The Problem with “The Compensation Mystery” | No BS Management Advice
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
What goes into that salary offer or that raise? How are the numbers decided upon and why is it kept a mystery? In this video, I explore the problem with how you are doing things.
There’s a mystery around compensation at organizations. Have you ever noticed that no one discusses salary? And it’s a “learned quality” at organizations. After all, when you’re . . . I’ve got a son who’s about to be 18 as I record this and he and his friends talk about how much they’re earning, how much people are paid at different jobs, so they’re sharing that information with one another and even in the workplace, people know how much they’re making.
He’s 18. Somewhere between 18 and being an adult, the message gets communicated, you don’t talk about money. And I think part of that really stems as a
cultural thing from organizations who don’t want to know how that decision was made to hire someone at a certain level.
“So we’re making you an offer. It’s for Y number of dollars.”
“Terrific. How’d you come up with that number?”
“Well, we compared your experience with those internally and found that you weren’t quite worth to us as much as those folks are making.”
“Now, in what way was I less than them?”
No one ever asks that question. No organization is ever challenged in its decision-making for how much to make that offer. And, once someone’s on board, you know, there’s the question of “Okay, time to get a promotion. Time to get a raise, what goes into the decision making?”
Well, we all know that the reality is that once someone’s on board, there are formulas with percentage increases based on grade, and the basis for that is never communicated. That’s a message that comes down from “up high.” The money is divided up. Percentage increases are passed on with no real assessment of actual value.
How does someone wind up making more money? They exist within the organization. They cause no problems. Advancement opportunity? You know, again, much the same kind of thing. Organizations are not transparent with what they do and people wonder, HR professionals, wonder, why there’s an issue with employee engagement. People are dealing with a moving target for how much they’re going to be paid from the time that they’re interviewing until the time they say, “you know, I think I’m going to take this offer.”
“What! You can’t do that! What’s going to take to keep you?” Suddenly there’s transparency,
Here’s what you can do differently. Think in terms of you’re a manager, you’re an HR professional, and you want to create a culture of trust. Talk about the qualities that you look for at each level of the organization– what someone needs to know. When it comes to review time, you start having your managers and leaders be very clear about what someone needs to do, and how they need to be in order to accomplish the next milestone.
What went into that salary offer? How are they different than the people on board, except the people on board, are known to the organization? Lots of different things around transparency come into play that you guys aren’t being transparent about. Want to create a culture where people are engaged? Start being a little bit more open.
[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu76LUSugko[/svp]
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2400 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, and Amazon, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me through LinkedIn’s messaging. You can also message me through chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career
advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management, or support with a workplace issue. Please click here to see my schedule to book a free discovery call or schedule time for coaching.
My courses are available on my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses The courses include ones about Informational Interviews, Interviewing, final interview preparation, salary negotiation mistakes to avoid, the top 10 questions to prepare for on any job interview, and starting a new job.
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