5 Things That Demonstrate You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Tim Sackett

I was reading an article recently, it was one of those “Best Places To Work” type of articles. Since I run a company, I’m always looking out for good ideas on how to take care of your employees without spending a dime – unfortunately – “Best Places” companies that make these lists usually don’t give you these type 0f ideas! What you get from “Best Places” articles are all the over the top crap – gourmet cat food for your in cube pet-mate, free liposuction for your spouse and discounted tattoo eyeliner coupons. I would love for my company to be on the top of every single “Best Places” to work article – but we probably won’t. I care too much about my employees to make that happen.

What?!?

Yes, you read that right – My greatest weakness is I care too much!

It costs an organization a ton of money to make a “Best Places” list – not in actually applying to make the list (oh yeah, they are chosen randomly – you have to apply – the Top 100 Greatest Places to Work isn’t really the Top 100 Greatest Places to Work – it was the Top of the companies that applied for the award Greatest Places to Work), but in doing all the silly crap they do, so they sound like a great place to work. Many of the best places to work, will never be on a list, because they are spending their time, money and effort – on their employees!

Here are some things that “Best Places to Work” companies and You Not Getting Paid Enough have in common”

1. If you’re company has unlimited gourmet free breakfast, lunch and dinner provided – you’re not getting paid enough. Cut that crap out and pay me $10K more per year – I’ll bring in my own Greek Yogurt and granola.

2. If your company pays to have your laundry done and your house clean – you’re not getting paid enough.

3. If your company is taking you on luxury vacations and dinners that cost more than your monthly home mortgage – you’re not getting paid enough.

4. If your company spend more on marketing themselves as a great place to work, than on your employee development – you’re not getting paid enough.

5. If your CEO flies to work on a daily or weekly basis – you’re not getting paid enough.

So, how do I show my employees that I care and that we have a great place to work? I don’t waste money on things that ultimately become a negative when I need to take them away because we aren’t making the money for our shareholders. All great places to work, eventually become average or crappy places to work – because sustaining luxury programs that you put in place when your doing well – become negatives to engagement when you tighten your boot straps.

Pay your people fairly. Meet their needs as adults. Treat them professionally and with respect. That’s a great place to work.

It’s Back! FOT’s Top 25 HR/Recruiting Blogs!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Tim Sackett

Fistful of Talent – which I’m proud to be a member of – is releasing it’s Top 25 HR and Recruiting Blogs. What’s really cool about this list – unlike some other lists I have poetically mentioned in prior posts – is this isn’t made up by some random analysis, of random metrics – this thing is totally un-apologetically 100% subjective! That’s right, we (the FOT Tribe) sent in our own Top 25 HR and Recruiting Blogs that we love to read -the blogs we are fans of – and we ranked them 1 to 25. Simple – yet very effective!

I’m not saying that it’s easy to pick the Top 25 – for starters no FOTer blog can be a part of our list – which right there eliminates probably the 10 greatest blogs on the planet! So, I might have to recommend to Kris that next year we call the list – The Top 11-35 HR and Recruiting Blogs! That being said we looked at hundreds of blogs – many of us have our personal favorites – many of us really like and read blogs that our out of the HR world – as our personal favorites. What I can tell you – is the Top 25 – are solid! If you are looking for a list of HR and Recruiting blogs to follow – you won’t go wrong with any of these!

FOT’s own Steve Boese will be doing his thing tonight at the HR Happy Hour – unveiling the winners and talking HR with some of the top HR bloggers in the business – go check him out –

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/steve-boese/2012/03/23/hr-happy-hour-141–the-hr-blog-power-rankings

HR Happy Hour Episode 141 – ‘The HR Blog Power Rankings’

The First Lie You Hear in HR

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Tim Sackett

Many of you are now aware that Peyton Manning, All Pro NFL Quarterback, was released by the Indianapolis Colts (I wrote about here). Long story short – he was injured, he’s the back side of his career, he was due a boatload of money – Indianapolis made a business decision to let him go. There was this really heartfelt press conference with the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, and Peyton the day he was released where they both cried and talked about how much they loved and respected each other. But within all that – there was one Giant lie – one we hear all the time in HR.

Jim Irsay stood at the podium and said – This is not about money.

Boom! Liar!

It’s always about money – and this was about money. If Irsay would have kept Peyton on 1 more day – it would have cost his organization $28M. It was about and is about money – you don’t know if he’s going to perform at the level he has over the past 14 years, and you aren’t willing to risk $28M on that decision to keep him.

