Paychecks: an Exchange of Value for Value

Having managed and supervised people for many years now, it is evident to me that the concept of "value for value" is not clearly understood by many workers within the context of the workplace.

Let me explain...

Most people make value judgments when they spend their own money to buy products or services. For example, when you get the oil changed in your vehicle, it costs you about $35. That seems like a fair price to you because you understand the cost of an oil filter, five quarts of oil and skilled labor. Additionally, maybe you've changed your own oil before and are more than willing to spend your $35 to have someone else do the dirty work. You understand the exchange of value for value: $35 for an oil change.

Now let's say that you drop your iPad and need to have the screen replaced, so you take it into the local PC repair store. You learn that the cost to repair your iPad is $150. You're probably not going to rant and rave at the computer guy because you only want to pay him $35...what you paid for your oil change. Why? Because if you've done your research, you understand the computer guy's skill and the time required to repair your iPad is greater than that of the oil change technician.

Now to the workplace...consider a computer help desk worker who is hired at the average salary of $37,000 to answer, route and document telephone calls for 8 hours each business day. At some point, the computer industry (or marketplace) has determined that this work is valued at $37,000 per year. Compare that with the average programmer's salary of $60,000. Again, the computer industry has determined that the skill required to program computer software is of greater value than that of answering a help desk telephone.

So why is it that some computer help desk workers believe that if they keep their help desk job long enough, they too can make $60,000 for performing the same work...answering telephones? Or maybe an easier example...why is it that people making burgers at the local fast food establishment believe they should make a higher minimum wage for performing the same work?

If you desire a higher salary, learn a skill that will enable you to produce a work product that is more valuable in the marketplace.

Ways of Thinking Employees Should Avoid...

• Many employees believe that their presence in the office warrants a pay check, whether or not they produce 8 hours of value for 8 hours of pay. This is evidenced by observing workers who often spend quite a bit of time socializing around the office rather than producing 8 hours of value. Strive to give your employer 8 hours of value for 8 hours of pay.
• Many employees believe they should receive greater compensation (a raise / bonus) because they have been employed longer than someone else, regardless of whether their work is producing greater value than when they were originally hired. Strive to give your employer greater value prior to asking for additional compensation.
• Many employees have a very high opinion of their own work product. Be willing to research the best methods for producing your work (outside of your own organization) and incorporate those methods into your work product.

In conclusion, understand that your employer is giving you a pay check in exchange for the value of work you are producing. The amount of pay exchanged for work is often dependent upon the skill level required, timeliness and quality of the work your employer expects from you.

Five Simple Recruitment, Hiring and Retention Recommendations

1. Employees in a Manager role should primarily be concerned with strategy and return on investment, Supervisors should primarily be concerned with the quality of the workers’ product and Workers should primarily be concerned with producing work.
2. Attempt to keep a 1:8 staffing ratio (manager:supervisor; supervisor:worker). Too few or too many direct reports will create inefficiencies.
3. Don’t limit your candidate pool by requiring specific knowledge of your company, processes or in-house computer software on the job announcement. Rather, focus on industry skill sets required to perform the work.
4. Job descriptions should be written for roles rather than individuals. Focus on what activities and skills the role will perform 80% of the time.
5. Focus on measuring employee performance based on the desired outcome (refer to item 1) rather than on process. A few, well designed outcome based measurements will outperform a host of process based measurements.

Obamacare and the Bible

Many good meaning people are adamantly in favor of government run healthcare. In fact, social media is chocked full of quotes and thoughts from people who obviously have a heart for the poor, the hurting, the sick and the needy. Many of these posts either quote the Bible or unknowingly promote biblical concepts like...

• Psalm 82:4 - "Deliver the poor and needy..."
• James 1:27 - "...visit the fatherless and widows..."
• Matthew 10:8 - "Heal the sick..."
• Psalm 102:20 - "...hear the groaning of the prisoner..." 

However, the Bible does not direct these instructions at the government; they are directed toward individuals. It is the responsibility of individuals to provide these services directly to their family members and neighbors.

One may argue that government is a collection of individuals who can be employed, through taxation, to carry out these activities. There are several challenges with this approach:

• As the taxes are taken from the people, they are not as financially equipped to assist the needy.
• The taxpayer expects the government to provide the services and may become complacent about assisting the needy directly.
• The taxpayer is robbed of the joy and personal satisfaction that comes with providing the services directly to the needy.
• The recipient may fail to understand the source of the assistance (the taxpayer) and lack a sincere gratitude toward their neighbor.

It is popular in our day to quickly point to the modern interpretation of the "separation of church and state" (a view which was not held by the framers of the United States Constitution, but I digress). However, it is a paradox to require the government to provide services to the needy (a "religious" concept instituted by a compassionate God) and maintain that the government should separate themselves from religious ideology.

One may argue that there are good people that are self-motivated to assist the needy without any religious promptings. According to the Bible, they are simply responding to God's law which is embedded in their own conscience...

• Romans 2:14-15 - "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)"

You may ask, what is government supposed to do then? Consider this...

• Romans 13:3-4 - "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

In conclusion, it is the responsibility of individuals to provide assistance directly to the needy. It is the role of government to execute revenge on those that do evil.

Building a Wooden Gate

I recently needed to build a wooden gate. After reading many websites and watching scores of videos, I realized that many people use the technique of building the gate on a flat surface (i.e. concrete floor) and then lifting it into place.

However, I found the method described in this video yielded a precision, built-to-fit result with the least amount of effort.

Excel Pivot Tables

Years ago, a friend introduced me to Microsoft Excel pivot tables. This is one of the most powerful and easy-to-use features of Excel, yet the vast majority of employees that work with spreadsheets know nothing about it. I am convinced that training employees to make use of this one feature could revolutionize the way that an organization looks at data.

Some of the immediate benefits include:

• Quickly analyze spreadsheets and provide summarized, meaningful reports and graphs
• Quickly identify data trends
• Quickly identify data issues

Microsoft has a no cost, online course from which anyone can benefit:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/pivottable-i-what-s-so-great-about-pivottable-reports-RZ001013617.aspx