Retail rewards: competency-based pay at Adams

Adams, the childrenswear retailer, has replaced managers' annual cost-of-living increase with pay rises linked to competencies

Competency-based appraisal systems, which assess people according to their skills, behaviours and attitudes, have assumed increasing importance in companies' remuneration strategies. An IRS survey of 143 organisations in February 1999 (See New ways to perform appraisal) found that the most common change to appraisal schemes was the introduction of a competency framework, while our latest annual survey of pay prospects found competency pay to be the most frequent change being considered, reported by close to a third of respondents (Pay and Benefits Bulletin 467).