I can’t tell you how many times in HR I’ve hear this statement from employees who are leaving for another company – and 99.9% of the time they are flat out lying to your face! “Tim, I’m putting in my two weeks notice” “What can we do to keep you?” “Nothing – it’s not about the money – I’m looking for that next phase in my career” “So, you won’t stay if we pay you $100K more!” “Well, wait a minute – you would pay me $100K more?!” “No! I just wanted to show you it is about money – now go – I don’t like to work with Liars!”

That’s exactly how you do it – HR Newbies! When someone tells you it’s not about money – start negotiating and find that price – you’ll get to it pretty quickly. “But Tim, it isn’t about money – I want to spend more time with my kids – I need balance.” “I’ll give you a 50% increase” “You know my kids will sure like going to private schools, much more than public schools.” Everyone has a price – just some prices are more expensive than others – but never let anyone tell you – It’s not about the money – it is.

If Peyton would have went to Irsay and said – “Look Jimmy (I assume he calls him Jimmy) I want to do right by the Colts – I’ll accept the league minimum to stay hear” “Peyton, you got yourself a deal!” would have been the entire conversation. But Peyton is smart – he knows his value – as does Jimmy – so they cut him loose. We do this all the time with our employees. Mary from IT just came in and said she got a new job paying her 20% more – and we calculate how much that will cost to raise up Mary, and everyone else in her same position. We then look at Mary, shake her hand and tell her good luck. It’s about the money.

What would it take to get you to work 80 hours per week?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Tim Sackett

I’ve interviewed a ton of people in my career. When I ask people what their normal work week looks like – I “often” hear – “Oh, I work 70-80 hrs per week, all the time!” I instantly know they are lying – because no one works 80 hours per week all the time! Do you really know what 80 hours per week looks like? Here’s some examples”

16 hours per day – Monday thru Friday – that’s coming in at 6am and not leaving until 10pm – EVERY day.

12 hours per day Monday thru Saturday with an EASY 8 on Sunday.

Oh, and by the way, the two above examples must be with paid lunches and breaks.

Liars.

The only way you work 80 hours per week is if you own the place. How much would I have to pay you to work 80 hours per week? Would you do it for $10,000 per week? $520K per year? No you wouldn’t – you would quit after a month or two – now you’re lying to yourself. Heck – most owners aren’t even willing to work 80 hours per week. That’s why so many small businesses fail – people underestimate how much it takes to make a business successful!

“Oh, I would work 80 hours per week if I LOVED what I did.” Really? You think you would still LOVE it after working 80 hours per week, week after week, month after month, year after year? I think it’s incredibly awesome when I meet someone who I truly see Loves their job – you know the type – even if they weren’t getting paid, they would be doing what they’re doing. Unfortunately 99.9% of us aren’t in a position where we can “work” for free – no matter how much we Love it. We have bills, responsibilities – we don’t have daddy or a spouse paying our way – we have real life.

80 hours per week – now you’re thinking about it, right? It’s a lot of time to put forth for one part of your life. How do you get your grocery shopping done? Watch your kids play at school? Get the cat to the vet? Get your haircut? Get your teeth cleaned? See your therapist?!

As HR Pros we put so much time, effort and thought into building our rewards and recognition systems. Many of us think we do this so we can get our employees to give us that extra discretionary effort – to work those hours over 40. To get our employees to want to work 80 hours per week. Unfortunately, most of us have rewards and recognition to just get our people to do the job they were hired for – not extra. When this happens – you no longer have a rewards and recognition system – this now becomes part of their full compensation package. Rewards and Recognition shouldn’t be put in place “to get the job done” – it should be put in place to reward and recognize those who do more.

I know what you’re thinking – “Tim if I could just have a rewards and recognition system that would get my employees to actually work 40 hours, I’d be happy! 80! You’re out of your mind!” Believe me, I understand, but that’s what we do, or should be doing for our organizations. Get great talent, keep great talent, find ways to get that great talent to give us everything they’ve got =’s great HR Pro.

So, what would it take to get you to work 80 hours per week?

Bad is Stronger than Good

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Tim Sackett

I spoke at the inaugural TLNT Transform event last week in Austin – my topic was – What Your CEO Wished HR Would Do. One thing that came up during my presentation was a conversation around “Must Do Moves”. Must do moves are those things in your organization that you grab a hold of, as an HR Pro, and make sure they happen. I asked the group a question:

Do you have anyone in your organization that you need to get rid of?

