Johnson & Johnson figures that compensation for many of its its 115,000 employees is out of kilter with the health-care industry and its starting to to do something about it.
Under a plan called the Global Compensation Framework, J&J has established 3,000 job classifications and 20 pay grades across the company, the WSJ reports this morning. The big health-care company also has come up with higher performance bonus targets for 27% of its employees and lower ones for 38%. Yearly stock bonuses will also be adjusted, the company says.
Put it all together and an unspecified number of employees will be getting overall cuts in compensation, the WSJ says. But others will see increases and in fact, the cost savings from the overhaul will be minimal, according to the company.
This program is about creating a global compensation program that is consistent and equitable for our employees across the company, a J&J spokeswoman told the WSJ. The spokeswoman says one goal is to make it easier for employees to transfer from one unit to another among J&Js many businesses.
But J&J, like other health-care outfits, is also under profit pressures. You’ll remember that J&J last month reported its fourth-quarter earnings fell 19% on restructuring charges and the company posted its first full-year sales decline in 76 years.
Elsewhere in the industry, Bristol-Myers Squibb said this month it is freezing salaries this year for employees where it can. That move won’t affect bonuses, the company said.
Photo: Associated Press