Company Background
CustomInk has been operating in the apparel industry for quite a while, having gained a rather impressive reputation despite a seemingly simple set of services and a comparatively narrow range of products. Creating the feature that made the entrepreneurship stand out of a range of similar services in the target market, the leaders of the firm gained the credibility and weight that made CustomInk comparatively popular among the target customers, therefore, leading the entrepreneurship to success. The customized design that the organization offers is no longer a novelty, yet the image that the company has built over years of its operation along with the readiness to meet the needs of all stakeholders, including both its clients and employees, has made it possible for CustomInk to attain a stellar success.
Compensation System
CustomInk provides an elaborate compensation system that allows for sufficient flexibility for the employees. Particularly, the system is characterized by repetitive compensation and a set of rigid standards that the firm complies with. Nevertheless, there are a few dents in the compensation system currently adopted at the company as in most modern firms (DePillis, 2015). For instance, although the firm admittedly provides a rather large average hourly extra compensation ($3889.00), the lack of a regular monthly compensation creates premises for dissatisfaction among the people employed at CustomInk (Belogolovsky & Bamberger, 2014).
Pay Structure
Although Custom Ink does not provide an official statement concerning its pay structure, the existing reviews show that the company has been complying with a rather traditional set of rules as far as the pay structure is concerned.
Evaluation
The pay structure that is currently used in entrepreneurship as the foundation for determining the wages of the staff can be viewed as rather sensible. Given the current scope of the firm’s operations, it would be unreasonable to offer the staff the maximum wages that they can attain in the target industry. At the same time, the company does not offer the minimum wage, thus, creating premises for motivating the staff to excel in their job (see Fig. 1).
It is also remarkable that entrepreneurship puts a renewed emphasis on the importance of the job of a Coordinator.
Similarly, CustomInk seems to pay special attention to the importance of the Satisfaction Assurance team’s work. As the graph above shows, the amount of money paid to the above members of the entrepreneurship is above the average as opposed to the rest of jobs. The choices made by the company as far as its pay structure is concerned must have been inspired by the need to promote the policy of maintaining customer loyalty rates high. Indeed, according to a recent study, it is essential for an organization to respond to the customers’ queries in a timely manner and analyze their feedback regularly so that the company could meet the target audience’s needs successfully.
It should be noted, though, that the pay system adopted at the firm could use certain improvements. Among the areas that need the closest analysis at present, the lack of consistency between the cost of living in the specified area and the facilities provided deserves to be mentioned. In addition, the fact that the organization does not provide insurance for married couples. The specified phenomenon can be viewed as a major drawback of the specified type if insurance provides a range of opportunities for saving to spouses.
While seemingly minor compared to the rest of admittedly adequate elements of the pay system designed by the company, the above issues may possibly create a significant hindrance in the process of raising the staff satisfaction rates in CustomInk. The lack of focus on the family-related concerns and the benefits for married employees is likely to affect the business significantly as the lack of the corresponding opportunities restricts the financial options for a range of members of the entrepreneurship. Therefore, CustomInk should reconsider the current strategy regarding the opportunities for married employees.
In addition, the overall lack of structure in the pay system adopted by entrepreneurship may seem a somewhat disturbing sign. Indeed, according to the existing characteristics of an efficient pay system, one must mention a proper structure that suggests a plethora of options for the target audiences and takes the interests of every group into account: “A firm’s compensation plan plays a prominent role in recruiting, motivating, and retaining employees, and thus is central to building a durable advantage” (Boyd & Salamin, 2001, p. 777). Therefore, the lack of consistency regarding the needs of the firm’s employees needs to be addressed (Shay & Fisher, 2014).
Summary
The current pay structure and policies of the company suggest that it adheres to the principles of the contingency model, which speaks to the advantage of entrepreneurship as a sustainable approach. The specified approach is quite feasible in the environment of the global market and, more importantly, very sensible given the costs that entrepreneurship needs to take in order to remain profitable. Seeing that the organization clearly aims at increasing its profit margins, the decision to increase the pay rates for the jobs of the Satisfaction Assurance department and the Coordinator as the responsibilities thereof are linked directly to increasing the quality of the staff’s performance and, therefore, the services offered to the end customer. However, the firm may need to consider the needs of married couples closer as the current insurance options do not offer any advantages to the above organization members.
Recommendations
First and most obvious, the fact that certain groups of employees are currently underrepresented in the company needs to be brought up. AlthoughCustomInk admittedly offers a flexible pay system to its members, the fact that the needs of married couples, in general, and the provision of insurance for the identified company members, in particular, has to be mentioned as a major stumbling block on CustomInk’s way to attaining high staff satisfaction rates. Therefore, it is recommendable that the organization should focus on the development of the pay system that takes the interests of all members into consideration (Maurer, 2016).
It could be suggested that the entrepreneurship should consider offering the staff members better payment packages as far as the vacation, maternity leave, sick leave, etc. are concerned. Although the current pay structure cannot be deemed as poor, it tends to overlook some of the aspects of the current financial policies that make organizations successful.
In addition, the lack of precision as far as the wages of people taking subordinate positions in the firm are concerned, it is necessary to introduce more clarity and state specific amounts of money that Custom Ink is going to pay. Although the necessity to be vague about the above positions is understandable given the external factors that are prone to rapid changes, the company will have to facilitate the employees with the aaa
Reference List
Belogolovsky, E., & Bamberger, P. (2014). Signaling in secret: Pay for performance and the incentive and sorting effects of pay secrecy. Academy of Management Journal, 57(6), 1706–1733.
Boy, B. K., & Salamin, A. (2001). Strategic reward systems: A contingency model of pay system design. Strategic Management Journal, 22(8), 777-792.
DePillis, L. (2015). The workers’ compensation system is broken – and it’s driving people into poverty. Washington Post. Web.
GlassDoor. (2016). CustomInk. Web.
Maurer, R. (2016). U.S. job growth remains positive, wages still down. Web.
Shay, B. W., & Fisher, S. F. (2014). The Challenge of making performance-based pay systems work in the public sector. Public Personnel Management, 42(3), 359-384.