100% – all hands raised – Yes! If you work in an organization that has a decent size – let’s say 100+, you almost always have a least one or two folks you would be better without. (for the record – my staff is less than 100, and I don’t have anyone I need to get rid of – they all rock! Don’t hate, I just follow my own advice!) As HR Pros we hear about this in meetings with your executives and hiring managers – “Oh, if we could only replace John, we would be so much better!” My point to the HR Pros in the audience is this is a value item that we can own in our organizations. Must do moves – especially those that make our organizations stronger, need champions. When it comes to staff moves – we are that champion.

What we realize, but many of our hiring managers fail to realize, is that Bad is Stronger than Good, when it comes to employees. We hear all the time “Addition through Subtraction”, and yet we struggle in our organizations to make this happen. Most likely this happens in your organization because you are trying to make your hiring managers, manage, and have them make this decision. When in reality they have made the decision – they told you. They hate conflict, even more than you do, and this was their cry for help. Take it – run with it – make it happen. It’s the one thing in HR we are all good at – process and planning. Put a plan together to get rid of your Bad and make it happen.

I didn’t just say – go fire. That’s not a plan. Well, it is a plan, but not a very good one. I said make a plan to get rid of the bad. That means working with the hiring manager to determine timing, back-fill options, sourcing, recruiting, progressive discipline – all that good stuff – but make it happen. Really – make it happen. Executives like doers! They like doers that get rid of Bad in our organizations. We own the Bad people in our organizations. Any time you have a Bad person in your organization – you need to take on the persona – this Bad person is my fault, and I’m taking care of it. Bad is Stronger than Good – you have to fight hard against Bad.

Want to look and be better in HR – own Must Do Moves in your organization.

Want me to come and tell you what other things your CEO wants HR to do? Contact me – I’m cheap – not free – but cheap.

The 8 Man Rotation – 2011 Season

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tim Sackett

In what is probably the most anticipated eBook release of 2012 the The 8 Man Rotation crew (Matt Stollack, Steve Boese, Lance Haun, Kris Dunn and I) today release to the world version two of our most famous HR/Sports related blog posts of 2011: The 8 Man Rotation – the 2011 Season. The forward is written by two of our HR friends and great writers in their own right – Trish McFarlane and William Tincup – who get to poke fun at our obsession with the weird combination of sports and HR that we just won’t give up writing about. Check it out –

The 8 Man Rotation – The 2011 Season

View more documents from steveboese

7 Secrets that only HR Pros know

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Tim Sackett

I was reading an article the other evening over at Huffington Post, Welcome to the Club: What only Moms know (Why was I reading this I hear some of my dude HR guy pros asking themselves? Let’s face it I’m 40ish and woman are still mostly a mystery to me, so I try and find out their secrets! Plus I hate being left in the dark on this parenting thing, so “I need the info” as Dr. Evil would say.) I don’t want to spoil the article, but suffice to say, either I’m very in touch with the feminine side of parenting, or what they were sharing really wasn’t the “real” secrets Moms know!

The article did get me to thinking about secrets and how in HR we seem to always have a few that we are either ask to keep by others, or just the ones we share in this great fraternity of HR. Here are some of the HR secrets that I thought of:

1. Who in the organization is on the way out. (Sometimes many people know of individuals who are on the way out, but usually HR has a good pulse on everyone)

2. Who in the organization is probably on the way up, and not because they deserve it. (Every leader has an attraction to an employee or two, for a number of reasons, and those folks usually find their way into roles that they don’t deserve.)

3. How much money you’ll get on your next raise. (Oh, yes we do. But keep working hard anyway, we don’t want it to seem like it’s predetermined)

4. The information of why certain departments tend to get more (resources, staff, etc.) than others – but we can’t you – it would cause organizational chaos! (I hate to tell you this, but it usually has nothing to do with department performance and everything to do with you department leader – or should I say lack there of)

5. What you’re going to get for your annual bonus – usually 6-12 months before you get it. (hey, this stuff has to be budgeted)

6. What changes will happen to your benefits – again – usually 4-8 months before it hits you.

7. Who in your company is most likely to go postal on you. (But we can’t tell you for HIPAA reasons – sorry – but if you sit next to Ted you might want to invest in a bullet proof vest)

I’m sure there are a number of others, but many aren’t unique to just HR. I was thinking of putting down: We cook the books on our metrics, but guess what? So does every other department! Let’s face it, in a political corporate structure that relies on metrics to obtain budgeted resources – the numbers aren’t always going to be clean! I like HR because we tend to have “big” secrets and are called upon to keep those secrets. It’s probably the biggest failure I see with new HR pros – they tend to try and create organizational friendships by sharing “the secrets” -and it always ends up blowing up on them.

