Employee underpaid for last couple years-best way to handle this

[vickyp]

#79427

Forum: Community

Hi there,
We have a situation where we evaluated the job description of one of our staff and we mistakenly put them in a wrong level. Now as we look back identifying our mistake and wanting to fully correct this, I am wondering what would be your advise on how best to go about this.
Overall, we are thinking of doing an retro-pay. Just needing your help with how best to present this to the staff, in a way that we are still honest and transparent yet hoping that we don’t create a situation of distrust with HR.
Your help and guidance would be so much appreciated
Thank you

[vickyp]

#79428

In our experience, nobody is ever unhappy when the correction is an upside for the employee.
Our best advice is to be completely transparent, communicate how the error occurred, what steps you have taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again, how you have audited the rest of the organization to make sure there are no other issues, and how you plan to correct the error (ie. retro-pay).
Of course there may be some tax implications associated with this retro pay, depending on the amount in question; this should be discussed with the employee(s) directly, and every accommodation should be made to maximize the benefit for the employee.
If you and your team are direct in your communication, this “error” should actually go a long way in fostering more trust with HR instead of the opposite.

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