The no.1 employee concern in all HR surveys
Human Resource (HR) has always play an important role in every organization. I always believe a bad HR will bring in bad employees and of course, a good HR will bring in the people who will benefit the organization. However, HR is one of the most neglected departments in most organizations….but that’s another story altogether.
Recently I met a friend of mine in London. He’s working in quite a big multinational IT company located in Central London. The HR of his company is working hard to implement some new policies and to improve the level of satisfaction among the employees. They (the HR) came out with an employee survey in order to know what are the things the employees like and dislike.
The entire survey took 2 months to complete and the result of the survey was posted to all employees in March. My friend’s boss then went through some of the “common” concerns with my friend and his team.
Some of the “common concerns” :
- Employee stock option not as good as other companies
- No proper medical benefits for family
- Not enough facilities such as printers and scanners
- Workspace too small
etc….
But the most important one out of so many concerns (around 15-20) is……..
“I feel I am underpaid”
And the funny thing is what came out from my friend’s boss after that. He said “Due to the fact that this appears in our HR survey every year……and same goes for almost all companies out there……..we decided to ignore it as it is not relevant”.
Hahhaa, when my friend told me that, i couldn’t help but laughed! Well, in a way, what the boss said IS quite true. Employees will never feel satisfy with their current pay…..but to say that they will ignore it….is just…weird.
No drawing for today since I’m a little bit tired. 
Maybe I should stick to 3 comics per week. Hahha. I also believe my comics are better when I am not tired 
The boss was being too image-conscious for his own good. Instead of saying the truth, which is we can’t pay you more, he opted to sugar-coat it and made it sound worse. That’s the corporate world for ya, and another reason why I hate that place.
@ The Big Movie Freak
Hahha, i believe maybe next time, when u r the boss, u will do the same……maybe in a more honest way (which to some people might be even more offensive than this). Anyway, my friend din really blame his boss but he was definitely amused by his boss’ reaction. hahaha
It is not always that the company cannot afford to pay more. It is more that they rather use the money to expand the business or for their own use such as buying car under company name but they themselves are the one using it.
So the company expand, can do more business, can earn more money. But for the employee, with the minimal increment, what kind of improvement can they make in life? So those who felt underpaid will left the company to find better job. Some company does not felt that employee as important asset so they just easily replenish their lost worker from the pool of fresh graduates.
Alvin: Most of the time, honesty is the best policy. Tell a lie, and you have to be on guard for the rest of your life, which is a hard burden especially if you’ve told many lies. Sooner or later you won’t even know which of your own words are true anymore.
Willchua: At least people are still able to move to another company where they pay more. So it’s not all that bleak.
I strongly believe I am underpaid.
@ willchua
Welcome to my humble blog
A typical chinaman company would think that way….to buy car under company name but they are the ones using it. Hahhaa.
And i really agree with this line – “replenish their lost worker from the pool of fresh grads”
That is why our SMEs are not that strong as compared to other countries.
@ The Big Movie Freak
esp if your bosses are honest. but sometimes, employees wont want to hear the “real news”….esp those who are easily demotivated. so the bosses need to turn one big round in order to make the bad news sounds not-so-bad.
Of course being honest is always the best thing.
@ Apple
That’s what i heard from almost everyone
What a coincidence. I just flipped through a HR survey of a Japanese multinational operating in Malaysia and the no 1 gripe by the staff is… being underpaid! The irony is when compared to the national average for that industry, their salaries are consistently 8-12% higher across the board. So something else is at work there….
I think what the boss was trying to say is that low pay is a very common gripe, and no matter how much is given, the perception of unsatisfactory wages will always be there. Maybe what we need is a trip to Third World countries like Indonesia and the Philippines to see how many people are living on RM200 a month! Life isn’t so bad.
@ Damien Tan
I believe it’s a very common probem. Hahhaa. Human beings are very hard to please. People always compare with those higher than them, and not looking at their actual position in the industry. Maybe their salaries are in the top 2…but they still claim they’re underpaid because they are comparing with the number 1 spot…not no.3 n below.
Then they started to complain and practice the theory – crying baby gets the bigger share. Sadly, dont think that is applicable here
@ The Big Movie Freak
Exactly. Very hard to satisfy other people lo. Even if you give them super high salary, they will complain sooner or later that they’re not being paid enough. They might come out with reasons like
- they are doing more jobs than they are supposed to
- they are taking over other people’s roles
- they are too important in the company, and without them the company will die
- other people doing lesser job are getting the same pay
- other people in the same job role are getting higher pay
etc etc etc.
Before complaining about pay, maybe we should ask these questions first:
Are we eating enough?
Can we reasonably afford a house? (Not bungalow or condo, please!)
After all that, can we still afford at least one hobby? (To people who buy and collect diamonds as a hobby, well, good luck.)
Can we sustain a family unit with at most two kids?
If you work all that out, and still have leftovers for savings, then you’re alright.
If no savings, then you might have to consider taking out one of the above, possibly the hobby first.
If you can’t even answer the first, you must be living in some war-torn state in Africa.
Notice I put hobby before family, because I think you need one to maintain your sanity in this crazy world. But because raising kids can take up all of your time, forgoing the hobby then becomes a valid though not compulsory option.
This does not take into account supporting your retired parents. Replace the family unit with this one if your parents aren’t self-sufficient.
Ignore??!! Then why waste time to do survey?? Just to show they’re doing something??
To seaqueen00: Ya lor.
@ The Big Movie Freak
I think everyone will have to ask those questions at one point in their life. Fame n wealth are nice to have, not a must have. If you treat them as a must have…i believe your life will somehow lose its meaning.
@ seaqueen00
Hahhaa, they didn’t ignore EVERYTHING mah.
To Alvin: True, and true.
Very good discussion you guys have. Out of all the discussion, I think you guys will agree that the “Money” is not really a good motivation tool. In fact the real reason why people leave a company is not because of “Money” but 90% it is because of the boss! So from a company perspective, ultimately we want to hire a manager who can motivate (not thru money) and retain employee.
@ ChampDog
Money can make an employee remain in a company…but it won’t make him happy if he is working under an idiot. They are staying jst for the money. On the other hand, if you have a nice boss…but normal salary…as long as the money is enough for u to survive, i believe most people would stay there for the boss.
I think there are far more bad bosses than good ones. Since there’s really nothing you can do to change these bad bosses, you might as well take the money. How many times are you going to change jobs till you coincidentally get a good one? Even so, how long you think this good boss will remain your boss? Chances are, if he’s so great, he’ll probably become a director or CEO very soon. Then some idiot will take his place and create hell for you again.
Bottom line, request for more pay instead, because that one’s easier to get than a good boss (which may be an endangered species by now).
Maybe I’m lucky or I have low expectation on bosses. I have been reported to 6 bosses so far and all of them are good. Perhaps I damn good in managing them.
You may be work on the chinese-man style company, do you? I work for an US company and usually the US company encourage open door policy. With the open door policy, you can have a better control to manage or even drive your boss. No kidding.
@ The Big Movie Freak
Maybe i’m fortunate…coz except for my first supervisor during industrial training…all my other supervisors have been very nice to me. Jackie, Kok Seng, Jason and currently Angie.
And in our asian culture…normally those people at the top are not that nice :p
@ ChampDog
wah, we hv the same fate! hahahah. i’m working for a UK company which acts a little bit like a chinaman company in order to stay competitive.