Organizations, compensation, career advancement in the Arab World
If your a company owner/CEO Read this. If your an individual/employee read this.
Long lengthy title, don’t you think. I know I should write a book on the subject someday, but here goes a personal view on what goes on behind corporate walls in our region.
First of all Human resources has become Human capital, so eventually we are there, we are an asset to the company, just like their other assets; buildings, investments, equipment and so forth. Good start.
Secondly employees are getting more secure than ever, but is that a good thing? how can you get rid of the sleazy bunch, the non performers, the bottom of the pit worms?
It’s good that a corporation can’t take advantage of you, but its side effects are actually worse in the long run.
In the end, the good ones always have the best return, they do not seek safety nets, because they are good at what they do, they love it, they are creative and can always find another place to do their magic, they actually shoo off offers for their love of the corporation.
So.. How do companies that care about their human capital reward them? well to start that off, we need to know that in any organization there lies 3 major levels of employees;
- Entry level
- Mid level
- Senior level
In each level, the game is different, the system is different and most of all the methodology is different.
The employee(Entry Level): The majority or 99% of new hires are looking for 2 things only, a stable permanent job after college or high school, and as much money as you can give them.
The Company: Gives them medium range salaries, based upon the organizations market size and leadership or lagger position, packages differ, the higher the company is, the less it is willing to pay, the lower the company is the more it has to pay to attract the right talent.
What they do is give the new hires a good salary, and then continue to treat them as newbies well past their break in period, the staff member gets fed up, seeks new jobs, leaves, for 30% more money, better package and the company pays 3 times the original money it paid to attract a new replacement.
What should they do? RETAIN the good, let the bad ones contaminate the others if they are dumb enough to take them. How? well..it’s different for each level. I hate it when a company fires someone for stealing or some bad thing they do, then give him a paper that states he was a good employee!
It gets tricky after entry level, here you have to distinguish the greedy bunch, the money lovers from the growth ones. Some need more money, nothing is wrong with that, in the end the company should know how much this individual provides in profits to the company, and she the worker should know what her hourly wage is…
Others need to be told they are good and the company really needs them, they need to be recognized for their efforts in front of their peers, they need to be promoted to do more and take on more responsibility.
IDENTIFY them, separate them, treat them as they need to be treated, not like you want, it doesn’t make any sense to any party.
The segregation should be handled with more close relationship style the higher up the ladder, you need to take care of your troops, each by what he needs on an individual basis, this is not an economies of scale kind of thing! details and special treatment, not a one size fits all strategy like the normal practice here!
I guess its a long detailed subject, if you want email me for information, not cause I say I know it all, only because I deal on a personal level with all levels of any organization and I love to hear their ideas and needs.. in the end, they are all that really matter.
mamdooh.alradadi thinking about paving a way for the new generation so they don’t fall over the same stones we fell over when we started out in Jeddah, 6th September 2010
me@mamdoohalradadi.com