The Salary Standoff

Money talks, but what happens when you and your employee speak different languages about compensation? This candid discussion tackles one of the most common yet challenging workplace dynamics: the employee who believes they're worth more than their employer does.

The episode opens by addressing a crucial misconception, particularly among younger workers – the belief that increased pay should come before increased performance. As a five-time entrepreneur, I share my perspective on how value truly works in the marketplace. It's not about working harder; it's about producing measurable results that increase your market value. The wisdom of Jim Rohn echoes throughout: "Work harder on yourself than you do on your job." This fundamental principle serves as the foundation for both employees seeking advancement and employers looking to develop top talent.

For business owners facing this compensation challenge, I provide a practical framework to resolve the tension. 

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!

Bill

Chapters

• 1:12 Introduction and upcoming summit
• 2:29 Advice for employees seeking raises
• 4:32 Guidance for employers on development
• 5:44 Handling compensation disagreements
• 7:53 Setting expectations and improvement plans
• 9:16 Final thoughts and invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hey there, hope you're having a fantastic week. In the last week, I have had three clients come to me with an employee who believed that they should be paid more, who believed that they should be paid more, and in all three cases, the employer did not believe that that particular employee was worth more. So let's deal with that a little bit today. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Bill Gilliland. I am a five times entrepreneur. Well, it's going to be six. Now we're starting a new thing. I want to remind you that we do have the Asheville Business Summit coming up. You can go to wncsummitcom and get all the details. You're, at the very least, going to want to attend. You maybe want to come and sponsor. As a business owner, you want to bring your prospects and clients. It is going to be a great marketing event for you either way. So make plans to be there and I look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing. It's coming together. We got six or eight great speakers. You're going to really enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Now back to the question at hand what do you do about an employee who believes they're worth more than you believe as a business owner? I want to talk to you employees out there first. So, as an employee, a lot of people I'm finding out, particularly younger people get this wrong. Lot of people I'm finding out, particularly younger people get this wrong. They believe that you pay me more, I will work harder. That's not the way the world works. The way the world works is you work and accomplish more and get more results. I don't care if you work harder or not. You got to get results. Then you become more valuable in the marketplace. The marketplace will tell you how valuable you are. You will get recruited if you are worth more. Jim Rohn famously said work harder on yourself than you do on your job. That's the key to success. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. When I was a kid and my dad got me to mow the grass, I had to do a good job before I got paid. The better job I did, the more money I could make per hour. In other words, if I could get the same job done faster, then I could make more. I became more valuable in the marketplace. As an employee, you want to make yourself the most valuable you can in the marketplace. Get off the habit of and some of these employees were like that. They had a little bit of a thing. Now it is not up to us to decide how much an employee is worth. The marketplace will determine that. The marketplace will determine value. It's interesting, as I've worked with numbers of industries. Like some industries, the employees are paid better because in that particular industry they're more valuable in that industry. So you know, if you want to make more money, you may want to consider changing industries.

Speaker 1: 3:54

As an employee, as an employer, let's deal with the problem at hand. Now, as an employer, what you need to do is you need to develop people. So you need to invest in your people. First of all, you need to hire great people. You need to invest in them, invest your time, invest your money, pay them well, give them training, give them education, give them goals, give them benefits. But you need to be clear with them about what's expected and then help them achieve those expectations. So, two sides of the coin as an employee, you need to make yourself more valuable in the marketplace. As an employer, you need to make them more valuable in the marketplace, because that's the way it works. The more valuable they become, the more you are able to do. It's a win-win the company wins and they win.

Speaker 1: 4:56

So how do you deal with this situation? Now it's gotten out of hand. There's a misconception they believe they're worth X, you believe they're worth not X, something under X. As an employer, how would you deal with it? Well, first of all, I think you need to do some research and find out what the going rate is. Now, that sounds crazy, but all of you I guarantee if you're a business owner you've all hired somebody in a similar position and found out. Holy cow, I haven't kept up over the years with the marketplace. So, in other words, you hire somebody. You got to give everybody else a raise. Why would you do that? You want to be preemptive on that. You want to treat people well. You want to get ahead of that.

Speaker 1: 5:36

So you might want to go out. Do a little bit of research, figure out what's paying. Now you've still got to make money, so you've either got to sell more, get your prices up. Now that's something we can help you with. But, along the way, happy to have a chat with you about that. Just have a cup of coffee, reach out to me. We'll be glad to sit down and have a chat, me or one of my team.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Now the second thing is you've got to have a conversation with this person about how they can number one. If they're delusional they think that you pay me and then I'm going to work harder then you've got to have a conversation about how the world actually works. The second piece of that is then you need to set up clear expectations, goals and outcomes that will allow them to make more money. It's pretty simple hey, you need to do this over the next three months. This is what needs to happen. At the end of that month, we'll have a review and we'll see how you are, and then we can make an adjustment, or six months, or a year, or whatever it is. That's reasonable, but you've got to have super clear. And then they've got to have a personal improvement plan for every single employee.

Speaker 1: 6:44

The third piece of that is you've got to work with them to help them get the result that they need to get. You have to get them the coaching. You have to get them the mentoring. You have to get whatever it takes to make them the best they can be. Now, you wouldn't do that if you didn't think they were worth it. If they're not worth it, they're not a good fit anymore.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Then you also have to have that conversation Not fun, but most employees are dedicated, motivated, will work. I mean, all you got to do is look at what do they do on the weekend. Are they fired up to go fishing or do whatever their hobbies are, play golf or whatever? Yeah, we got to get them more fired up about what it is we're looking to accomplish as companies here. So set up those clear expectations, set up those goals.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Give them the help they need. Give them a chance. It'll either work out or it won't. They'll either earn it or they won't, but it's up to them. At that point, once you've established the rules of the game, I hope this is helpful. If you're still having challenges around this or team building or anything to do with scaling a business, we'd love to have a chat with you. Just reach out to me. I'll get you in touch with uh, you know me or one of my team, the appropriate person to help you get what it is you want in life. And remember, get yourself registered for that Asheville business summer. Hey, until next time, all the best.