Unlike companies that base an employee's pay on the evaluations of one or two people--or on supervisors' opinions alone--Gore involves many associates in the process. Our goals: internal fairness and external competitiveness.
To ensure that everyone is paid fairly, we ask associates to rank their team members each year in order of contribution to the enterprise. In addition to the numerical ranking, we invite comment on the rationale behind the ranking, as well as on particular strengths or potential areas of improvement for the associates on the list.
Of equal importance, we ensure that our pay is competitive by taking part in extensive benchmarking. Each year we compare the pay of Gore associates from varied functions and roles with their peers at other companies.