Category: Engagement

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?

Captain’s log, September 22^nd 2010.

I spot a tweet from TheHRD aarrrgghhhhing about speed networking. I reply with an eeeuuuurgghhhh!

Time stands still. Then goes backwards.

Captain’s log, September 6^th, 2010.

So I’m at my first RSA London City networking evening. It’s the tube strike and I’m encouraged that there are so many people here. I’m finding interesting people, and enjoying listening to them telling me about interesting stuff. Hey, this networking lark’s alright eh?

Then comes a ting a ling from the edge of a wine glass. We is about to get facilitated. It went something like…

“So we’re all going to have 60 seconds to say who we are, what we do and why we’re here”.

A dark cloud overcomes me. Actually one didn’t but I wish it had so I could have hidden away from the dreaded speed networking. And then to make the horror even worse, Mr Facilitator turns to the person next to me but one and says, we’ll start here. I feel sick. Sick with worry and anger. What am I going to say and why am I here? That enjoyable feeling of spending time with interesting people listening to interesting things suddenly seems a long way away.

Two people in then it’s my go. I spluttered something about making work better and guitars and bicycles and then I remembered I had shoes to stare at. Ahhhh, shoes. Relief.

There were over thirty people in the room so we had to endure this for 30 minutes plus. Annoyingly having been told we have one minute each, some folk got so whizzed up they had two, or even three! I can’t decide whether I’m grrr about that because they didn’t follow the rules, or I love it because they are networking anarchists. Pah!

We get to the last person (eventually), and guess what…..I can’t remember anyone’s name. Derr! I managed a couple of quick chats with other people but for me, the romance was gone. I left. Weird but a lot of folk I speak to don’t like this practice, yet it persists. Maybe not for much longer…

I’ve offered to facilitate (hurp) the next session in October. Will I fall foul of the speed networking curse, or are there other ways to engage and make these precious get togethers enjoyable and useful? We’ll see, wish me luck, I’m going in.