Oh happy day…time for your annual review or pay raise. Some have an automatic or negotiated raise; others based on performance or merit. Good work Should be rewarded as well as “ a sharing of the profits”.
Then there’s the “across the board” raise; seemingly to treat everyone fairly…but is it really so? It has to be… right… I mean, everybody gets the same. Imagine if Management was to receive a larger “slice of the pie” for their contribution to a company’s’ bottom line and a smaller slice for everyone else?!? To be fair, they say, everyone will receive the same % raise
So, let’s consider…already there are those in any workplace at the lower end of the pay scale and those at the upper end, already Thousands of $$$$ difference, and with good reason. After all, the responsibilities of those at each level vary widely requiring higher education or a particular skill set and hence, higher and lower salaries. But what about annual raises.
For example’s sake, let’s compare an employee $50,000 and a fellow employee paid $80,000. Each contributes to the companies’ profitability, but with different pay and responsibilities….. as it should be. Apply a 3% raise to each, resulting in pay of $51,500 vs. $82,400… the pay gap increases from $30,000to $30,900 and, as time goes by, assuming a similar annual increase, the gap will widen to $34,778 in 5 years, salaries rising to $57,964 and 92,742 respectively….what’s wrong with this picture!!!
After all, a good chunk of ones’ spending is done in the same places for the same goods and services i.e. the grocery store, gas station, auto repair shop, drug store etc What then makes it right that one employee benefit more than the next “ across the board”?
Of course, the higher paid worker wouldn’t settle for a percentage less than the lower paid worker, ”that’s just not fair,” he would say…but it’s not “fair” as it is now.
Perhaps offering pay raises in real $$$ rather than a Percent increase would be more fair. No one could feel slighted if all received the same $$$ increase and the pay gap would remain the same (allowing, of course for promotions or merit increases).
And this percentage thing exists in other areas as well!! Some years ago, the county in which I live raised the sales tax from 7% to 8%. One percent…1 penny on a dollar…$1 for every $100 spent…seems fair right…not so fast…Just how much increase is 7 to 8 of anything???? Let’s use dollars…. $7.00 to $8.00.
So, if we add 10% to seven (dollars) we have $7.70; 12% would be %7.84; and 14% would then yield $7.98. meaning, to increase from seven to eight of anything requires 14% more.
That’s right 14%… the County saw a giant windfall over the sales tax it otherwise would have received, and sold it as “it’s just a penny. NO, it’s a 14% increase on goods and services we all use all the time on just about everything…Does anyone see this????
And, as for the County sales tax….we just have to grin and bear it …the municipalities bills have to be paid somehow….even a penny at a time.
PS: the moral of the story is, pursue an education; more education equals higher pay scale and a higher pay scale equals higher pay raise (all things being “equal”… “across the board”) and can help to pay a higher County sales tax (should that ever happen where you live.)
As always: Cents Maker