Compensation Management Guide
Learn how compensation works in Workbench, including compensation history, recommendations, components, and how to view compensation data.
Overview
Workbench tracks compensation history for all employees, allowing you to see how compensation has changed over time, manage compensation recommendations during review cycles, and understand the components that make up each employee's total compensation.
Key concepts: Compensation history records changes over time. Compensation recommendations are proposed changes created during review cycles. Compensation components break down the different parts of total compensation (base salary, bonuses, etc.).
Compensation History
Compensation history is a chronological record of all compensation changes for an employee. Each record represents a point in time when compensation changed:
Compensation History Records Include:
- Effective Date: When the compensation change takes effect
- Change Type: The reason for the change (e.g., "hiring", "promotion", "annual", "adjustment", "import")
- Change Reason: Optional explanation for the change
- Notes: Additional context or details
- Compensation Components: The actual compensation amounts (base salary, bonuses, etc.)
- Created/Updated By: Who created or last updated the record
How Compensation History is Created
- During Import: When you import employee data with compensation information
- During Review Cycles: When compensation recommendations are approved and finalized
- Manual Entry: When admins manually create compensation records
- Historical Data: When importing historical compensation data
Important: Each compensation history record must have a unique effective date for an employee. If you try to create a record with the same effective date, Workbench will prevent duplicates to maintain data integrity.
Compensation Recommendations
During review cycles, managers create compensation recommendations proposing changes to employee compensation. These recommendations go through an approval process before becoming part of the employee's compensation history.
Creating Recommendations
Recommendations are typically created during manager review stages:
- Managers evaluate employee performance
- Based on performance, managers propose compensation changes
- Recommendations include proposed base salary changes, bonuses, or other adjustments
- Managers provide justification for their recommendations
Approval Process
Recommendations must be approved before they become part of compensation history:
- If using approval workflows, recommendations move through approval steps in order
- Each approver can approve, reject, or request changes
- If rejected, the recommendation is sent back for revision
- Once all approvals are complete, the recommendation is finalized
- Finalized recommendations create new compensation history records
Recommendation Status
- Pending: Awaiting approval
- In Progress: Going through approval process
- Approved: All approvals complete, ready to be finalized
- Rejected: Rejected by an approver, needs revision
- Finalized: Converted to compensation history record
Compensation Components
Compensation is made up of different components. Each compensation history record can include multiple components:
Common Components
- Base Salary: Annual base salary amount
- Hourly Rate: Hourly rate (alternative to base salary for hourly employees)
- Bonus: Bonus amounts (one-time or recurring)
- Stock/Equity: Stock options or equity grants
- Commission: Commission-based compensation
- Other: Any other compensation components
Component Details
- Each component has an amount and currency
- Components can have optional notes for additional context
- For base salary and hourly rate, you typically provide one or the other (not both)
- Multiple components can exist in a single compensation record (e.g., base salary + bonus)
Viewing Compensation
Different users can view compensation information based on their role:
Employees
- Can view their own compensation history
- See current compensation and historical changes
- View compensation components and effective dates
- See finalized compensation (not pending recommendations)
Managers
- Can view compensation for their direct reports
- See compensation history and current compensation
- View compensation recommendations they've created
- See approval status of recommendations
Admins
- Can view compensation for all employees
- See all compensation history and recommendations
- View pending, approved, and finalized compensation
- Access compensation settings and configuration
Privacy: Compensation information is sensitive. Workbench ensures that users can only view compensation they're authorized to see based on their role and reporting relationships.
Best Practices
Managing Compensation History
- Keep compensation history accurate and up-to-date
- Use meaningful change types and reasons for clarity
- Add notes when compensation changes are unusual or need explanation
- Ensure effective dates are accurate—they determine when changes take effect
- Review compensation history periodically for accuracy
Creating Recommendations
- Base recommendations on performance and market data
- Provide clear justification for compensation changes
- Consider internal equity when making recommendations
- Review recommendations before submitting for approval
- Respond promptly to approval requests or rejection feedback
Approving Recommendations
- Review recommendations carefully before approving
- Consider budget constraints and organizational policies
- Provide feedback if you reject or request changes
- Approve recommendations in a timely manner
- Ensure consistency across similar roles and performance levels