More Than Dollars

 

Salary surveys may measure fairly precisely the going rate for a job, but few surveys can set an accurate price tag on fringe benefits, incentive plans, stock options, and other forms of nonsalary compensation. Especially at the management level, however, a company's ability to attract good employees depends in part on how well it competes in these areas of compensation. The following are a few useful publications that explore the kinds of variables that don't show up in an employee's weekly paycheck.

The American Management Associations (135 W. 50th St., New York, NY 10020) publishes two books that offer in-depth information about compensation plans. Compensating Key Executives in the Smaller Company, by Theodore Cohen and Roy A. Lindberg, and Salary Management for the Nonspecialist, by Stanley Henrici, both focus on practical strategies for smaller companies. The AMA's quarterly journal, Compensation Review, is also a source for current trends and research reports.

The Research Institute of America (589 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017) publishes a monthly newsletter, the Executive Compensation Alert, that reports the latest changes in taxation and innovations in executive compensation. Subscribers (at $51 a year) also receive an annual report on management compensation based on a survey of 10,000 companies.

Compensating salesmen and sales managers is often a special problem, since pay is closely tied to commissions or other performance-related standards. A new book by John W. Barry and Porter Henry, Effective Sales Incentive Compensation (McGraw-Hill, $14.95), offers a detailed analaysis of various types of plans for sales employees.