“You’re not from around here, are you?” This is what this New York girl heard from the natives for 16 years while living in the Southeastern USA. It seemed though as much as I tried to take on the smooth relaxed speech of the small town in which I lived, I could never completely “talk the talk”. Then, when I entered the world of software development, I felt like an even bigger fish out of water. As an HR pro, you may be experiencing this as you try your best to communicate like the compensation pros.
The Benefit of Speaking the Compensation Lingo
Being able to communicate effectively is critical when you are working on compensation planning and design. Just as there are unique concepts in the technology industry that are hard for outsiders to grasp, there are bound to be communication barriers when you don’t know the language of comp. And you don’t want to be viewed as an outsider, especially when you are trying to make a positive impact on the current compensation structure.
It’s the job of HR to be a source of knowledge and guidance in all areas of human capital management. Compensation is a huge part of this effort. Therefore, being viewed as credible comes from learning and speaking the language of comp. Your goal is to talk the talk so you can be seen as an expert in your organization, and be able to offer up sound advice that will help the company make smarter decisions regarding compensation budgets.
How can you elevate your status as a comp pro?
Some ways to increase both your knowledge and comfort level when speaking about compensation topics are as follows:
Learn all you can, and keep learning
It’s one thing to become knowledgeable about a particular area of compensation, such as setting salaries for new hires, but it’s another to be viewed as a credible member of the compensation planning team.
Use the right data
How tempting it can be to grab factoids out of thin air. Instead, be a credible source of information by having access to the best salary data available. For example, refer to the PayScale 2016 Compensation Best Practices Report, which updates comp professionals on all matters pertaining to modern day salary management.
Understand the impact
As a compensation professional, the more you understand how your work impacts the company bottom line, the better. Get to know the key objectives your organization has and accept your place at the decision making table as someone who has the ability to take things there.
Speak the language of comp
When you dive into the world of compensation, you must be ready and willing to learn the lingo. Take the time to review a great new resource at PayScale – the Compensation Dictionary – yours to use for FREE!
Follow this advice, and you’ll be speaking like a comp pro in no time.
Being a robot you have a job and you follow your assignment, as for a human the job is given but through your assignment you might have to make some adjustment went facing problem.