Occasionally as I am coaching someone through a job offer pay negotiation, I find that the internal HR person is not willing to negotiate.

They may be from Talent Acquisition or Compensation, but their attitude is the same. They have a number in mind for the “right” base salary and they are not going to give any more.

Every time I go to a conference, I wear layers because the rooms are either too cold or too hot. I’m sure I am not the only one mentioning this on the feedback form that the organizer receives after the conference.

It is one of the reasons why I like working from home. I can make my office as warm or cool as I want without impacting anyone else except my dog. And Cody’s good at getting up and leaving the room if he’s not comfortable.

You are here to live.

Not to earn. Not to stress.

You are here to connect.

Job architecture projects are challenging and complex for any organization. They have the potential to improve employee attraction, engagement, and retention.

Employees don’t just want to be paid what they are worth. They also want a clear understanding of how they can grow and develop their career.

Pitfall #1 is governance.

A pay equity audit involves analyzing compensation data to identify and address any disparities in pay based on factors such as gender, race, or age.

It is essential to have a backbone and a budget before beginning the audit.

Having a backbone means having the courage to stand up for what is right, even in the face of resistance.

I don’t think “paying for performance” is the most effective way to motivate employees.

I do think it helps employers allocate merit budgets. In sales compensation plans it may drive performance to some degree. And annual bonus plans, well – those are usually so complex, and the payment is so much later than the behavior it rewards I don’t know that they are highly effective either.

When you want to motivate performance go beyond pay and look at internal motivators.

Employees have strong feelings about their pay.

Each of us wants to feel valued and appreciated. We want to be compensated fairly for our time, effort, skills, and results.

We compare ourselves to our peers and that impacts how we feel about our pay.  

Pay compression is when there is little difference in pay between employees regardless of differences in their education, training, knowledge, experience, performance, skills, or abilities.

There are two types of pay compression. The first is when a new hire is paid closely to a tenured employee. And the second is when there is a small difference between a manager and a direct report.

What causes pay compression?

It is easy to focus on what is missing and more difficult to focus on what you have.

It is easier to focus on what you can’t control instead of what you can.

Are you focused on the past that you can’t change? Or are you focused on the present? Maybe you are hyper focused on the future.

Exceptions to the normal pay decision making process are a slippery slope.

Scenario #1: You are changing your bonus plan and one aspect of that change is a decrease in bonus targets for some job levels. The CEO wants a few employees grandfathered (with no end date to the grandfathering) so they can keep the higher bonus targets. The employees on this list are all white men.

My pay increases as an employee when I stayed with my employer were:

• 3% most years because that was the merit increase budget.

• ~3.5% - 4% other years when my performance was high AND we had someone else on the team who wasn’t performing. “You have to rob Peter to pay Paul.”

But when I changed jobs and got a new employer, my starting salary was:

When you prepare to talk to an employee on your team about their pay, be sure to have all the facts gathered.

This means you know what you are paying them and why. Often the “why” is tied to performance.

Anticipate the employee’s questions and prepare so you can confidently answer.

Make sure you schedule the meeting at a time when neither of you will be tired, angry, frustrated, or hungry.

Growing up on a farm, I saw my father fix a lot of equipment. It seemed like he was under a combine,  tractor, cultivator, truck, bailer, or drill at least once a day.

Today, I recognize that he prioritized maintenance.

Earlier this week I posted about fixing your data. Job data and employee data. Maintaining files, systems, and data are an aspect of many white-collar jobs.

We are seeing a lot of layoffs these days. The top external worry of CEOs is a recession/ downturn and that is influencing the decision to lay off team members.

Inflation is keeping us up at night. Interest rates rising, little to no economic growth, difficulty retaining and acquiring customers, and profitability are also on the list.

By data I mean job data and employee data.
 
I am so tired of recommending to employer clients that they fix their "system of record." Think Workday, Paycom, Paycor, ADP, SAP, etc.
 
I have current and past clients who share an Excel file with me and then they manually say that we must edit the grade, job family, job title, and/or target incentives before we can start the analysis.

If the process to decide how much to pay someone...base pay or incentives is complex and difficult to explain, simplify.

Pay transparency laws are going to continue to be passed.

Your employees are going to ask you more questions. And you're gonna be on the struggle bus if you can't explain things quickly.

Spend the time developing training materials and train your managers on how to talk about pay with their employees.

• 57.8% of organizations do not train managers on pay communications.

• Manager training becomes more likely the larger the organization grows.

• Just over 50% of large organizations (5,000+ employees) train their managers.

Each of us has opinions about how much someone should be paid for performing a job.

I just read an article about the jobs that people think are overpaid. Here are the top 5 jobs:

1. Influencers
2. Politicians

It starts with confidence. Confidence is that feeling of being able to rely on yourself. You’re sure of yourself and your abilities.

Next is commitment. Confidence leads to commitment. Not the up and down commitment but the kind that is unwavering. Commitment means you do what it takes no matter what. It is that dedication to get from Point A to Point B, so you build the necessary habits and never give up.

Habits are routines practiced regularly. 40% of your actions are not conscious decisions but habits.

A 3-step loop is the process of a habit.

1. Cue is any trigger that tells your brain when and which habit to use. (The traffic light turns green.)

2. Routine is an activity, emotion or behavior. (You drive through the intersection.)