ABSTRACT
Salary progression payment systems have traditionally been a notable feature of white-collar employment, particularly for those in large public and private sector organisations. The nature of these systems has, however, been subject to change in the last twenty years. The rise of 'New Right' rationalist economics, with the election of the Conservative government in 1979, marked a major change in public policy, with special implications for the management of public sector salary systems. Furthermore, faced with increasing global competition, private sector employers embarked on wide-scale organisational restructuring which had implications for the traditional systems of pay and reward. The purpose of this chapter is to analyse and explain the rationale, nature and context of these 'New Pay' progression practices and to consider the degree to which they have been adopted. Because of the wide range of occupations covered by the term 'whitecollar', we concentrate on the concept of salary progression payment and how it has changed over the last twenty years, making distinctions where appropriate between developments in the public and private sectors.
