{"id":2894,"date":"2026-02-11T04:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/?p=2894"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:56:54","slug":"competency-based-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"Competency-Based Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-is-competency-based-pay\"><\/span>What Is Competency-Based Pay?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Most employees are paid by the hour or are salaried, but there are other ways that you can be paid. One of the most interesting ways is competency-based pay.<\/p>\n<p>Competency-based pay is an entirely different kind of pay structure, based on the employee\u2019s skill set, the knowledge that they have, and \u2013 crucially \u2013 their experience.<\/p>\n<p>By encouraging the employee to take control of their skills and carving their own work path, it can bring out the best in employees.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"advantages-and-disadvantages-of-competency-based-pay\"><\/span>Advantages and Disadvantages of Competency-Based Pay<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are several pros and cons that come along with competency-based pay; let\u2019s take a look at some of them.<\/p>\n<h3>Advantages<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It helps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/employee-retention-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">staff retention<\/a>. Keeping staff turnover low is very important as it can hurt your bottom line. With competency-based pay, employees feel that their skills and knowledge are appreciated and that the company values them.<\/li>\n<li>It empowers employees\u2019 self-motivation. Employees are rewarded for the skills and knowledge they have rather than their job title and how long they have been in a particular profession. This can also lead to team-wide motivation as employees find ways to help each other improve their skill set.<\/li>\n<li>It leads to improved transparency in the business. One of the most significant issues that many employees have is that they often can\u2019t see what they need to do to improve. With competency-based pay, they have it within their control.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Disadvantages<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It can lead to questions of favoritism. If some team members think they have been overlooked in pay compared to others, it can start to cause tension. You must remain impartial and be aware that this can become an issue.<\/li>\n<li>Subjectivity issues \u2013 with traditional pay plans, it&#8217;s easy to structure the pay grades. Competency-based pay can leave itself open to subjectivity, so proceed with caution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"why-use-competency-based-pay\"><\/span>Why Use Competency-Based Pay?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you want a self-motivated team that can improve their skill set autonomously, then competency-based pay could be right for your business.<\/p>\n<p>******<\/p>\n<p><em>See our full list of over 50 Small Business Terms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/small-business-glossary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Is Competency-Based Pay? Most employees are paid by the hour or are salaried, but there are other ways that you can be paid. One of the most interesting ways is competency-based pay. Competency-based pay is an entirely different kind of pay structure, based on the employee\u2019s skill set, the knowledge that they have, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Competency-Based Pay - Zoomshift<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Competency-based pay is an entirely different kind of pay structure, based on the employee\u2019s skill set, the knowledge that they have, and their experience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Competency-Based Pay - Zoomshift\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Competency-based pay is an entirely different kind of pay structure, based on the employee\u2019s skill set, the knowledge that they have, and their experience.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zoomshift\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T10:07:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T14:56:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZoomShift\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZoomShift\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/\",\"name\":\"Competency-Based Pay - Zoomshift\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T10:07:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-31T14:56:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ba35c556ffdf9d8dab06992b17a4b0d\"},\"description\":\"Competency-based pay is an entirely different kind of pay structure, based on the employee\u2019s skill set, the knowledge that they have, and their experience.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/competency-based-pay\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Competency-Based Pay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zoomshift\",\"description\":\"SMB Management Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9ba35c556ffdf9d8dab06992b17a4b0d\",\"name\":\"ZoomShift\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoomshift.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05af010fb3485fa8095793cfff89a5e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05af010fb3485fa8095793cfff89a5e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ZoomShift\"},\"description\":\"The leading scheduling software designed for hourly employees. 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