@Work Reader feedback ahoy, following the October 19 response from a reader trying to find out if shes making less than the guys: You suggest an employer who doesnt want employees to divulge what they earn should drop the secrecy and pay people what theyre worth. Your implication is that the woman employee who wrote you is worth exactly as much as her male colleagues. But is that invariably the case? Im not talking about gender differences (on which Im on your side), but possible differences between ANY two or more employees based on their general abilities and specific skills (which may vary considerably even among employees in the same position/rank), length of time on the job and/or in that specific position, and other factors. Depending on how a company or organization and its wage scales are structured, there may be considerable variation among employees who are all classified the same way. If one is significantly superior to another or to others, should that employees pay not reflect the distinction? Here are some questions a manager or HR has to consider that have nothing to do with gender but MIGHT (not will, just might) affect an employees salary: -Has one employee been with the company or in his/her position longer than the others? (For example, in government, annual step increases can account for several thousand dollars’ difference in wages for people doing the same job.) -Does one employee out of a group get the most challenging assignments because he/she is better able to deal with them? -Has one employee taken on extra duties? -And isnt it likely that an employer or HR manager might not want to get into discussions of these details (except perhaps seniority) with every employee who might feel cheated, and opt for a silence policy just to minimize the risk of these questions becoming fodder for lunchroom debates or EEO suits? Im retired now, but Ive been on both ends of the he/she makes more than I do: its not fair! debate, and Ive also been a supervisor who had to figure out who should earn how much for extra work, better work product, taking on additional responsibilities, or other such factors. I know its a whole lot easier to talk about paying people what theyre worth than it is to figure out what individual human beings, who are, after all, infinitely different in abilities and circumstances, actually ARE worth.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 03:00:02 +0000