The folks who worked in the call center were in an uproar. Apparently they heard that a new person was hired at a wage comparable to what the more tenured agents earned, and they felt that was unfair. They brought it up in a department meeting, asking why new people weren't brought in at the starting wage.
The answer their manager gave them was that the salary range for that function was from $11.50 to $18.51, and that people were paid commensurate with their experience. When the group argued that this still wasn't fair, the manager asked them the following question. "So imagine for a minute that you are applying for a job elsewhere. Their starting wage is $11.50/hour, but you have been making $13.40. Which one of you isn't going to make a sound argument for the fact that you have worked for five or six or nine years in this field, and that your skills and talents would be an asset to that organization? Who among you is willing to work for less than you're making now?"
This quieted them, but the discussion of what is fair will happen again, just as sure as it will rain. What is fair in business? When my kids say to me "that's not fair!" I always say, "well, life isn't fair." They hate this response, just as I hated it when my dad said it to me. But it's true. And what's truer is that I don't know if we actually want life to be fair.
The definition of fair means to be free of favor to any side. But in business we really do favor some things. We favor more education over less, we favor strong work ethic over slacking, we favor experience, and we favor great communication skills. And that's appropriate. Which is a word I far prefer. I like to award compensation appropriately.
The same people who complain that it's not fair American jobs are being shipped to China are doing their weekly shopping at Wal-Mart. The same people who are complaining about reduced hours and layoffs remain committed to their unions and the collaborative bargaining agreements. I don't know whether or not any of this is fair, but it's all appropriate. Everything in nature seeks balance, and this is balance, believe it or not.
What's appropriate is that some companies use compensation as a driver. What they're counting on is that their employees will think it's appropriate to work more creatively and more diligently to make their incentive the biggest number it can be. We're not looking for fair here -- we're looking for motivation and drive. These concepts are the foundation of our society, and as Americans we inherently understand them. Or we should.
To do the work more creatively and at less cost we need the best people, the best processes, the best training, and the best focus. Every high performing individual who 'gets it' about working for the bottom line makes a direct investment in profit realization. That call center hire with five years previous experience who came in at $2/hour higher is likely to contribute to profitability faster than the individual with no previous experience. Their $2.00/hour more -- which translates to $4,160/year -- easily paid for in the first year with plenty left over. Smart managers and organizations will structure compensation to ensure that real contributors in the organization benefit directly from the additional profits.
Is it fair? Maybe not. But it's certainly appropriate.
(c) 2007, Andrea M. Hill
