Spoiler alert – Santa Claus may be a fictional character, but his career is an ideal example of how merit increases could work in the American workforce. Even at the most base level, the concept of Santa serves as an incentive in modern times for children through the idea that their good behavior and positive accomplishments will result in material rewards. That theory is the foundation for many incentive compensation management (ICM) programs, however when a closer look is given to Santa’s occupational expenses and hypothetical salary structure, much can be learned and applied to real life.
What Santa would make in salary, benefits
According to Insure’s Santa Index 2013, all of St. Nick’s round-the-clock duties would not all be for just the milk and cookies. In performance pay and hours worked alone, Santa would be worth approximately $138,000 a year. Considering a change of career yet?
The annual Santa Index predicts that at a 2 percent raise every year, based on an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data and average wages, Santa would top out at $137,795 in 2013. This was a leap from 2012’s $134,944 and even further from 2011’s $132,950, meaning the better Santa performs, the more he’s rewarded. As part of his compensation program, benefits were included.
Of the 2,000 respondents who were asked how Santa should be paid, 27 percent said more than $1.8 billion a year – or $1 for every child under 15 – 15 percent said between $100,000-200,000 a year, 10 percent said more than $200,000 and 12 percent said less than $100,000, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
How he would use ICM
Insure’s survey found that respondents felt Santa fell into several different sectors, including manufacturing, negotiations, investigations, list-checking, sleigh-driving and tending to the needs of animals – namely reindeer.
In addition, Santa supervises staffs, transports goods, communicates with world leaders and parents on a global scale, monitors inventory and much more, leaving plenty of room to incentivize pay.
Santa would likely utilize ICM structures that allow for increased compensation as job titles and responsibilities build. For example, if Santa were to go back to school for an advanced HR degree in elf management, he could be rewarded with higher pay for his efforts.
Thought it’s clear that Santa and his handsome salary are but figments of youthful musings, the real life impacts of his career and compensation models are all to real. Employees who wish to move up the executive ladder and garner higher salaries should consider boosting skills and education. In turn, those larger payouts can be used to shoulder gift expenses for those who earned them by behaving well and working hard rear-round.
