Equal Pay or Performance?

Recently on Facebook ... "equal pay is not a womans issue --- it's a human right."

 "Why is this even a question?" 

... and "why would any woman vote Republican?"

I responded: "This is a sham issue. It has been clearly proven that women most often receive equal pay but have different priorities and responsibilities in the home and as a result often work less hours and earn less."

The problem is that many of us are looking at the equal pay issue from two totally different perspectives. This is a key to why Obama has failed to create jobs and why Romney will succeed in creating jobs.  Romney understands how business works, and it is not legislated by government.

I will attempt to explain this from real personal experiences in the actual free enterprise business world that I have worked in for the past 45 years.

Ever wonder why charter schools are so much more successful? Results and performance are at the top of their agenda ... not mandated government guidelines. 

In the real world of small business ... performance based pay is the rule. It cannot be directed by politicians or unions and their good intentions without bad end results.

My first job was as a timekeeper at McDonnell Douglas. My first week on the job, it took me a few days to figure out my responsibilities. After a few days, I realized I could get all of my work done in half the allotted time. One day at in the fifth hour of my shift I had finished my work for the day. The guy sitting next to me said; “you can’t do that” “what” I asked. “You can’t finish early, it makes the rest of us look bad,” he said. "That’s your problem" I replied. 

An hour later my boss (a woman) walked by. She looked at my desk, and the guy next to me as well. She walked over to his desk and took half of his remaining work and put it on my desk. A year later when I was laid off ... this same guy was still there because he had seniority over me. In your world this might make sense; but in my world it does not.

This is the union system. I am sure at some point it has brought  benefits to many ... but it is certainly not better for performers or the employers who hire them. 

The whole equality in pay issue is for the most part whining. 

If a person does not like the way they are treated by their employer ... they should find another job, and be more careful in finding it. 

Many employers are not fair to anyone ... ever. This has nothing to do with equal pay but rather a boss who is a jerk.That is the way it has always been ans ALWAYS will be. 

Some employers are more than very fair ... find that employer and do great work there. The jerk boss loses the great employee every time. Then, everybody wins. Race, gender or sexual orientation should not ever even be an issue. 

I must assume that the inequality charge is not that women do not receive equal pay within the failing union system.

My next job was for the largest real estate company in America at the time. Everyone was paid with the same performance based pay schedule. No performance … no pay. Lots of performance ... lots of pay. I found that if you were willing to do things others were afraid to do ... the results were much better. I soon found myself earning more than double the amount of lower achievers for the same number of hours worked on the job. 

I was quickly promoted, and made the manager over the others. I then spent my time helping others learn the skills needed to perform better. When I succeeded on this mission, my income was more than triple that of the other managers doing the same work, I was quickly promoted to vice president over 10 other managers. 

My performance there resulted in my income being more than double that of the executive vice president over me. This system worked well for me, until I was driving a Mercedes 450SL and my boss was driving a Fiat. When a plan was put in place that reversed performance pay to equalize things ... I simply went to my boss and explained it must be changed or I would resign. He changed the plan.

Women consistently were my better performers, and as a result many women were either paid more or worked less as their personal needs dictated. My top performer was a Jewish man who came to me after driving a dutch cheese truck.  He became number one out of over1500 sales people. His parents were murdered in a Nazi concentration camp and he worked harder to succeed. Needless to say he was the top performer and was paid much more than the others. His race or gender was not ever considered. Nobody was ignorant enough to complain that he was paid many times more than all others for the same number of hours worked.

I did have one challenge that comes to mind with an escrow officer who worked for me. When she became pregnant, she informed her manager (a woman) that our insurance did not include pregnancy as required under an idiotic rule created in Sacramento. And as a result, that I was required to pay for her pregnancy. I had my manager check it out, and was told she was correct. I said fine, and paid a large sum for her pregnancy. 

There were no hard feelings; but I also made a business decision. The next week, I gave a raise to everyone equal to their health insurance cost, and then cancelled health Insurance for all. There was not one complaint. This is how legislated bureaucratic BS is dealt with in the free business world.

Never in this process was race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation even considered in the performance based pay system. Some women did better, they were paid more. When trying to make everyone's pay equal was tried … the result was lower performance. 

Can you imagine the liberal uproar if sports stars or entertainment stars were told that they would be paid equally on the basis of their actual hours worked?

Perform more you get more … end of discussion.

It's the results that count.