Hard Hiring Decision !! Anybody can help ?!
September 30, 2010 22 Comments
Dear Friends,
I’ve been asked by one of our clients about a hiring decision for a new Sales Manager for his company , and I couldn’t answer him !! and I would really appreciate if you can share your opinion with me that will help me to have a decision.
The Situation:
The Company have a Sales Manager for its first Show Room with from 10 years with a salary of 1000 KD.
They want to hire a Sales Manager for the second showroom , and after interviewing several candidates they found an excellent Sales Manager the match with the job profile and requirements , but he is asking for 1500 KD “ Non negotiable + benefits”
The question is :
Shall the company hire that Manager ? and if yes , how they will deal with the other Sales Manager specially he is working in the company since 10 years and achieving his target ?!!
The Operations opinion is to hire him as long as he is achiever and he is fitting to the job , while HR opinion to DO NOT hire him since it will be against the salary scale policy , and will effect the moral for the existing sales Manager , and will give negative image about the company between the employee!!
What is your opinion ? And why ? And If there is a solution for this case?
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Assalamualaikum,
In my opinion the candidate should be given an option that the salary will remain same as per their company standards , but he will be paid extra incentive of 500 KD if he achieves the additional targets set by the company. In this way the other sales mangers will also be encouraged to perform better.
With Regards,
Umme Salma
OPTIONS
1.Hike the first managers salary to 1500
2. get the second managers salary at 1500 , but his performance target should be way high above first manager ie if first one is selling 100 units , second guy should sell about 125-150 , this will give justification to his salary , and offer a similar pkge to first manager as an option , this will help avoid the issues i diff in salary , and will justify the new salary
Thanks for your Opinion.
Actually benefit should be the same for both of them !! The other Manager will ask for the same if he achieve additional target. Beside the new candidate is insisting to have the 1500 KD monthly payment
Thanks Dominic for your opinion
As per Company Salary scale and grading system they won’t be able to give this amount as a package , and If they will do that , the existing Manager will ask for the same specially that he is over achiever , and in that case the company will add to the salary cost 1000 KD , 500 KD for each of the Sales Manager per month ” 12000 KD annually”
In my opinion, keep searching until the position close and you might find some one less experience by achieving the same target will less salary.
2nd option.
hire him and next coming appraises, promote the current manager by increasing his salary or benefits.
Hire him and next coming appraises promote the current existing manager by increasing his salary.
and the other option:
Give the new candidate higher target than the other and if he doesn’t achieve within the probation period action will take as per company policy.
Hr policies should be accomodative for over achievers , end of the day the question is , is the company gaining on the whole from the additional 500 kd , if the answer is a strong yes , the salary hike can be justified , if the return on the additional cost is negligible , continue with the 1000 kd salary , look for a new person for the new showroom at 100 kd .
the cost benefit analysis need to be looked in to , and this should be a general management decision , but if new manager gets a 1500 package obviously a similar option should be given to older manager if the planned for targets are similar .otherwise the decision will end up demotivating a loyal employee who is a performer
Actually this is the situation the client in!!
There is an over achievement reward , however the new candidate is insisting to get the 1500 KD , and he is a good caliber. and at the same time they can not increase the existing Manager to 1500 KD!!
Dear Mr. Mohammad,
I really to suggest having them both reach the same salary of 1500KD by end. The new candidate shall prove his effectiveness by showing some positive outcome on filed. There is always a possibility that the new joined employee will not be qualified and may not be up to your expectation. In this case you will LOSE BOTH. Therefore, I really do recommend hiring the new applicant with the same salary of the old one (1000KD) and shall be increased to (1500KD) subject to the successful completion of the probation period stated in country labor law (100days). If the new employee was able to reach the assigned targets during the stated duration, therefore increase him to the agreed (1500KD). In the same time you shall compare the outcome of the old employee with the new one during the same period and increase the old one with references to his performance maximum to same salary of (1500KD) accordingly.
Dear Debaawy,
Your client Company can give any other job title to the new sales manager such as Senior Sales Manager and offer him a salary of KD:1500/= if its within the salary scale.
You can pay the new sales manager other cash benefits equivalent to KD:500 such as housing allowance or education allowance for his family and children.
Thanks Mr. Ali for your valuable participation
I suggested the same for the company , However the are not planning to increase the existing Manager since he reached the top of the salary scale , and the new candidate rejected to start with 1000 KD for the first 100 days until he prove his capability. He is welling to leave the job if he didn’t achieve the target within his 100 days , but he won’t accept less than 1500 KD !!
And this is the situation the company is facing!!
