Now it’s getting interesting – Compensation is big. Who knew?

Wow.   Pay for performance policy?  Restricting the pay of big shots?  Is there an Easter Bunny?

In the 2 years I worked inside a nation compensation and benefits consulting firm, I never thought that compensation policy was interesting.  Right up there with watching paint dry.  I thought that accountants with big brains set some secret algorithm and the magic box would just whir and paychecks would emerge.  At least that was my impression.

Now, compensation is big.  Really big.

It all comes down to $$$

Proof came in several forms.  Over the weekend, did you see the protests at the Chicago American Bankers Association conference?  If not, check out the link here.  Democracy can be messy, but it works, mostly.

On the Washington front, pundits are saying that one of the biggest things that Obama has done so far is step in and cap the compensation of the larger TARP-related banks.  But it isn’t simple.  One critic of the plan said the news of the decision may undermine a program that Obama traveled to Landover, Md., to announce on the same day. Obama went to the headquarters of a small company to tout his proposal to let small banks into the TARP program, as a part of the effort to get small business lending going again.

Camden Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America who attended the event with Obama, says the pay master’s decision could doom the idea, as community bankers will be loath to take TARP funds if they think Feinberg will set their pay.

Want a good article on the subject?  Here tiz.

So, what does this mean?  It means that awareness about what people are paid for the work that they do is back on the front burner, and that is probably a good thing.  It also means that compensation theory experts are going to have their moment in the sun.  Whee.

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