A Paper in Hand...

Hey there, hi there...

I've decided to try something new this calendar year - I am going to open a blog post when I start reading my daily paper (which is not always daily, just to be clear) so I can capture my moments of brilliance amidst the mountains of fodderall that churn through my mind when I get my daily local news update. I will try to keep my observations germaine, witty, ascerbic, and thought provoking. I will try. And if I don't have anything to say - then I won't.

So here we go. Wonder if I'll find anything to blog about today:

Easy Peasey!

the headline is "are they worth it" and it refers to the salaries paid to some top Winnipeg executives. It is fair to line-list all the CEOs in Winnipeg and list their salaries. I'm sure these guys are nice guys - this is about the position, not the person. (are they all men? or am I missing something here? I'll have to reread the list).

They should also list the number of employees who make minimum wage working for these companies, how many pay bands of employees there are, and what the average wage is per worker. That plus a performance factor - how well does this guy do his job? Do the staff have everything they need to do their jobs well?

I am a believer in the 6-Step system of Compensation - the lowest paid employee should make 1/6 of what the highest paid employee/owner/ceo makes - and there are only 6 incremental pay bands between Joe Labor and Jane CEO (that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it - Jane CEO).

so, if Mr. McFeeters (cause he's the first guy on the list) makes $5,294,772 (which is the biggest number on the list) so Joe Laborer should make a cool $882,462. Sound completely unrealistic? It is. Both sides of the equation need to be making a lot less to have a sound business model, in my humble opinion.

Who do you think is doing more on a day to day basis to make the company profitable, dealing with clients, dealing with sales, dealing with complaints - than the staff? Who have to put up with fear of being fired, due to the global recession? How many job grades are there at Great West Life? Or at any of these companies?

What exactly would Mr. McFeeters or other C-Suite Dwellers have to do to be given their two weeks notice? Just curious. I wonder how that compares to the rank and file in this very large and very non-union shop. What does the average employee have to do to get canned, in these tough economic times. It is the worker at the lower end of the pecking order that is the cannon fodder in times of economic challenge - just take a look at the Three Stooges of the US Car Industry. Even when GM was losing money like water over Niagara - the CEO got higher compensation. Give me a break (only if I have medical benefits).

Lots of good questions ... to be asked of the C-Level suite all down the list. I'd love some answers - but there is no way to get them from all the CEOs. That's because, too often at the top of the big pyramid of the workplace, the C stand for Crap - and crap runs downhill. Profit, like power, stays at the top.

Incognito ergo sum,
Jane Doe, Citizen.