Tail wagging the dog
Dear e-COACH,
I am new in a position of Executive Director. After I was here for 10 days, one of my key managers asked for a raise. I thought the request was justified and gave it to him. Now the others are coming forward. They all have their different requests from salary increases to bonuses to more vacation time.
I'm spending all my time listening to staff complaints and trying to figure out whether I should give people what they want. To be honest, in some cases what they want does seem to be overdue and I'd like to keep them motivated and happy. I do have an open door policy, but how and where do I draw the line and get control of my day and these requests?
Dear Sender,
What we have here is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. It is your responsibility as the E.D. to run the operation, manage the people, set objectives, standards / guidelines and provide an environment for your people and business to thrive.
As part of that responsibility, you (or a designate) would manage the enforcement of the policies and procedures that deal with employee performances, salary reviews, incentive / bonus plans, vacations, hours of work, etc. Do you see where I'm going with this?
Based on the fact the compensation reviews are overdue, people are flocking to you and you are conducting ad hoc salary / performance meetings, I would guess that there are no policies and procedures in place. Or if there are, no one is using them. In the absence of such policies, it is your responsibility to create them, communicate them and live by them. It is not your responsibility to jump every time an employee (key or not) asks you to.
The fact that you don't feel in control of your time tells me that you are probably spending too much of it on fighting employee fires and not enough on high level strategic activities.
So here's what you can do. If you have policies, find them, read them and enforce them until you get a chance to revise them as you (and your management team or Board of Directors) see fit. If you have no policies, develop them utilizing professional advice, and then enforce them.
Until the policies are completed, announce to everyone that except for the most dire of emergencies, all reviews of salaries, bonuses, etc. will be deferred pending the date of completion of the policies. Once you have a policy that states, for example, that salaries will be reviewed on August 1st of each year, you can defer discussions to that timeframe. If anyone has been very unfairly treated, you may, on the designated date, consider retroactive changes.
An open door policy does not have to mean that you are available 24/7 to employees at their whim. It is acceptable to block periods of time that you are not available except for emergencies, during which you can make calls and work on complex projects.
You also are not obligated to enter into a discussion about compensation issues every time they are raised. If you have already told an employee that the situation will be reviewed on August 1st, you may remind them of that fact and indicate that the issue is closed until then. (Do make sure that you are prepared to discuss the matter fully on August 1st as promised.)
If you feel that everyone's salaries are urgently in need of immediate review, set up a schedule to meet with each individual and discuss the salary at that time, not before. You would be wise to wait several weeks until you have had a chance to form an opinion about their performance.
Staying in control when it comes to salaries means having a policy, a procedure, setting a schedule and being perceptive and flexible enough to recognize and allow for anomalies. Most employees don't like to have to beg for more - having a structure for compensation issues makes life easier for everyone.
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