Doug Shaw

Pay Secrecy Sucks!

Having spent the first half of this week on the English Riviera working with a fantastic group of clients, I’m (typically) a little late to a rather interesting ding dong between Darren Newman and Duncan Wossname from Dragon’s Den. The debate was around inaccuracies that Mr Wossname had included in a Daily Mail (hurp!) article about the Equality Act 2010. Darren says:

The error I focused on (there were several) was his assertion that ‘Employers are also no longer allowed to keep an individual’s pay a secret from other employees’. In the article he complains about the damage that will be done if employers have to tell employees what they are paying others in similar jobs. Of course, the Act does not contain any such provision. Nowhere in the Act does it even suggest that an employer has to disclose anything to employees about how much other employees are paid.

The article and all the hoo hah (especially the hoo hah) is well worth a read.

I’ve always been disappointed that UK plc is not more open about pay. When I was in the world of employment I always told folk what my pay was when they asked. Why shouldn’t I? I think that secrecy over pay is a major control lever which employers pull on regularly….to keep folk in line.

Oh no, emergency Clash takeover, can’t help myself: “All the power in the hands of the people rich enough to buy it, while we walk the streets, to chicken to even try it”. Ahhhh, that’s better. Where was I? Oh yes…

And then they often ask pay related questions in engagement surveys and wonder why they get crap answers. Lack of info = no informed decision, or put another way the input’s in gobbledegook the output’s in jibberish.

What is to be gained by keeping pay a secret? I believe that work would be a much better place if everyone knew what their colleagues earned. It would probably be a difficult thing to come to terms with on day one but I believe it would be a liberating thing. What might be even more interesting would be to let teams control a budget which includes the pay of their manager. Turn the model upside down and see how folk interpret value then?

What do you think? Is pay secrecy a means of exerting control over the workforce, or are we too reserved to handle the truth?

Virgin Whine

a photo of wine bottles — a photograph of wine bottles, taken by WTL Photos

Oh dear. I feel a mix of awkward and angry. If Keira wasn’t at school, she’d probably suggest I’m feeling a combination of both words, angward. Why? Well I’ve just tried (and eventually succeeded) in cancelling a subscription to Virgin Whine.

Last month I tried one of these voucher offers. I got £40 off a mixed case so it only cost me £47, just under £4 a bottle (a little over £7 without the offer). Sounded good. Oh, and there were no strings attached. There would be the small matter of a case every quarter being picked and delivered to me, but I can either send it back if I don’t want it, or cancel the order. I think they call this inertia marketing?

I placed the order. It wasn’t easy, the system got a bit confused by the voucher code, and in the end I had to phone my order through. Not great, but not bad. I’m getting £40 off so maybe I should expect a little glitch or two. The delivery was fast, I appreciated that.

I tried the wine. It’s….not bad. Not bad at £4, but for £7, I’m thinking maybe I can do better down my local shops?

Then I started to get bombarded with emails inviting me to buy more and more wine. They did say something about drinking responsibly but come on folks, you’ve only just dropped off 12 bottles, steady on. I logged back onto Virgin Whine to turn off the torrent but it wasn’t clear how to do this and if I did, would that mean cutting off all correspondence?

The whole thing was just registering a bit too high on the inconvenience scale so I decided to cancel my account. Guess what? You can’t do that online. So I called the contact centre and asked them to cancel. As soon as I said the magic word ‘cancel’, the tone changed. What had started as warmly as a room temperature red quickly became a very chilled white.

“OK then we’ll come and collect the case of wine.” Said Virgin Whine. “Why’s that then?” says I. “Well you’ve used the voucher, you haven’t given us a chance so we’ll take the wine back.” What ensued was a confused awkward conversation. I said something about “Wot, no strings attached?” Virgin Whine didn’t like that and though they agreed the offer was no strings attached, they kept saying “You’ve not given us a chance so we’ll come and take the wine back.”

I paused before explaining that my decision was in part taken because the wine just wasn’t all that. Yes, I’ve tasted the product. I began to fear that Virgin Whine might turn up with a stomach pump. I’ve still got five bottles left, will that save me from this fate? With that the conversation ended. I was told my account was cancelled, call over.

And now I’m left feeling…angward. Awkward because I feel I may have inadvertently taken advantage of Virgin Whine. And a little angry too. Angry because of the way the call went and angry with myself for attempting to be reasonable in the face of what felt like a pretty unreasonable way of playing “no strings attached”. I need a drink.

Photo c/o WTL Photos

On The Road

Last week we had a great time working in different locations. I might scribble about the enjoyable work some other time. For now I want to write about where we stayed and the different services we experienced.

28^th September. York. Park View Guest House.

We were due to arrive late evening; I’d made a note of this on our laterooms.com reservation. I was called several times through the day by the owner, just checking we’re still coming. After the third time I began to find this a little…weird. We arrived to find out that one of the two rooms we had booked was double booked. With apologies and lots of smiles my associate was shown to another bed and breakfast round the corner. His place was pretty much spot on, and my teeny attic room left a bit to be desired but it was clean, and that matters. Breakfast was on time and the service was friendly. I felt a little like the owner hadn’t wanted to tell us about the double booking in case we used that as an excuse to look elsewhere, but overall I’d say good value, an engaging experience.

29^th September. Glasgow. Ramada Jarvis City Centre.

Another late evening arrival. Though we were booked into stay at the recently refurbed and allegedly quite swanky Lorne hotel, they called me in the afternoon to say, guess what, we’re double booked! Me, a jinx? Get outta here. The folk at the Lorne assured me they had booked us into an equivalent hotel. I’m going to be really kind and suggest they’ve not been to the Ramada for a long time, a very long time. Fraser on the front desk was great. Friendly and helpful. But that doesn’t make up for being put into a room right next to a night club. I found this out when trying to get to sleep around midnight. I called the Lorne to let them know how unchuffed I was and they promised to call me back in the morning to try and sort something out. Then I padded down to the front desk in bare feet. I was moved to a (slightly) quieter room where the bathroom smelt mouldy and the towels were dirty. The following morning Fraser was very apologetic. Good guy, crap hotel.

30^th September. Glasgow. Lorne Hotel

I didn’t get the promised call back so I rang and found that yes, we do have our allocated rooms for tonight. Hallelujah! Arrived at the Lorne around 6.30pm, they weren’t expecting us. D’oh! We did get booked in shortly after on a reduced rate and breakfast was now included by way of a sorry. We paid up front so as to reduce the morning hassle. The following morning the staff tried to charge me for my breakfast and then when I checked out they tried to charge me for my stay again. Despite a few watery smiles I got the distinct impression that guests at the Lorne hotel are viewed as….an inconvenience? I watched two members of staff have a row in the foyer. Nice fight but come on folks, keep it to yourselves eh?

Summary of learning:

The guy who runs his own business is very welcoming, but he might not play it totally straight with you for fear you’ll dump him. Chill out Park View dude, honesty rules.

An engaged employee on the front desk does not a great stay make. Seriously Fraser, get out of there. Alternatively get the folks at Ramada to promote you to General Manager. Something better change.

A refurbished hotel is very nice and all that, but if the staff don’t know if they’re coming or going then the shine and the newness fades faster than my hopes of Tranmere Rovers ever winning the Premier League. And do your research. If you’re going to bounce customers to an “equivalent” hotel, make sure it is. What we experienced reflects badly on the Ramada Jarvis and the Lorne.