Global Fastener News

Credit: NFDA

Today’s job market is a whole new world.

“Pay is not the motivator,” Huyett HR Manager Brooklyn Wolters told the National Fastener Distributors Association. “It is the price for labor.”

Speaking at the NFDA Executive Summit in San Diego, Wolters said post-pandemic workers are looking for autonomy to direct their own lives. They also “yearn” for purpose – a chance to contribute to something larger than themselves.

But while pay isn’t everything to the Gen Z workers all businesses are trying to recruit, employee compensation does impact engagement and motivation.

That’s why Huyett developed a transparent, merit-based pay schedule for all employees, Wolters explained. The merit system includes qualifications and performance. Factors involve judgement and mental processes, as well as risk and discomfort of working conditions.

Transparent merit pay has improved recruitment and pay equity at Huyett, Wolters said. Since developing its pay schedule, the Kansas-based fastener manufacturer and master distributor has achieved an 89% retention rate.

Without such a pay schedule, there is a lot of ambiguity in pay rates, Wolters explained. In many businesses, managers set pay behind closed doors, allowing for bias, favoritism and inconsistency.

But Huyett’s transparent pay schedule is “based on merit and on data and facts,” Wolters said. Pay is set at hire and can be adjusted at annual review or promotions.

Creating a job scale starts with writing job descriptions that assess compensation factors and set pay rates, Wolters said. Web: Huyett.com and nfda-fastener.org