Today’s tips are again from a recent BLR webinar featuring Teresa Murphy and David Wudyka.
Murphy is the principal consultant for HR Partner Advantage, an HR advisory firm based in Raleigh, N.C. Wudyka, SPHR, MBA, BSIE, is the founder and managing principal of Westminster Associates, a Massachusetts-based human resource and compensation firm.
Complaint: “I can’t live on what you’re paying me!”
You can’t fall into the trap where you are responsible for individual employees’ finances, says Murphy. Don’t assume any responsibility for an employee’s personal budget. You can commiserate with him or her, emphasize that you did all that you could do to provide a raise, etc., but, at the end of the day, if you’ve done all that you can do as the employer, it’s the employee’s job to make his pay stretch or not, Murphy says.
If this employee is truly someone you’d rather not lose, swing into retention mode right away, particularly in search of non-monetary rewards or benefits you might offer to keep him or her.
Complaint: “I’m making less than my direct reports!”
Often managers get trapped by this comment and respond without having the facts. Confirm the accuracy of this claim before you do anything, says Murphy. If you have a supervisor who’s honestly making less than his or her direct reports—and there’s no business reason for the discrepancy—you could have a serious problem on your hands, especially if the supervisor is in a protected employment class.
If pay mistakes were indeed made, fix them as soon as possible. Point out any extenuating circumstances that led to the disparity. For example, if the supervisor’s direct reports earned more recently due to larger-than-usual commission payments, that’s a valid reason for the pay differences.
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Complaint: “I’ll have to start looking for other jobs!”
When you hear this one, decide upfront if you’d like to retain this employee, Murphy says. If so, you can focus on meeting his or her pay demands, finding benefits changes or other non-salary compensation to bridge the gap, or offering non-monetary improvements such as flextime.
Try to pin down exactly what this valued worker is seeking to stay on the job—you may be surprised many times to find that it’s not always about a huge pay bump, says Murphy.
On the other hand, if the employee in question is an average performer —or a “problem child” you wouldn’t miss—then the threatened departure may indeed be a blessing in disguise.
“You need to do what’s best for you,” is a good response for such employees.
Two Final Thoughts for Training
Remind your supervisors and managers that if they feel put on the spot, or are made uncomfortable by questions such as those mentioned above, they don’t need to give an answer right away. Just say, “I hear you, let me investigate and find out.” And then you must follow up and get back to them in a reasonable time, Murphy says.
Make sure that your supervisors and managers understand that when troubling questions and issues come up in conversations with employees, they should always alert HR.
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