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| Yes | 62% | 106 votes | Total: 172 votes | |
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Yes
by Martha Jean
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Add to FavoritesI believe merit based pay works. It can be a strong incentive under the right circumstances within certain industries. Assuming appropriate compensation (that is, compensation that is comparable to the same work at various employers in similar environments within the same city) to start with and that there is a salary range with realistic rewards based on factors such as continued education and skill development in connection with one's job description, increased productivity, team support and punctuality, merit based pay can be an effective incentive for improvement.
In most, if not all, cases, elementary and middle school teachers in the United States are not compensated according to the training and education required for such positions. Therefore, a consideration of merit-based pay in these scenarios would be irrelevant, and does not warrant a "yes" or "no" vote.
In minimum wage jobs, a merit based increase can be utilized as an effective incentive, particularly if coupled with incentives for advancement.
I know of a large, prominent New York City law firm which has its headquarters in a small city in another state that is hundreds of miles away from New York City. This firm provides annual reviews and salary increases for the New York City based secretarial staff. However, the salary increases appear to bear little or no relationship to the reviews. In other words, one can have a good review but be rewarded a salary increase, with no explanation as to how the increase was arrived at. This has prompted some of the secretaries at this firm to compare their increases by percentage to other secretaries within the firm. It would appear that the one percent increases in several cases were essentially rewarded "across-the-board."
I n New York City, for example, nearly everything has increased in terms of cost, a city with one of the highest costs of living in the nation. For example, rents for one-bedroom apartments in some of the outer boroughs have generally increased from last year to this year from a range of $1200 - $1500 per month to $1300 - $1700 per month, coupled with the reality that leases are rarely provided beyond one-year terms and landlards generally do not include heat and electricity, which you are required to pay separately. Electricity has increased substantially over the last year. There have also been substantial increases in bridge and tunnel tolls, taxis and other transportation, fuel, milk and food, as well as increases for nearly every service provider. New York State taxes, which everyone employed in New York City pays, are very high, frequently offsetting the taxes required to be paid if residing in another state and working in New York City.
Secretaries in the above described firm are expected to take on additional assignments, with little additional monetary incentive other than the privilege of keeping the job.
In contrast, the above described secretaries talk among themselves of the enormous amounts of money and effort being expended in the recruitment of new associate lawyers. Needless to say, for some of the more career-minded secretaries, the morale could be better. In other cases, secretaries are simultaneously pursuing other avenues for income and activity unrelated to the firm's.
All forms of legitimate employment deserve respect. There is room for opportunity in any job. Imagine a society without delivery people, armed forces, sanitation engineers, day care providers, food servers, secretaries, medical personnel, security guards, airplane attendants or landscapers. All employees deserve opportunities for participation in programs that provide monetary rewards based on merit. Whenever this is not the case, or if rewards are perceived as merely tokens or arbitrary, these factors can constrain morale and affect productivity.
Everyon e has a gift. We are not all alike but can each strive to be the best at whatever it is that we do. Merit based pay does work. It not only acknowledges the value placed on upward mobility and rewards the efforts and accomplishments of individual employees, it contributes to an individual's sense of relevance to a particular job at a particular company.
Learn more about this author, Martha Jean.
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No
Merit pay is lofty idea that hopes to reward the great teachers while leaving adequate teachers squirming with little reward. The hope is that the adequate teachers will improve and become outstanding teachers too. The notion of merit pay may seem like a good idea in theory, but the reality is that the concept has many flaws and problems associated with it.
1) The teachers that may receive the merit pay may not actually be the best teachers in the school districts.
Often times in order to receive merit pay, a teacher must compile a portfolio of all the wonderful things that he or she is achieving in the area of education. The problem with this concept is that it is pure salesmanship. A teacher may present him or herself as a stunningly innovative and wonderful educator on paper. The truth is that this same teacher may have a great portfolio, but poor rapport in the classroom, poor discipline, and poor rapport with colleagues and so on. These portfolios that teachers compile do not reflect a teacher's true rounded portrayal. Instead merit pay committees are sold a bill of goods.
2) Many hardworking dedicated teachers will be passed over.
Merit pay has no reflection of how much time and effort a teacher spends outside of the classroom correcting papers, preparing for class or coaching activities. Many hardworking teachers just don't have time to spend compiling a portfolio of their achievements to sell themselves. If a teacher educates all day and then coaches the basketball team or directs the plays after hours, when is there time to jump through the merit pay hoops? It isn't that this teacher is ineffective. Quite the contrary, but he or she is already overextended and doesn't have the time and energy for this. As a result the hardworking dedicated teacher is punished and the teacher with the lighter schedule is rewarded again. It is a double whammy-more work and less pay. Not a good approach.
3) Merit pay does not promote a united workplace.
Merit pay has the potential to pit teacher against teacher and to fester animosity among the staff. As stated earlier, some teachers that receive merit pay are not necessarily the best teachers. Those that do not receive the reward will be resentful of those that do receive it, that everyone knows probably should not receive it. It can be a slap in the face and teachers will have a harder time working together if resentments result.
4) Many prejudices exist about teachers.
Who will receive the merit pay? Who will decide who receives it? This is a major dilemma because it often is a committee that makes the decision. Parents can carry prejudices, school board members may not make a judgment based on merit, rather on whether their child liked the teacher or made starter on the basket ball team. It is just too volatile.
5) Teacher salaries in general need to be raised.
Merit pay tends to be a cop out for school districts to not have to give raises to all teachers. Teacher salaries are so low that it is difficult for teachers to make ends meet. Many teachers must carry extra part-time jobs in order to pay the bills. What other professional job does not pay the bills? Does a CEO of a company have to moonlight as a convenience store clerk or a house painter? When was the last time your banker asked if you needed fries with that? Teachers are relegated to second jobs already. Merit pay is not going to solve the fact that teachers are grossly underpaid for their responsibilities, education and talents.
6) Merit pay will not improve teaching.
The best way to improve poor teachers is for administrators to work with them to improve. Having good teachers mentor poor teachers is a better solution to improve teaching than punishing the teacher by giving less pay. Merit pay fails to do anything to work with the teachers that do not qualify for this bonus. So those teachers will continue to be poor teachers. It is like telling a kid that he is a poor basketball player, but never working with him on his dribbling, passing and shooting to get better. Benching the kid and starting someone else, will not make that child a better player. It takes coaching and practice. The same applies to teaching.
For these six reasons merit pay should be discarded as an effective prospect for rewarding teachers. It is ineffective and the right teacher will not be the ones receiving the pay.
Learn more about this author, MJ Suttor.
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