates, and labor-bullying efforts (Martocchio, 2020). Considering all these factors, raising the minimum wage rate will become influential, especially in designing the best solution to the differential increment in the minimum wage rate across different states. The second issue has to do with the performance appraisal trends. Martocchio (2020) states that many large firms are transitioning from traditional appraisal methods to systems with no ratings. This issue will likely become influential because of the technological advancements in appraisal systems. Instead of forced ranking systems, companies provide platforms where employees register feedback and performance trends. In a study, Cardinaels and Feichter (2021) found that forced ranking systems are less likely to enhance subjective employee performance. With such strong studies against the traditional appraisal trends, people are likely to migrate to newer, more accommodative trends. Therefore, technology-based appraisal methods will likely become more influential in the future. The third issue is the compensation-productivity gap. Martocchio (2020) argues that the compensation-productivity gap varies among different industries. Therefore, an increase in this gap is likely to undermine the pay-for-performance systems, which are the primary focus of many compensation professionals. In the future, this issue is likely to become influential as the gap widens. This influence may be brought about by a compensation system that erodes the value of merit. Compensation based on merit or performance promotes job satisfaction and the productivity of employees (Froese et al., 2018). Any factor that separates the value of productivity from compensation will undermine employee satisfaction in the long run. The issue of the gender pay gap is likely to become influential as society strives to do away with wage inequalities that have ailed it for ages. The influence can be two-fold: a negative influence if the gender pay gap widens (Toczek et al., 2021) and a positive influence if compensation methods are based on performance, not gender. Consequently, there will probably be more activism to advocate for equality in the compensation strategies to which the compensation professionals must adhere. In Galatians 3:28 (NIV), the Bible calls for the value of justice and equality: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This verse aligns with achieving equality in wages irrespective of gender and doing away with any forms of discrimination by compensation professionals, even in the compensation system. Lastly, the issue of pay transparency is likely to become influential in achieving an equitable compensation system. While pay secrecy exists, its continu...