Harmers Remuneration

Employee Remuneration Scheme Outline

Harmers’ Employee Remuneration Scheme (“ERS”) aims to:

• foster genuine teamwork amongst all employees;
• encourage every employee to make a genuine contribution to the team; and
• ensure progression is solely dependent on merit and not years of service.

Progression
The firm’s ERS sets out the criteria for progression for every level of employee. For example, legal staff members progress through a series of bands that begins with Paralegals/Summer Clerks and continues as follows:

• Junior Solicitor, stages 1 and 2;
• Mid Solicitor, stages 1 and 2;
• Senior Solicitor, stages 1 and 2; and
• Team Leader, stages, 1 and 2.

Non-legal staff also progress through a series of bands in the ERS; be it Junior, Mid or Senior Secretary or through Assistant, Officer, Consultant and Manager for our Business Services team.

Harmers’ salary bands are directly linked to each of these bands. Salary bands form part of the ERS document, ensuring a transparent remuneration system. Performance appraisals are conducted informally in June and more formally in December each year. During performance appraisals, each staff member is assessed against the competencies contained in the bands and, depending on skill level, may progress to a higher band. There is no timeframe that an employee must remain at each level, and progression is solely dependent on the individual’s demonstrated skill.

Where progression criteria contains competencies that may be difficult for a part time staff member to fulfil, the ERS provides separate criteria achievable by part time employees. This ensures that no staff member’s progression is disadvantaged by part time working arrangements.