For the last few days, I've been on jury duty. My county has a One Day/One Trial system, so while I haven't been sitting at the courthouse, I've been on stand-by, calling the jury hotline every evening to see if I'm required to report the following day. In the event that I do have to report, I'll receive juror pay of $9 per day.
Most people wouldn't get out of bed for a job that paid $9 per day. But, like death and taxes, jury duty is something you have to do. I wonder where the $9 per day came from... Thinking about this led me to another interesting question - what's the value of my time?
To answer this, economists will talk about the invisible hand and the amount of money I can generate in the open market selling the particular skills and abilities I bring to the table. Philosophers might argue that the question is pointless because time does not exist in-and-of itself and therefore is not real. And compensation professionals will likely answer this question by consulting survey data and industry benchmarks.
"Value" is a sticky subject that the world's greatest thinkers have been studying for centuries. One of the difficulties is that value is subjective. You can see this play out at a garage sale where a neighbor gleefully returns to her car completely delighted with the bargain she just got, while another neighbor looks on quizzically, asking herself why anyone would buy that piece of junk!
Another difficulty is that the treasure from the yard sale - or an hour of our time - can have different values in different contexts. Ask a mother struggling to make ends meet if three hours of overtime pay has more value to her than three unpaid hours. Now ask her if three hours of overtime pay has more value to her than the one minute of unpaid time during which her child says his first word.
Even though we try and try, sometimes value can't be measured in terms of money. Ask a research scientist working to find a cure for the disease that killed his father if receiving a $25,000 bonus will make an hour of his research time more valuable. Economists would say yes, since he's generating more dollars per hour of work if he receives the bonus. But I'll bet the research scientist's answer would be no.
Each of us values our time through a complex calculus that we execute unconsciously. When we make a choice between working an hour of overtime or spending that hour with our elderly parents, at our child's soccer game, or just staying home and recharging for the following day, we're assigning values to each of those activities. The value of that hour of time is more than just your hourly rate of pay. Time is more than money.
Sometimes there's a disconnect between the way employers and employees value their time. I'm not talking about salary negotiations, where the hiring manager makes an offer of $75,000 and the candidate wants $85,000. I'm talking about those intangibles and non-metrics that the best employers recognize and the rest don't. Things like the value to an employee of a heartfelt "thank you". Things like the value of being there for your child's first word.
Stephanie R. Thomas is an economic and statistical consulting specializing in EEO issues and employment litigation risk management. For more than a decade, she's been working with businesses and government agencies providing expert EEO analysis. Stephanie has published several articles on examining compensation systems with respect to equity. She is the host of The Proactive Employer, and is the owner of Thomas Econometrics. Follow her on Twitter at ProactiveStats.
Nice thoughtful piece on universal truths. We all joke about those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The two are not the same at all. There is no good price for something of no value. It's Curly's Secret of Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1uOqRb0HU.
Posted by: E James (Jim) Brennan | 01/27/2011 at 04:55 PM