Readers Respond about Hiring Superstars and Paying Big Bucks
I wrote a quick article a couple of days ago titled What If You Hired Only the Best People and Paid Them Like Superstars?. The big idea: Get great people and pay them like it. Forget paying at the 50th percentile. I feel strongly about this issue and about hiring for mediocrity. (Okay, people who make the market average aren’t mediocre by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m talking about break-through thinking here, not just doing what everyone else is doing. Wasn’t copying what everyone else is doing proved to be a losing proposition years ago?)
That article didn’t go far enough. It was a poke at an emotional issue. Fortunately, there are smart people who read and comment on KnowHR. And rather than bury the comments on Superstar Pay or make you work to find them, I brought them up front here so that more people can get the benefit of that wisdom. Here’s what they said.
There’s One Company Already Getting the Best and Paying Big Bucks for Great Talent
Albert Yee, Philadelphia photographer extraordinaire and author of Dragonballyee, says they pay for performance at a certain company whose stock price has soared from $85 to $675 in three years:
One word: Google. (And they’re not just hiring top execs for big bucks, it’s the people on the ground actually coding.)
Don’t Hire “Cheap” Employees; Know What Makes a Great One
Rick, author of the thought-provoking 48Facets and a top-notch executive compensation consultant, says paying big bucks won’t work if companies don’t know what defines a superstar.
I generally agree with your basic concept. I have worked with far too many people who were hired because they were ” cheap” and it was reflected in the quality of their work.
Before larger companies go paying at the high end of the market they need to know what qualities make a quality employee for them. Many do not. Pay cannot substitute for good selection, training, environment, etc.
Hiring a Team That Works as a Team is Essential
Leadership guru Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership makes a point about a team full of superstars and the issue of having too many ball hogs on the team. Great point.
There are two issues here. The first is: Can a team of all superstars win? The answer is “probably not.”
The idea is that you want the best team possible. That usually includes a few special-purpose tools and a few support staff who aren’t superstars. For the baseball angle on this, read Moneyball about Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics.
I was a passionate playground basketball player growing up. I wasn’t ever the best play on the schoolyard. But I found that if I was willing to hustle and play defense and pass a lot, I kept getting picked to play by the schoolyard superstars.
When we say we want “the best people,” what we should mean is that we want the people who will fit together in talent and temperament to make the best possible team. That leads us to the second issue: “warm body” hiring.
Don’t do it. Don’t settle. I’ve seen individual managers do it and I’ve seen whole companies do it.
What always happens is that you’re filling in or checking on the “warm body.” It ups your stress level and trashes your productivity.
There’s a lot more to say on the topic of pay-for-performance. And it’s this kind of thinking and perspective that make that discussion so much more substantive. Many thanks to all who read KnowHR and add to the discussion about HR practices.
How Many of You Wrote Your Open Enrollment Materials in Plain English This Year?
I saw a really cool open enrollment kit a couple of weeks ago that was written in plain English. How cool is that? Material that can be as dry as toast spiced up with a some tangy language marmalade.
Don’t be afraid to talk to your employees about their benefits in language that they understand. If your materials were written in legalese or by a frustrated English major toss them out and start over. It doesn’t take that long to write in plan English, but it takes forever to decipher turbid English.
(And if your employees can’t read English I’d recommend writing in the language they do understand. Just a thought for the foreign audience of KnowHR.)
What If You Hired Only the Best People and Paid Them Like Superstars?
WARNING: US-Centric Post about Baseball and Company Performance Ahead. (Come back in the next section when I say it’s safe.)
Last night the Boston Red Sox won the ALCS and are headed to the World Series. At one point in the series they were down three games to one. But they were never out of it. Know why? They have some of the best talent in baseball. And they pay for it.
In fact, the team payroll for the Red Sox is the second highest in all of baseball, and is more then double that of their opponent, the Cleveland Indians. That payroll pays off. The BoSox have the third best teams stats this year. Guess who has the best? The New York Yankees, which is the team with the highest payroll in baseball. My take: Getting the best talent works. (Yes, baseball aficionados will cite Moneyball, but where are the low budget teams now?)
