• 
• 

Published on March 10, 2008

Wisarut Ruknapapong, an adviser to Thailand Management Association's Benefit and Salary Tracking Report 2007, said many companies were facing the pay-effectiveness problem, which means they are paying some employees more than their responsibility, positions, knowledge and competency command, while paying others less than they deserve.

As a result, the company's salary cost soars, but it struggles to retain high-calibre executives, he said.

The pay-effectiveness problem has been found in many state agencies.

"Some state enterprises pay their drivers Bt30,000 a month, but an engineer who is responsible for an entire dam only gets only Bt20,000," Wisarut said.

"The result is that the organisation cannot increase engineers' salary," he said.

Wisarut said that during his stint as an adviser to the State Enterprise Policy Office he found that the average salary of state enterprise staffers was higher than the average salary of a worker at a private company.

Private companies will also face the pay-effectiveness problem if they have not carefully monitored their salary budget.

Firms will pay their talents lower than the market rate and consequently lose them, he said.

 "We have seen a lot of requests [for talented workers]. There is a shortage of competent managers. Existing mangers are unable to meet firms' expectations," Wisarut said.

Finance, IT and engineering workers are still drawing a higher salary than other professionals. But looking ahead, science researchers are emerging as the hot professionals.

There will be a severe shortage in this area as companies shift their focus to innovation, Wisarut added.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation