How Much Should You Pay An Employee?: A Data-Driven Approach

PESTLEanalysis Team
PESTLEanalysis Team
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Photo by John Guccione
Table of Contents
Table of Contents

There are many requirements for running a business. One important question you will have to figure out is how much you’re going to pay your employees.

There are many requirements for running a business that you need to address in order to remain operational. Most of these things require a good understanding of how data is collected, treated, and interpreted properly. That way, you and your managers will be able to make sound decisions for the company.

One of the most important questions you will have to figure out is how much you’re going to pay your employees. As you already know, it can be extremely difficult to run a business single-handedly — you’re going to have to hire and pay people to help you run your business.

Deciding what to pay each employee is a delicate balancing act between paying your employees too little and too much. The former means that they might not be as motivated to perform their tasks and you find that you can’t retain your best employees as they leave for better paying jobs. The latter would mean that you are tying up more of your business’ finances in payroll, and you aren’t getting as much value from what you’re paying employees. As with all things, it’s important to strike a balance in order for your business to run like a well-oiled machine. So, let’s begin. How much should you pay an employee?

Assess The Position

The first step is to determine the value of the position for which you’re going to pay. A good starting point is to outline what tasks, duties, and responsibilities are expected of the employee. You also have to lay out the requirements for the job, such as certifications, education, and the like. This will help you determine how much to pay an employee through how much value the employee actually brings to the company.

Consider The Experience 

Besides the job position, an employee’s experience level also plays a crucial role in determining how much a company should pay them. In most cases, an employee with more years of experience is more likely to receive a higher salary or wage compared to the one with less experience. To know the level of experience of a particular employee, a company should consider the following factors:

  • Objective of the job: If the employee has a senior-level job whereby the objective is associated with the company’s success, they should have more experience to get the job done right. 
  • Skills needed: A job that requires complex skills benefits from an employee with higher experience level. 
  • Type of decision-making: An employee whose role requires complex decision-making should have a high experience level. 

These are some factors that can be used to determine an employee’s experience level, which is also important in knowing how much you should pay them. 

Determine Wages

A good reference to base your payments on are the wages of the state your business operates in. It’s important to research the wages of similar positions in your area and to use the median as a starting point. In fact, you can even make use of online information as provided in websites like Glassdoor and Payscale as a basis. From this reference, you can begin to add other factors such as education, certifications, and other traits into the equation of how much you’re going to pay a particular position.

But aside from the ones mentioned above, it’s important to consider certain statutory deductions from the wages to know if the amount of money being paid to an employee is reasonable and in compliance with the minimum wage laws of your country.

For instance, taxes are one of the items deducted by a company from an employee. If you’re from New Zealand, it’s called as PAYE or ‘pay as you earn’. It’s a method used by wage or salary-earning employees to pay taxes on their income. But if you want to know how much you should deduct for taxes, you need to calculate PAYE to come up with the right figure. You can use an online PAYE calculator or talk to a tax professional to help you with the calculations.

Define A Range

It’s also important to consider that you’re paying an individual, not a position. And people vary in terms of skill, experience, and characteristics. If you truly want to be able to pay what is due and fair, you need to set a minimum value (within the wages you previously researched), which you’re willing to pay someone who meets minimal requirements, as well as a maximum value, for someone who exceeds those requirements.

Select A Payment Method

Naturally, both employers and employees want the option that is most convenient and most secure for them. There are many options to choose from, whether it’s in the frequency of pay-outs, benefits, and others. However, if there’s one thing that’s of supreme importance, it’s accuracy. Managing payroll becomes more difficult as your company grows, but tools like PayStubs 365 will help you keep things accurate with your employees to help nurture trust and confidence.

Whenever we deal with money, things have to be taken with much more care. This is not only about the livelihood of an employee, but it is also about the trust and mutuality between employers and employees.



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