A Word about Pay

Some of you immediately noticed the fact that fair pay lands in seventh place on this list. Here is what we know about pay. If employees see compensation as noncompetitive, unfair, or simply insufficient to sustain life, their dissatisfaction levels will go up. Your talented people will become vulnerable to talent theft or will begin looking around for something better, especially in a favorable job market. But here’s the rub. While it can be a huge dissatisfier if inadequate, even fair pay won’t keep people who are unhappy in other key areas.

So if your talented people do not feel challenged, or grown, or cared about, a big paycheck will not keep them for long. Researchers over time have found this to be true. Frederic Herzberg found in the 1950s that pay is a “hygiene factor”—make sure it’s there or it will be noticed! So, do what you can as a manager to influence your organization’s compensation programs. Be sure they are competitive and fair—then focus on what else you can do to keep your talent.