Components of Workplace Compensation
BUSA-40872
This course provides a comprehensive overview of the compensation function, covering job analysis, job evaluation, market pricing, pay structures, base and variable pay, executive compensation, and relevant laws. Students will explore pay equity, incentive programs, and market surveys, reinforced through applied exercises to understand how to design fair and motivating compensation strategies.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will:
- Explain the importance of a compensation philosophy and strategy in organizational effectiveness
- Compare and contrast types of job evaluation, including market pricing methods
- Summarize and evaluate methods for delivering variable compensation
- Determine and calculate the market price of a job using relevant data
- Perform basic calculations used in compensation analyses
- Compare and assess various methods for administering pay
- Describe and analyze why and how executive compensation differs from other employees
- Interpret laws and regulations impacting employee pay.
Course Information
by D. Weaver (ISBN / ASIN: 9781544516684). The textbook can be purchased through the UC San Diego Bookstore or any other online retailer.
This course can be taken on a stand-alone basis or counted towards our Professional Certificate in Human Resource Management. If you are interested in pursuing the certificate, please ensure you have successfully completed the prerequisite course, Managing HR: An Overview — or plan to take it concurrently with this course.
For more information, register for our free online info session or contact the program manager at HRPrograms@ucsd.edu.
Click here for more information about the financial resources available.
Course sessions
Section ID:
Class type:
This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.
Textbooks:
Pay Matters: The Art and Science of Employee Compensation 1st
by D. Weaver
ISBN / ASIN: 9781544516684
You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 4/14/2026
Schedule:
Instructor:
Justin Lowell
Section ID:
Class type:
This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.
Textbooks:
Pay Matters: The Art and Science of Employee Compensation 1st
by D. Weaver
ISBN / ASIN: 9781544516684
You may purchase textbooks via the UC San Diego Bookstore.
Policies:
- No refunds after: 7/21/2026
Schedule:
Instructor:
Justin Lowell
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