Any other Ideas ?
hi Mr. Mohamad
So this is the case…?? If you already have recommended the new candidate and you are positive about his capabilities, then let him in with (1500KD) subject to the condition of leaving with no indemnity , without notice during the probation period.
On the other hand,,,, Honestly I cannot understand why the company is refusing to treat his senior employee that already have invested on him during the last 10 years with a very good Sales achievement of 120% target? I really do insist to keep both with same outcome by end (1500KD). Otherwise you will lose one of them either by shifting to another job or by reducing his productivity.
Suggestion:
if the old employee already reached the top of his scale you may have below options:
a)Up-grade him to the next level of the scale which allows him to get (1500KD)
b)Keep him in the same scale with the same salary of (1000KD) but provide him an annual bonus of the balance. Meaning:
500 * 12 = 6000KD annual bonus.
In this case you will neither demotivate the old employee nor dissatisfy the new candidate. At the same time you will not be required to neither amend company salary scale nor provide the new emplyee the same (since it is bonus)
B.R
Ali
Thanks Atef for your opinion
Unfortunately the existing Manager is not qualified to be promoted to hire position , and he reach the top of the salary scale for his position.
Also we need to consider that he is a very good Sales Manager that achieve 120% of his target.
It seems that there are rising internal tensions and conflict of interests that led to a deadlock. Have you questionned what is upper management doing to resolve this conflict. I am sure the debate in not restricted only to Operations and HR. The solution does not involve compromise, but requires change! Moving into a flexible pay structure, providing training & development, and updating the policies and procedures should be the imminent tasks requested from the HR Department. Definitively, discussing salaries among employees should be a cause to termination of employment.
Hello Mr. Kasem,
How are you ? how is work I hope everything is ok… for the past 4 months I am trying to find a professional HR Post and I can not find. No more HR Professional opportunities ..
Hope to hear from you soon
Regards
Gretta
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I am wondering how such a solution cannot be solved.You are emphasizing over and over in your replies the SM who is a company employee is good and at the same time his salary cannot be hiked.Then what is the use of HR&Process.Is there no documentation,or is it not available??.What is the ultimate barrier,is it qualification,is it age,or is it some other constraints(do he have a bad moral reputation/Some body in the board doesnt like him ?? ).If its clear ,then i beleive its easy to reach at a solution and convince,rather than discussing the matter over and again!!
Dear Mohammed,
The company got a candidate who fulfill their requirement and he is asking for his right KD1500. We should consider, he is a fresh employee for the company and the probation is necessary to prove his ability.
The existing employee is working there for more than 10years and how he is achieving his target is because of his customer relation and customer base. In sales we always have to agree the customer relation strategy. So if the company is hiring the new employee with KD1500, then there is a chance of loosing the sale and a best employee.
I suggest to increase the target of both employees here in a financial view to accept their salaries and thereby meeting the budget. If the new candidate is not meeting the target, then recruit an assistant sales manager for the new shop under the supervision of the existing sales manager.
I don’t agree at all what you have mentioned. First of all during the interview high profile candidate can be screaned. Secondly, this candidate also have his own PR who will never disclosed till he is hired and FINALLY such profile will never work under some one who is similar in position. I think you got know what I mean.
I have come across this situation couple of times in my own career. After going through the comments posted on the Decision Making issue of hiring a New Sales Manager for the 2nd Showroom with higher Salary, I have my suggestions.
OUTLOOK: It looks as though the Management is only looking on a Transactional Platform (Tgt-Ach) & not on a Transformational Platform. Business Grows if employees grow! ES-Employee Satisfaction is the main tool for business growth. HR Policies need to be directed towards Employee Motivation, Growth to grow the business.
a) If there is a Basic Pay sealing policy for a specific position & if it requires appointement of a new candidate with similar designation & salary in another Showroom, then the Management should conduct an employement review of existing Manager through a SWOT Ananlysis, Case Studies & if found satisfactory, offer him a better scale & designation. This will help in deciding appointment of a new candidate for another S/R with similar scale & designation. If he cannot impress the Management in this review, then he need to be told on his limitations so that he will not have any apprehensions on selecting a new SM with higher salary & better exposure to business.
b) Any new employee will take 4 to 6 months to get stabilized in his position as he has to understand the country, people, orgnaization, employees & the business, policies etc., Hence, to sustain the operations & employee retension, a long rope strategy, say 18 months (6M Probation+12M Full Term) is very important.
Overall this organization in question need to do a Soul Searching of their HR Policies on an overall basis.
Many thanks Mr. G.V.K. Prasad for your valuable participation
I did told them to give the chance to the existing manager for 3 months to prove his capability , and he couldn’t make it. So, they got the new Manager with the 1500 KD who achieve his target from the first quarter.
You are welcome Mr. Mohd.