Effects of Merit Pay on Job Satisfaction

I should start out by mentioning the fact that no employee at the school corporation that I work for has received a raise in the last five years. Recently the school corporation has decided to give everyone a merit raise based on the previous year’s performance evaluation instead of employee tenure. I have heard many employees carrying on conversations with other staff members about how upset they are that the raise is based on past performance instead of how long they have been employed at the school corporation. This had led me to want to discover how merit pay affects a teacher’s job satisfaction. I am not a teacher however, I am the schools registrar and I will also receive my raise based on my previous year’s performance evaluation. It has always been my past experience that typically raises are based on performance no matter where I have worked. Using Evidence-based Human Resource as presented by Rousseau and Barends (2011) I will attempt to present my findings on how merit pay affects a teacher’s job satisfaction.
Summary of Rousseau and Barends (2011) Article

The article by Rousseau and Barends (2011), presents us with an overview of the decision-making process called Evidence-based Human Resource (EBHR). “EBHR is a decision-making process combining critical thinking with use of the best available scientific evidence and business information” (Rousseau & Barends, 2011). Rousseau and Barends (2011), maintain that Human Resource professionals needs to have a questioning mindset. This means that they should be actively exploring alternatives to problems, seeking understanding, and testing assumptions about the effectiveness of their own professional decisions and activities. HR professionals need to use EBHR as a means of making decisions and advising leadership through a conscientious combination of