Classroom Spotlight | HRD 8212: Compensation

I’m Diane Lirio and I’ve been teaching about compensation for a long time now! One of the fun exercises we do in class is create a bonus plan for the Director of the HRD Program! It’s a challenge for the students to think about why they chose the HRD program and then try to tie those reasons back to behaviors and activities that the Director of the HRD program influences. Practical exercises show how complicated the process really is.

It’s great to be in compensation at this time because the world is changing – as you know, the new FLSA rules regarding the salary basis test were stopped by a judge and weren’t implemented in 2016 and we are on hold now for the foreseeable future. It’s a shame because the old salary basis test is so outdated as to be useless. And I can’t wait to see what President Trump does with the Dodd-Frank legislation which governs executive pay.

Anyway, a little knowledge is always a great thing and one of the take-aways from this course is that the students will be able to interact with the compensation department at their workplace in an intelligent and challenging way. Some students even market price their current job for one of the assignment papers. But one of the biggest rewards of teaching that I’ve encountered is when a student reaches out later to tell me that they have gone on to become a compensation professional themselves.

Of course, I couldn’t end without saying that some of the students are scared that Compensation is a math-centric class and not to worry if you have math-phobia. This class is really about theory where most assignments are writing assignments so come on over to the “compensation”-side.

_____________________

Diane Lirio is an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate HRD program at Villanova University, and the VP of Compensation at the Bancorp. Learn more about her here!