What are you paying for?

 

There is a question both company and employee need to start asking before hiring and or accepting a job. The answer to the question, What are you paying me/them for, will help both company and employee find the right fit. Have you ever been told that you didn’t work a full 8 hours yesterday? Was it followed by “you didn’t get your job done”? More times than not — I am willing to bet it was one or the other — especially in office situations. Have you ever had or seen an employee not get their job done because their shift ended and therefore they didn’t complete something? Did it cause problems? I have a point here…

Situation # 1: Have you ever been told that you didn’t work a full 8 hours yesterday? Was it followed by “you didn’t get your job done”?
If you or your employee didn’t work a full 8 hours, BUT the job was done, and there is complaining anyway — you are doing it wrong! Don’t hire employees to do a job and then complain that they didn’t take a full 8 hours to do the job. You are asking them to work in a less efficient manner. How do you set goals that way? Are you paying for the job to get done, or hours of their time? They are not the same. There is a difference!

Situation #2: Have you ever had or seen an employee not get their job done because their shift ended and therefore they didn’t complete something? Did it cause problems?
If you pay an employee by the hour, and not to get the job done before he or she leaves, then you risk the job not getting done. Employees are more likely to waste time during their working hours by not working if they are only paid, complimented and appreciated by the hour. “I stayed in your building for 8 hours. I spent 8 hours not doing what I would have been doing if I wasn’t here.” This is the mindset of many hourly employees. Now — A receptionist makes sense as an hourly employee because you need someone to answer the phones for the set hours needed. Customer facing positions, like the post office front desk, need hourly employees to greet and service the customers. BUT — if you paid the mailman by the hour, and not the route, and the route doesn’t get done in that time — Oh well! People will get their mail tomorrow! Would that work? No. So then they should not be paid hourly. I am not saying they are — I am just making a point.

So, whether you are a hiring company or job seeking employee, you need to answer the question before you offer or take an opportunity. You need that answer to know if you are being paid or paying fairly. Otherwise you have unrest and job dissatisfaction. The “this isn’t fair” attitude kills progress in the workplace every day on both sides of the ball. Fix it by answering the right questions first and then pay or be paid according to the right answer.