Employees in schools are paid or compensated for their labour in different ways. While some schools pay their teachers based on commission, others adopt annual salary methods, hourly payments or bonuses. However, there is another method by which schools increase the pay of their employees. It is called merit pay. In merit pay, high-performing workers are rewarded together with their continuous pay/salary.
The merit payment system can be in the form of a rise in one’s payment because of one’s years of service to the school, an increase in the cost of living of workers, etc. Essentially, the merit payment method has to do with incentives or bonuses given to an employee or a teacher based on his/her performance. In this article, we shall explain some of the merits and demerits of the merit payment system as a way to contrast it with the standard salary method. Basically, it is to argue whether teachers should be paid based on their performance or that every teacher should receive a standard salary.
It boosts efficiency and profitability
When it comes to boosting the morale and productivity of teachers, we cannot overrule the effectiveness of financial incentives. Although each teacher is entitled to his/her basic salary, if they know that they will be rewarded more for their hard work, they will be motivated to increase their profitability and efficiency. It is, therefore, unlikely to have very complacent teachers in such a school system.
It promotes decent competition among teachers
Closely linked to the abovementioned benefit is that the merit pay system tends to encourage decent competition among teachers. Since every teacher would like to be a beneficiary of this system of reward, it will spur them to desire to outshine their colleagues with the sole aim of increasing productivity and efficiency in the system. As teachers emerge winners of cash prizes through whatever criteria that are put in place, the school will invariably notice improvements in students’ performance and other areas.
It attracts more experienced and skilled workers.
Teachers always want to have value for their services and years of experience. There are some societies with experienced teachers who continue to migrate to areas where merit and diligence are rewarded. A school that adopts the merit payment system is likely to attract more of such skilled and experienced teachers to boost their workforce. Also, it will become a place that is uncomfortable for complacent and lazy workers.
In terms of the disadvantages of the merit payment system, the following few will suffice:
It can breed unhealthy competition.
In this case, each teacher may want to outshine the other at all costs. So, teamwork may not exist in such a school. Those who have resources that should be beneficial to their colleagues may selfishly hoard such resources. The school could come to its downfall because of this culture of unhealthy competition among teachers to outshine one another.
The merit system could be complicated.
The job descriptions of teachers differ. There are teachers whose job descriptions will always bring them to the limelight. Others are engaged in areas that may not be easily quantified or assessed. It is also important to note that the end of session or term results will not be sufficient criteria for this kind of reward system because there are other factors that contribute to the assessment of high performance. The criteria that may be put forward by the employers may not be as straightforward as possible. Those complexities may result in discord among teachers.
The criteria for a reward could be subjective.
The determination of high performance in schools or companies is usually done by a committee. Since this is not a scientific or laboratory testing system or even if the criteria are objective, there is bound to be some form of subjective assessment. Two members of the selection or assessment committee may not agree on a given worker. In that case, there could be an outcry of favouritism.
It is a wasteful system.
There are people who feel that the money set apart for merit pay should be devoted to something else since the merit pay has very dire consequences such as those already explained above. Moreover, it tends to divert the energy and attention needed for other aspects of the job to the gathering, archival and retrieval of data meant for the regular assessment of workers. In some cases, the school management may need to employ someone or contract an independent firm for such an assessment. This is considered wasteful.
