I’ve worked with many employers who want to make exceptions to their normal pay decision making process for unique employees or candidates. Here are some examples:

(1) Sam has significantly more experience than the job requires, and they are viewed as a future successor for their VP’s role. The requested exception is to pay above the maximum of the base salary range.

(2) Pat has little experience related to the job that is open, but their father is on the board. The requested exception is to interview them and seriously consider them for the job even though there are more qualified candidates.

(3) Bob asked to be considered for a promotion to the next higher level engineer job, but Sarah has more job-related experience and education along with a history of higher performance ratings. She’s never asked to be promoted and is very quiet in meetings. The requested exception is to have Bob be promoted instead of Sarah.

I could go on and on.

With the pay equity and pay transparency laws that are in place, these types of exceptions should not be supported. And even before these laws were in place, these exceptions shouldn’t have been supported.

But when you work in HR and are expected to say “yes” to crazy it can be difficult to influence the senior executives who want what they want. And in the back of your mind, you think about how your push back on crazy can get you fired or laid off.

“Career suicide” is another phrase I’ve heard from peers who are in a no-win situation like this.

What’s the solution? Just say “no.” Always have your resume and LinkedIn profile updated. Make networking a priority.

Integrity vs. Crazy - Which do you choose?

#exceptions #pay #compensation #rewards #hr #leadership #integrity