Merchant_of_Meh
Child of the Keywork
This topic interests me because one of the employees I manage did remark to me that the salary our company pays him is essentially keeping him poor to the point where he can't afford his mortgage or car payments, leaving no extra money. While outwardly I gave him platitudes and encouraged him to perform better than his colleagues in order to get that raise, introspectively his confession was irksome to me primarily because I was in that same position myself (higher rent instead of a mortgage though).
This bothered me primarily because I started in the same position as this guy, had some of the same trouble and yet I'm better off than he is now. The difference between myself and this guy was that I developed a simple, but effective plan to get out of that situation. I took a good look at my finances, cut out what I didn't need, and essentially lived lean, simple, and uncomplicated life. At work, I simply increased my performances and became more efficient. It wasn't about working faster or working longer, which equates to working harder. It was about working smarter. Some see this negatively as taking shortcuts and cutting corners. It can be seen that way, but what I did is simply increase my accuracy to accompany my speed, which increased my productivity to the point where it would be detrimental to the call center I worked for to leave me in my current position. While it seemed like it took forever for my superiors recognize this (I went on to top every key performance indicator in my position with perfect attendance that year), it actually didn't take all that long (approximately a year) and eventually I was not only hired into the company ( I was a contractor up to that point), but I was also immediately promoted to a leadership role and given the first of several raises over the next few years.
So when this guy says that the salary he earns is keeping him poor. That is truly baffling to me as no salary is ever written in stone with companies like the one I work for. If you prove yourself invaluable to company's business to the point where your individual performance impacts the organization's business productivity positively, you'll never have to worry about having or keeping the job as well as getting proper compensation at that job. If anything, you will become in demand from other organization and even other companies (if you have networking skill). It amazes, amuses and simultaneously frustrates me that people don't understand this and instead simply resign themselves to what is in front of them.
This bothered me primarily because I started in the same position as this guy, had some of the same trouble and yet I'm better off than he is now. The difference between myself and this guy was that I developed a simple, but effective plan to get out of that situation. I took a good look at my finances, cut out what I didn't need, and essentially lived lean, simple, and uncomplicated life. At work, I simply increased my performances and became more efficient. It wasn't about working faster or working longer, which equates to working harder. It was about working smarter. Some see this negatively as taking shortcuts and cutting corners. It can be seen that way, but what I did is simply increase my accuracy to accompany my speed, which increased my productivity to the point where it would be detrimental to the call center I worked for to leave me in my current position. While it seemed like it took forever for my superiors recognize this (I went on to top every key performance indicator in my position with perfect attendance that year), it actually didn't take all that long (approximately a year) and eventually I was not only hired into the company ( I was a contractor up to that point), but I was also immediately promoted to a leadership role and given the first of several raises over the next few years.
So when this guy says that the salary he earns is keeping him poor. That is truly baffling to me as no salary is ever written in stone with companies like the one I work for. If you prove yourself invaluable to company's business to the point where your individual performance impacts the organization's business productivity positively, you'll never have to worry about having or keeping the job as well as getting proper compensation at that job. If anything, you will become in demand from other organization and even other companies (if you have networking skill). It amazes, amuses and simultaneously frustrates me that people don't understand this and instead simply resign themselves to what is in front of them.
