What makes for a good work environment.
There are a whole series of factors. The physical working environment, leadership behaviour, open communication, team work, recognition, reward, continuous professional development & education and more.
But be very clear:
It is about the money too!
If a potential candidate states it’s not about the money, then pay 50% of the market and see how long you’ll retain that team member.
People need to be passionate about what they do. They need to enjoy going to work. Paying market or above is about feeling valued……being respected and recognised for their contribution to a business.
I’m not talking about a green fields business paying below market because of cash flow restraints but upside on achievement of outcomes or sweat equity where someone backs themselves to receive upside in a venture — this is different.
I’m talking about engaging an employee with the skill that matches your expectations and achieves outcomes. Someone that has the right Attitude,Attributes and Ability to learn.
Working for love not money?
Unless it’s not-for-profit and their mission in life is to help others, they are working for a commercial, profit generating business. You must be the messiah if they are going to work for less or nothing.
We all want to feel valued and be rewarded in different ways.
Paying someone below market when you own or represent a profitable business and expect them to feel valued? nope, nada, niente, nothing, forget it, you’re wasting your time.
And is that what you want to do, run a sweat shop? Exploit your workers for greater good of shareholders or self?
As an employee, where do you get your information?
There are many places you can get information about what the market pays for a role – recruitment firms publish reports based on their engagement with clients, salary surveys and research, colleagues, job advertisements.
But not all provide a true representation of the market. Which are most accurate and reflect the real income?
This is the difficulty as an employee. As an example, don’t always make an assumption based on job boards.
An approach by some firms is to post ads with inflated salaries or the inclusion of non guaranteed bonuses in the advertised package to attract candidates (In no way do we advocate this approach). Subsequent discussions then deliver messages that are different: your skills don’t match but there is another role that…… or the role has been filled but let’s chat about other opportunities. The purpose is to attract candidates.
Broad salary surveys are useful but can sometimes provide insufficient information to help you genuinely determine what your true value is.
The message is that one source alone may not provide you with sufficient information to determine your value. Investigate and do your research. Don’t make knee jerk decisions about your existing employer on limited information. And remember…..money alone should not be the only reason why you work within a business. What are the other factors that make your employer a great place to work.
Ask the question: Am I adding Value and Do I feel Valued?
Every employer and role is different.
A Client Service Manager in one business may be responsible for managing staff and in another managing the process of implementation of advice only. Titles alone are a poor indicator of responsibility and income.
A high base salary for a financial planning role may reflect responsibility for servicing an existing client base with no support for SOA construction and implementation of advice and limited bonuses.
Compared this to a role offering a lesser salary with full support including paraplanning, administration and genuine Centre of Influence relationships for referral therefore allowing you to spend more client facing time and upside on income.
In Summary
So your research, ask the right questions and take the time if searching for the right role
You owe it you yourself and the business you work for
As an employer, the salary level and incentives will deliver a message. What is the message you want to deliver to your staff?
