February 4, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Compensation
February 5, 2008 at 2:11 am
One short article touching on a huge subject. There are tranches of academic text on this, much of it dry and uninteresting, so perhaps it is a good idea to send out this nugget to get us thinking again.
It used to be commonplace in the UK (and there are a few institutions for which it's still the case) for lower salaries to be offset by VERY carefully graded amounts of status. In my opinion, it set employees against each other in a scrabble to be top of the heap, rather than working together to get the job done, so I believe it's a good thing this approach is less prevalent, or at least less obvious. It seems to have been replaced with "empowerment", which is theoretically better, but in practice it often seems to manifest itself as "do a good job and I'll give you more work" - the attraction can wear off after a while, of course. A sound HR strategy rather than just pandering to fashionable buzzwords is obviously essential if it's to actually work properly.
The company for which I work is somewhat unusual. We hold an "Investors in People" certification (a UK scheme that challenges the employee focus of businesses), a "flexible benefits" scheme (whereby each employee gets a pot of money on top of their salary with which they buy their benefits - pension contribution, life assurance, holiday etc.) and an openness to suggestions of change.
Perhaps the most telling, though, is that there is a strong recognition of everyone's importance to the overall success, and a willingness to show that recognition publicly. Something as simple as a senior manager wandering over and saying "thank you" works wonders, and is fortunately fairly frequent here. After a really busy month end, a few crates of beer will often be shipped over to the guys in the warehouse - again as a token "thank you".
The result overall in my company is that, in a discipline like IT with a historically high turnover of staff, we have a high proportion of people who've been around for a long time; 5, 10 or even 20 years. The bottom line of the article is correct; employee recognition isn't just about money.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
February 5, 2008 at 7:02 am
I like the idea of flexible benefits where you get to choose the ones that are more important to you.
I work for the state, so the options are very limited and it takes a creative boss to figure out how to give rewards.
The most effective reward is time off. People will do almost anything for a day off or even a half-day off.
I had one boss that would suddenly take the crew for ice cream on an odd afternoon. My current boss provided a nice breakfast spread one morning as a thank you.
All of the above really works for me. I think people just need to be thanked from time to time. Yeah, it's our job and we're being paid to do it, but some appreciation goes a long way.:kiss:
February 5, 2008 at 7:33 am
I think the flaw in the whole "equity" thing so prevalent in HR these days is that is has the effect of "dehumanizing" the process. As Steve said very well - equal doesn't equate to Fair. And that presumption of "equal" as the norm is where a lot of things go off the track.
For one - if you were really going for EQUAL, then there would be equality of work as well as equality of benefits (meaning - EVERYONE would be doing the dame thing). Now - we all know that the company can't work that way, so then the assumption that "one size fits all" then should be getting thrown out the window.
I think a system to customize those benefits to the needs of the individual is a wonderful thing. Of course, I have a few words for the manager who wants me to pledge towards equipment that will stay with the company: that's about as criminal as double taxation in my mind. You get 200% of my commitment, so enough is enough: pay for your own D*** equipment....
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
February 5, 2008 at 7:50 am
Years ago, while I was working in a different industry, all managers of my employer were required to take a course in positive reinforcement. Basically positve reinforcement is doing simple things to reward an employee when they do a good job like: acknowledging their hard work verbally (especially around others), buying them lunch (or the whole team if they meet simple goals), extra time off like letting them leave a couple hours early, Giving the employee some tickets to a ball game (many corporations buy season tickets that are otherwise used for sales and marketing) . The cost of these are minimal compared to salary rewards only.
The bad part of this was the course was over 4 weekends. 7 hours a day both on Saturday and Sunday. So those of us who were required to take the course were not able to spend these weekends with our families.
February 5, 2008 at 10:16 am
Equal under the law and fair to the employees is one of the major challenges of today's IT world. Since we deal with people it is not possible to treat all the same. However we should attempt to make certain that all employees have the same opportunity to be recognized or rewarded. The road to success has to be open to all, the problem is that far to few choose to take that road.
Again have a great day...
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
February 5, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Steve, I read the six figure job lists, I am doing data modeling and data warehouse modeling for a few years now, my salary is not even closed to six figure. Is it just me or it depends on experience and location?
Employee retention is not the top priority of most companies these days, so employee recognition and compensation is not on HR priority list.
In one company I used to work, they had a employee recognition program, every month people would submit an employee's name to HR and explained why that person deserved an award (a $25 certificate). Usually it was the manager put in the request. However people started to complain because some managers put in tons of recognition and some managers never put anyone in. It was not because those people did not work hard that the manager did not put their name in. It was because some managers just did not think it was necessary. On the other hand, some managers put in the employees name just for showing up to work. There were a few employees got an award every month. People started to get suspicious. HR finally canceled the program.
February 5, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I think I might want to go work with the major if I look for a new job. Maybe convince them to open up a branch in the US 🙂
I've seen DBAs making $40k and DBAs making $110K. I think that you can get to the six figure range if you find a company that has that in their range AND you can sell yourself. It's experience, but it's mostly the ability to clearly articulate your strengths, show them off, and sell yourself. Not easy to do, but it works.
Retention is becoming more important in some places. However it's definitely talked about more than it's implemented. Too often management knows it's important, but they get emotional about issues and forget that retention is an issue with a long tail. It's easy to lose someone today and pile that work on others, but over time, losing enough people, it becomes a real problem. Some places are recognizing this.
Interestingly enough, I found that many people at the BI conference last year had a much longer time frame in mind for projects and employment. They tended to realize that people were more valuable than next quarter's results.
February 6, 2008 at 1:26 am
Steve Jones - Editor (2/5/2008)
I think I might want to go work with the major if I look for a new job. Maybe convince them to open up a branch in the US 🙂
We have several, Steve; I've just no idea if those subsidiaries are as good in their HR function :).
I will freely admit, though, that there is a strong feeling within the company that we're getting a good deal, but it's still amazing how many individuals still don't think it's good enough. The one main point missing from the article is that effective employee recognition is a constantly moving target; no matter how good you are at it, there's always something you can do to improve. And if your actions of recognition become formulaic, they'll lose real value. You (the company) HAVE to come across as sincere.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
February 6, 2008 at 6:54 am
I
've seen DBAs making $40k and DBAs making $110K.
It is funny you mentioned that some DBAs making $40K. I live in Upstate NY.
I had one job that it offered $45000 for a DBA/Developer position. It is a non-profit organization so they do not have money to pay more. The benefit is working 35/week and the director told me not to work overtime, project could wait. It is an easy job. It is an organization that helps broken family so the CEO does not want the employees work a lot of hours and ignore the family. It is fine, I consider if I work there, it is liked paying back to the society. However what worries me is the technology, it is far behind. So I did not take the job.
Then there were two contracting positions - one offered $25/hour, the other one offered $35 per hour. I was surprised they offered so little. Ten years ago I paid $16 to hire a college intern to do summer job.
Is just here the salary going downhill or it happens in other part of the country too?
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