Policy lines

Policy line: The regression line is the market line (i.e., what the market is paying or matching the market). Policy lines are used to adjust the regression line up or down if you want to lead or lag the market by the percent that you specify. For example, if you tell the software you want to lead the market by 10% it adjusts the regression line so it is 10% higher than it would have normally been.

The default in the software is that it uses the market line to establish the midpoint of the range for each grade. If you said you want to lead or lag the market, you use a policy line to reset the midpoint by plus or minus n%. For example, if you said you want to lead the market by 5% for jobs in a particular pay grade, you would set the policy line #1 for that grade to +5%.

The software allows you to specify up to two policy lines so you can use different policies for different pay grades. If you are matching the market for all grades you will not enter anything for policy 1 or 2. If you are only going to lead (or lag) you only need to use one policy line not two. Whatever you choose to do, explain your choice in your report. Typical length: about a paragraph, maybe a two