HR has secrets – you knew it, I confirmed it for you. Now let’s move on – because I not telling you the specifics! (besides the Ted thing)

Burning Down Your HR Department

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Tim Sackett

A couple of years ago my parents house burned down. They were away on vacation and lighting struck the roof. Before the fire department could get there and put it out, most of the house was destroyed. 60+ years of memories and possessions, gone. In hindsight, it was a bit of a blessing, there house was at the age where everything was starting to need replacing, and my father was at the age, where he wanted to retire. Those two things don’t go well together! Major home improvements equals major expense, and a fixed income. So, long-story-short, mother nature, and the insurance company, gave my folks a new house for a retirement gift! All is well that ends well, I guess.

This situation, though, led to some deep emotional conversations about what the wish they could have pulled out, if they new this was going to happen. As you can imagine it was all the stuff you and I would want – our photos, our mementos, some favorite things that remind us of loved ones, or things that we were proud of. I thought about his recently when having a conversation with a friend who just started a new position as the head of a large HR shop. His comment to me was:

“What I really need to do is burn this place down and start over!”

To which I replied, “well, isn’t there anything you would keep?” Bam! That is what he needed – he did need to burn it down, but there were definitely some things he needed to take out before lighting the match.

It’s a common practice that Leaders tend to do when taking on a new position – we tend to burn down our departments. Oh, we say we won’t, as we go around throwing gasoline on everything, and we say we aren’t rebuilding as strap our tool belt on and start hammering away, but the truth is, most leaders want to remake their new departments into what they want, not what it was.

So, I’ll ask you to take a few moments today and think about the concept of burning down your HR department. What would you pull out and save? What would you happily allow to burn up? What would you miss?

Everyday we owe it to our organizations to get better. You don’t have to burn down the department to get better – but you do need to get rid of those things you know you would easily allow to burn up!

Signs You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Tim Sackett

Did anyone see the news last week that GM CEO, Dan Akerson, was paid $2.53M dollars in salary, stock awards, perks, etc.? From the Detroit Free Press:

General Motors paid Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson $2.53 million in salary, stock awards and corporate perks in 2010, according to a filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission…

Akerson was named CEO of GM on Sept. 1, 2010, and was elected chairman on Jan. 1, 2011. He succeeded Edward Whitacre Jr., who retired as CEO last September. GM paid Whitacre $5 million last year. Chris Liddell, former chief financial officer, was GM’s highest-paid executive in 2010, receiving $6.2 million in total compensation. Liddell resigned April 1 to pursue other opportunities. Stephen Girsky, vice chairman, received $3.7 million. GM paid non-executive members of its board of directors between $91,478 and $238,145 last year, according to the filing.

Akerson said last December that some key executives were leaving the automaker because of government-imposed pay restraints. Akerson’s compensation, which only covered four months of 2010, was less than one-tenth the $26.5-million package that Fordpaid CEO Alan Mulally last year.

For starters, I get that most people can’t even comprehend making this much money – so many will believe they are all over paid. But it’s very telling when your major competition is paying same level positions – 10 times – what your organization is paying. Money doesn’t mean everything – but when the difference is that great – Talent will follow the money! Don’t give me the song and dance about “work environment” and “leadership” and “Orange Julious Thursday” – tell that to my kid who will be taking out loans to go to community college vs. all expense Daddy paid trip to NYU. Money matters – and it matters more when their is such an imbalance.

Here’s my quick take on signs your being underpaid:

1. Most of your subordinates are driving cars you hang pictures of in your office.

2. You and Mary the receptionist are the only ones who bag your lunch to work.

3. For Bosses Day – your staff gets you cash.

4. When recruiters call you about jobs and ask your salary they laugh – out loud.

5. On vacation you stayed in a hotel that had an actual number in the title (Super 8, Motel 6…)

6. You have actually ran the numbers to see how close unemployment payments would be to your actual pay.

Remember, if you find yourself sitting in a small conference room having a conversation with your boss and a member of HR – and you’re hearing things like “there are more important things than money”, “we value your contribution here”, “you just can’t throw away 7 years with us” – your probably underpaid – and they’re trying to get out of paying you more. Should you leave a great job and great company for a couple grand? No. Should you leave for $20K – well, I’m listening…

The Tim Sackett Project

TA & HR Expert, Dad, Backup Point Guard on my over 40 men's team

Category Archives: Compensation

5 Things That Demonstrate You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

The First Lie You Hear in HR

Signs You’re Not Getting Paid Enough