Marks & Spencer has introduced a bonus scheme that will reward employees
if stores perform well as part of a drive to bring the retail giant into the
21st Century.
The bonus scheme, which is linked to the performance of individual stores over
a three-month period, is the result of a review of the company’s whole reward
package, which began last year and is still under way.
Tess Thompson, reward adviser for Marks & Spencer, said she is
optimistic that staff at about a third of M&S stores will benefit when the
first bonus scheme payouts are announced shortly.
She said the company had started the review because it wants to bring its
pay and benefits structure up to date and is consulting with all 60,000 UK
staff to ensure their views are considered.
She said, "Our previous regime was a hierarchical system based on
salary bands, which had drifted away from what was happening in the outside
market, and so we went through a complete benchmarking review of everybody’s
salary and job profile."
M&S reduced the number of salary bands from 12 to seven last October and
also made them transparent so staff know what salaries are paid at each level.
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Other measures under consideration are whether to offer new graduate
employees golden hand-shakes when they arrive and bonuses if they stay for five
years.
"We are not going wild with the cost base and we are not trying to
reduce the value of our benefits, we are trying to make them more relevant to
society today," she said.
