“I’m Not Paid Enough”

How many people feel that they are paid fairly for their job?  When is the last time someone came into your office in Human Resources and told you that they were receiving too much pay?  Never?  How many people have come to you and told you that they are happy with their level of compensation and that they just wanted to thank-you for your role in the deal?  Never?

Yes, I have seen individuals who were grateful for a large promotional salary increase, but the effect would only last a short while.  In no time whatsoever, they were back feeling short changed.  I always looked at our compensation role in HR as a no-win proposition.  That is unfortunate for us in HR, since most Human Resource departments go to a lot of effort to try to pay their people right.  We do endless salary surveys, write tedious job descriptions, take great care in creating our salary ranges and so on.  It is a thankless effort.  And… ditto for the Benefits area.

For years I’ve tried to get around this problem with not much success.  Once I thought that education was the answer, but the more I shared how we determined our compensation schemes, the more dissatisfaction I caused.  One time, I really got burnt when the engineers in the company got hold of the WEMA curves (engineering salary survey results for the electronics industry in the SF Bay Area).  Even though our pay for engineering categories was slightly above average, no individual believed that they were average and voiced their unhappiness to management.  Consequently, the company buckled and granted an across-the-board increase which did nothing to increase the morale.

About the only time that I have witnessed an appreciation for pay and benefits is when a person is unemployed.  When they are doing without, the realization sets in.   Sad, but true.

I will address the real fix to this problem next time.  So, stay tuned!

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