UPFRONT Pay for Performance Say Kiwi Workers

A new national workplace survey has found almost one third of all New Zealand employees are already on performance-based pay and many more want it.
Carried out by recruitment agency Kelly Services, the survey sought the views of almost 1000 New Zealand employees along with 2400 in Australia and found more that 32 percent of Kiwis had their pay tied to performance targets compared to 12 percent of Australian respondents.
Employees most likely to be on performance pay included those in management (50 percent), IT (50 percent), sales/customer service (40 percent) and human resources (35 percent).
Another 37 percent of men and 17 percent of women said they wanted to move to performance-based pay. Clearly they are confident in their own ability to perform the job well and want the opportunity to be judged for that, says Kelly Services regional manager John Phipps.
“Performance-based incentives can be win-win. The employee benefits from the opportunity to prove their worth and gain an increase in pay, while the employer benefits from increased productivity and more motivated workforce.”
Of those wanting performance target in their salary, more than third were willing to put up to 20 percent of their earnings at risk; further 12 percent would risk between 20-50 percent and five percent would risk more than half their salary.
There was greater willingness for older (55+) workers in New Zealand to move to performance-based pay. In Australia, it’s younger workers who are more prepared to put some of their pay at risk.