A secretary is an employee who supports administrative personnel especially executives. She usually employs administration, communication and organization skills to execute tasks like helping other employees or the organization. In some situations, a secretary is an officer of an organization who deals with communication, admission of new associates and controlling meetings and functions.
A secretary has diverse organizational duties that are connected to communication like letter typing and maintenance of paper documents. Secretaries can help in the management of executive information in operations such as conferences. In many occasions, managers ask their secretaries to help in taking the minutes at meetings and preparation of documents. At times, secretaries are executive assistants.
An incentive plan is a system that allows employees to work tirelessly within a definite period. The two incentive plans that can motivate secretaries are the “individual incentive pay plans, and the Group incentive pay plan” (Nata, 2003). Many workers rely on time-based pay but integrate performance-based pay on adjoining basis.
Implementation of performance-based pay necessitates managerial input and requires expenditure for employee supervision. Because of the additional incentives to individuals’ performance, less supervision will be needed than under the strictly time-base pay (Nata, 2003). Today, many entities motivate their employees. Incentive pay is very essential because it shows gratitude and creates a sense of involvement in the company’s welfare that straight salaries do not express no matter how huge they are.
Properly planned pay plans can also bring together all employees, and to point them in a way the organization expects them to move. Therefore, it gives an extra push that all companies need in the current competitive environment (Buck, Bruce, Main & Udueni 2003).
Merit pay is a plan that rewards productive secretaries with better yearly wages. Merit pay can be used in both open and private sectors. It can serve as an effective inducement to greater employees’ productivity and can be used to measure the employees’ performance. The merit pay plan can increase employees’ motivation and performance.
For merit-pay plan to be successful, all employees trust management and the merit budget have to be measured accurately. A merit pay can fail if it is not well administered (Nata, 2003). Therefore, an organization has to pay careful attention to the introduction of the program and the performance consideration system.
Furthermore, it has to consider the total reimbursement package, the formulae used to know merit and the methods which merit-pay decisions are communicated to the secretaries. The motivation to sustain the output levels is usually higher for individual incentives because of the opportunity for the higher performing worker to earn a greater incentive (Nata, 2003).
It is vital to monitor the outcomes associated with merit pay. A meaningful merit increase can catch the attention of the top performers while sending signals to the poor performing secretaries. Strategic compensation policy ought to show the difference amid the outstanding and average employees. Moreover, increases granted on basis of the merit should be distinguished from the cost of living or other increases (Bohlander & Snell, 2009).
Merit par incentive plan can be designed to stress quality, attendance or any other measurable factor that an organization wishes to upgrade. Employees have to understand that the incentive-merit pay is being substituted for the earlier straight incentive system in order to prompt their productivity and to give them a chance for escalating their pay.
Moreover, they ought to acknowledge that the plan can change as the organizations needs. This is in terms of motivation objectives and change (Nata, 2003). Before an organization decides to use the merit pay, it has to know if it helps it achieve the organization’s goals. This is achievable by examining the secretaries or a particular group of a particular circumstances present in the organization at a particular time (Nata, 2003).
Group incentives reward the whole organization’s effort (Nata, 2003). In many organizations, employers use the group and individual incentives, for them to enhance performance and teamwork. Gain sharing is a “group incentive pay plans”, which attach part of pay to some measure of group effort and join some components of individual performance plan in addition to potentially enhancing group effort (Nata, 2003).
Gain sharing rewards improve the organizations’ stature attributable to factors controlled by employees. This approach can affect the secretaries’ performance through motivation and the organization’s culture (Nata, 2003).
Gain sharing incentive plan will encourage the secretaries to cooperate with other workers for the improvement of the organization and sharing of the benefits of success. Organizations benefit from gain sharing are through working in a team, sharing of knowledge and cooperation.
Moreover, it amplifies motivation, employees’ focus, and the commitment to the organizational goals (Nata, 2003). Gain sharing increases the employee’s acceptance of new technologies, and the market changes. It also results into fairness of pay results in the increased production at all levels (Nata, 2003). As such, it is paramount for organizations to focus on such attributes thus attaining success.
References
Bohlander, G., & Snell, S. 2009. Managing Human Resources. Boston, MA. Cengage Learning.
Buck, T., Bruce, A., Main, B. & Udueni, H. (2003). Long Term Incentive Plans, Executive Pay and UK Company Performance. Journal of Management Studies, 40: 1709–1727.
Nata, R. (2003). Progress in education, Volume 12. New York, NY. Nova Publishers.