I help leaders motivate top performance by leveraging human desire. | Speaker | Workshop Leader | Coach
"Your salary increase will be 2%," I told her. It was one of my worst moments as a people leader. She was my star performer, my right hand person. 1000% business critical to our team. Yet 2% was the best our company would give her. It was far beneath her value, and we both knew it, and I couldn't do better for her. She was confused, angry, sad, disappointed, and visibly trapped by not knowing how to best respond in the moment. After some silence, she eventually asked, "What do you think I should do differently?" "I think you should look for a new job," I replied. "Because you gave us an incredible year and we gave you 2% for it. And you just can't build a life on that." Two months later she landed a job somewhere else for 29% more than we were paying her. It took me 5 months to find a replacement who would accept the salary my employer was willing to offer. This experience always comes to mind when I encounter leaders perplexed/whining/angry about how often they lose employees. In my opinion, you forfeit your right to be upset when someone leaves If you weren't willing to give them good enough reasons to stay. #management #sales #leadership #motivation #humanresources #bestadvice
I am in complete agreement and hats off to you Phil Putnam for being honest with that employee by telling her to get another job. I worked for a QSR franchisee for 16 years and this happened year over year. Not allowed to reward top performers because only a certain percentage was allotted for raises. They would also try to justify poor raises by grouping the management team together and giving raises based on the overall performance of the restaurant to managers of different departments when they thought they'd be getting an Individual Performance Review. Regardless I begged for years to at least review performance at least twice a year to give an idea of how to improve performance before the end of the year. The franchise I was loyal to for 16 years subsequently fired me for "complaining" I didn't make enough money and needed to get another job. The actual reason was to save them money considering I had 13+ years tenure over everyone at my position in the entire franchise. I ended up switching industries entirely and with my experience obtained an entry-level role making more money than I made with cumulative raises over that 16 year period. Assign your value and seek it. You're worth more.
Far too often management only acknowledges exceptional employees when they’ve given notice. “What will it take to make you stay?” If it’s gotten to this point, there’s nothing they can do. Leadership has an opportunity to show gratitude every day.
When I worked for the auto sector they went a decade with various excuses why they could not give people raises, even during bumper years. If your star performer gets the same raise as the people just showing up or worse the same as the troublemakers they will leave. When I asked my boss in 2000 what incentive there was in trying to do great things for the company when the achievers were getting the same increase as the people who did far less they could not answer me. Right after that many of the other people in the company began to do the bare minimum. They did not do extra duties or extra curriculars. They did not put in extra time. The next year half the department left. Suddenly the company found money to give a reasonable raise. After that started happening the BULK of the employees began to stay 10 years or more. Loyalty is a 2 way street. As an employee I should try to do the best for my company. As an employer I should try to do the best for my workers. I've been on both sides of the interviewing table and believe this firmly.
It’s not only about the money ( which no one denies it’s nice) In my opinion it’s also about the recognition, advancement and the treatment. If a high performing employee asks to explore other roles…. And it’s denied that possibility without a good reason… this is as bad as a poor raise. If an employee is denied a promotion and a good explanation as of why cannot happen… or a path not to miss the promotion next time… It’s worse than missing a raise. Some companies treat employees as disposable items. And in some cases, it’s not even the company but one specific team…..
I once asked for an increase, I was working hard, doing well, working at 1am even when I never had to, and working on weekends just because I wanted to. The CEO emailed me and started making up complaints about me, that he had never said before. He needed a reason to not give me an increase and so he found reasons, that were not even valid. I learnt a lesson, don't work after 5pm unless you need to. You won't get an increase for it. Shortly after, I left.
After working with a handful of associates as part of my micro business, when I eventually found someone who had a great approach I asked them what their new rate should be. As a growing brand it’s an ongoing conversation. Meeting where they are in terms of how they value their time (and factoring in inflation etc) means greater retention but all of the other aspects - values, transparency, collegiate, a whole person cognisant of a financial context that (in the UK at least) is challenging. I hope the UK follows EUs approach re asking for past salaries also. It’s not a benchmark for someone’s ability and it reinforces / continues pay inequality / under promotion.
What was your raise %?
So, I guess, the moral of the story is that one should lie to his employees if he doesn't want to lose them?
dang, Phil. i love that 1) you stuck to your principles as a leader, and 2) those continue to drive your mission of employee advocacy today. not just being an advocate for employees, but helping them for THEIR voice so they can do things like this woman did. she went where she was valued. all of us should feel empowered to do the same, but we let companies intimidate us into think we can't.
I help leaders motivate top performance by leveraging human desire. | Speaker | Workshop Leader | Coach
4moAlso, https://www.philputnam.com/motivation - it's a free download of the tool I created and used with my teams, and with this team member several times before this conversation. It's how I knew what to anticipate from the conversation with her, and how I had confidence that her moving on would be best for her and for the company. Feel free to download it. And if you have questions about how to use it, drop me a DM. I'd love to talk with you about it.