Now, for the Non-Baseball Fans (it’s safe to come out now)
All that success by high budget teams must mean something. Getting the best talent works. But it’s not cheap. What I’m wondering about is what would happen if a company — big or small — decided that they were going to hire only the most extraordinary talent at every position. I’m talking about getting superstars for everything from the CEO to the lowest level employee. Know how to do it? Pay a lot and make people want to be part of your exclusive club.
Just Say No to ‘Warm Body” Recruiting
What would it take to stop recruiting for “warm bodies” and hire only the best? I’m talking about a real talent solution, one where you cared as much about hiring a dishwasher as you did about hiring your chief executive. I think it would take money. And a boldness that’s not seen except in the world of sports. (Now for the international audience: The same idea goes for Real Madrid and Man U as it does for the Boston Red Sox — great players command big salaries and deliver great victories.)
Sure, I’ll bet there would be rabid criticism of this “go for it” approach to talent. Sure, let’s all rise up in a chorus and sing “We’re all in it for the long term” as our corporate kumbaya. Funny, though, it seems like most public companies release earnings reports every quarter and put financial pressure on their people to win-win-win every year. Cool with me. I say get the superstars. Pay them. And reap the rewards.
How’s that for an HR strategy?
(I have a business idea here that applies to HR I’m going to talk about once I get it fleshed out. It’s about HR superstars.)
NB: John Windsor of The You Blog points out that the Red Sox will be playing the World Series against the team with the 25th highest payroll in baseball. So, my baseball argument might be all wet. But would getting all superstars on your team, in a real company, work?
A Few Good Creative Men
This movie remake of A Few Good Men into A Few Good Creative Men is making the rounds and really cracked me up. For any of you who have worked with creatives this one’s well worth watching.
[via SwissMiss]
One Foot Out the Door: Required Reading for HR Strategists
Short review: If you’re an HR strategist, buy One Foot Out the Door right away. Go ahead…I’ll wait.
Okay, You’re Back
You know how there are so many business books written that have a sorta-kinda clever phrase that they spend an entire book trying to pound into your head? Or when a good article gets stretched to make it book length? I hate wasting my time with that kind of stuff. So, when I read “Psychological Recession” on the cover of this book I was worried. Then I started reading. Worries allayed. Big time.
A Definition of Psychological Recession
Author Judith Bardwick outlines “Psychological Recession” this way:
Definition: A Psychological Recession is an emotional state in which people feel extremely vulnerable to economic hardship, leading to a dour view of the present and an even bleaker view of the future, which more often is not based on current reality. This gloomy mindset reinforces people’s perception of the world as a risky place in which they have little or no control. Anxiety, depression, and a sense of being powerless are a poisonous mix.
In an era when people are talking about employee engagement and commitment, Psychological Recession works to counter those ideas. Layoffs and the lack of job stability (we all know people who have been out of work) add up to a real problem.
Required Reading for HR Strategists
If you’re an HR strategist, you need to read this book. Dr. Bardwick, who was a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and is currently a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, did the workplace research for you and presents facts and figures from dozens of seminal employee motivation studies. You could pay a consulting firm a ton of money to compile this information, or you could just plop down 20 bucks and have it one convenient volume.
I don’t say this lightly, but if you’re in HR and don’t read this book you’re really missing out. (I’ve felt that way about Bob Sutton’s The No Asshole Rule and Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist. They’re essential reading.)
Free Webinar on Oct. 24
AMA is offering a free webcast on Oct. 24, 2007 for One Foot Out the Door where Judith Bardwick will discuss her book. Click here to register.
One Foot Out the Door: How to Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business
Publisher: AMACOM
Pub. Date: October 2007
ISBN-13: 9780814480588
Amazon. B&N.
-
SUBSCRIBE
-
-
-
