Email

FROM: Al Perez, GM Manufacturing 

TO: Ben Russell, CEO 

CC: General Manager, Human Resources 

Subject: Wage and Salary Rates 

Last week I attended a very interesting presentation at a Chamber of Manufactures luncheon. The topic was 'going rates' and how organisations like ourselves - small/medium sized businesses that don't have full-time remuneration managers - can get accurate and up-to-date information on wage rates. I was surprised to find that a lot of information is available free, from various government agencies. 

Also, it was the first time I'd heard of the AWOTE - i.e.average weekly ordinary time earnings. Apparently, some organisations are using this figure to help them decide what they should be paying some of their employees. All I can remember is when we used to talk about 'the basic wage'. Do we have any such benchmarks? Also, what does STAR do about adjusting employee's salaries to keep up with the CPI? 

I'm beginning to wonder whether our increase in staff turnover is partly due to our lack of sophistication in this area. I'm looking forward to seeing what our new GM Human Resources has to say at our next meeting. 

Al