NZ Workers Want Pay for Performance
A new national workplace survey (almost 1,000 people in NZ and over 2,400 in Australia) has found that almost a third of all NZ employees are now on performance-based pay and many more would like to do so. (Performance based pay includes any arrangement where an element of the total remuneration package is tied to meeting performance targets and may include profit sharing, performance bonuses and sales commissions.)
The survey, by global recruitment agency Kelly Services, found that 32 percent of workers were currently on arrangements where part of their salary was tied to performance targets. A further 17 percent of the workforce expressed a desire to adopt performance-based pay and believe that they would be more productive if they did so.
NZ, with almost one-third of its workforce on performance pay, compares with Australia where only 12 percent are on these incentives. Employees most likely to be on performance targets included those in management (50 percent) IT (50 percent), sales/customer service (40 percent) and human resources (35 percent). IT workers are the most willing to adopt performance pay followed by those in engineering and research.
Despite younger workers in Australia being more willing to take on the risk - and reward - of performance based pay, it was the older workers in NZ who believed that they would perform better under a performance based pay scheme. The 55+ age group was the most enthusiastic with 35 percent wanting the incentive-based approach, followed by those aged 35-44 (29 percent), 25-34 (27 percent) and 20-24 (25 percent). Younger workers aged 15-19 were the least in favour of performance pay with only 20 percent preferring the incentive based approach.
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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