By Junko Igeta
Someone in our HR seminar asked during the Q&A, “Ms Igeta, I applaud your advocacy to pay workers ‘liveable salaries’ aka median wage. The median income in Singapore is $3,700+. How would you reckon a restaurant can pay a waiter that amount without impacting the restaurant’s cost?” (There was an astounding applause).
I took the mic and this was my reply, “Of course. If you take a waiter’s job at face value, then $3,700 for it would be ridiculous. But if you re-design his job scope and productivity expectations to match that of $3,700, then that is a different ball game altogether. It is your job as a business owner or a manager to create a job that yields a productivity that is worth $3,700… not the employee’s.
The employee’s job is to work towards upgrading himself to match your job scope and productivity expectations. There are many ways of cutting cost. Cutting wages should not be one of them. Cutting cost can be cutting wastage, cutting non-productive processes, outsourcing, improving operations, improving table turn-arounds during peak hours, improving sales, improving patronage, upselling and many more… If a waiter can help you achieve some of that, then savings or revenue from these could easily justify his $3,700.
The problem with many business owners, they expect savings and revenue as a right and they post them as profits. They forgot who is responsible for helping them achieve that. They don’t give their workers a reason to push for that extra dollar for you. This is why you have workers that don’t give two hoots about the profitability of your business.
If you reward them generously, create incentives and make them realize that in order for them to earn this $3,700 the company has to achieve these targets in order to pay them this amount.. then they know they better deliver what is expected if they want that $3,700.
If you pay them $2,500 and the whole industry is paying that amount, they can easily get another job for that amount. They will just go look for an easier one that pays the same.
But if you pay them $3,700 when the market is paying $2,500, they know they can’t get this amount anywhere else or it is hard to get one that pays this well, they will keep this job at whatever cost. You can then attract the best. If they cannot perform, you can be sure there are many others waiting at your door that will and that can.
As the saying goes – you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Don’t under-estimate what good workers can do for your business. I’d leave you with a quote from Richard Branson (Virgin’s owner) – The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers (unquote)…. And the way your customers are treated will be the way they will treat your business”….
