How Much Do You Make?

I was thinking the other day about Singapore.  Not unusual.  I enjoy thinking about my time spent there.  Oddly one thought popped into my mind that I had forgotten.

The first time I visited Singapore was on my first trip to Asia.   I was making the "circuit".  

One of the local HR people took me to lunch.   As we were talking, she all of a sudden asked me:   “What do you make?”    I heard what she said but could not believe she would ask such a personal question.   After regaining composure, I laughed and said:  “Well just like everyone else I don’t make enough!”  Then I quickly changed the subject.   Fortunately she did not ask again.

But that incident started me thinking.   This employee asked an innocent, albeit embarrassing, question --- but why?  What would she do with the information if I had told her?   Would that help her to understand any better how she was being paid?   Do employees tell each other what they make?

Most of my career I have worked for companies that did not believe in communicating compensation.  It was left up to managers to answer questions as best they could.   HR gave them some basic information, and they took it from there.   God knows what they told employees.

There are two camps.   One camp keeps information about compensation very confidential.   They treat the subject about the same as they would hemorrhoids.  Maybe they communicate the compensation philosophy/strategy.   And this, folks, is about as clear as mud to the average employee.   Sometimes, even to me.   The other camp is more open ---- providing information to employees very freely and answering all questions.

It is easy to say you are in the “open” camp.   I say that too.  You might as well be. Employees are smarter today.  They look on the internet at survey data, and the younger ones talk more freely about salary and analyze the “whys” and “hows” more.   So you might say that as long as they are looking for answers --- we should make sure they get the correct ones.  Somebody once said that the mind seeks closure.  And what information it doesn’t get ---- it makes up.

I have no trouble with communicating the standard song and dance.   BUT ---- the questions that follow the “speech” are tough.  And you are very naïve if you don’t think employees will ask them.    How can you put together simple and clear answers for questions like:

 * If I am doing the work of 2 people now since the last layoff 2 years ago, why am I not being paid more?

 * Why didn’t the company give all of us a 10% salary increase like Google did for their employees?

* If I’m at the top of my salary range and my manager tells me my performance is outstanding, why don’t I get an increase?

* If I’m doing such a great job and get the highest rating, how come my increase is 2% while everyone in our group knows that (name) is not performing and he got 1.5%?   Why should I work so hard for just .5% more?

* I know our company has $X million in profits.   Why didn’t we have bigger increases this year since everyone knows we can afford it?

Questions like this are complicated to answer.   For instance, the third question:   “Well Johnny, according to the market you are being paid quite well, and you won’t be eligible for another increase until you are promoted.”     Now, if I were a smart employee I would ask:  “How do you know that the maximum for my range is correct?  Do you know for sure?  How do you decide the maximum anyway?  If it's not correct, you're not treating me fairly.”

How do you explain the Google story?   That gets complicated too.   What about all the profits stacking up in a lockbox somewhere?

I’m not saying there are NO answers. It’s easy to give a “professor-type” answer ---- one that we all learned at the WorldatWork courses.  But it’s off-putting to say the least ---- cold and scientific --- and can’t be explained simply in 5 minutes.  If you’re not careful, the effort to communicate can turn out worse than if you had done nothing. Before you know it conversations get complicated, and employees start getting frustrated because they don’t understand what they are being told.

So . . . at the very minimum have very clearly thought out answers before you communicate.   Even answers to impossible questions.  Make sure all managers are singing from the same hymnal.  

Not a good time to explain your compensation program with the “same old, same old”.   If anyone has some good answers, please let me know.

Jacque Vilet, President of Vilet International, has over 20 years’ experience in International Human Resources with major multinationals such as Intel, National Semiconductor and Seagate Technology. She has managed both local/ in-country national and expatriate programs and has been an expat twice during her career.  Her true love is working with local national issues.  Jacque has the following certifications:  CCP, GPHR, HCS and SWP as well as a B.S. and M.S in Psychology and an MBA.    She belongs to SHRM, Human Capital Institute and WorldatWork.   Jacque has also been a speaker in the U.S., Asia and Europe, and is a regular contributor to various HR and talent management publications.  She lives in Dallas and has 3 four-legged children and one Chinese daughter (it’s a long story).  She’s had a life-long love of animals and the ocean.   So what is she doing in Dallas?

Image courtesy of:  goin2travel.com

Comments

[Chuck Csizmar]

Excellent points, Jacque, as those questions do come up, time and again in a manager's career. Not being prepared for them is an avoidable mistake.

[Jacque Vilet]

Yep. I'd rather be in HR than a line manager! Also the question is common in Asia. So be prepared when you go there!