 Many of you have these jobs in your organizations. You fill them with new (or nearly new) graduates, either from college or a particular technical school certification or licensure. Then you expose them to a year, maybe 18 months, of intense training and development, after which they are prepared to assume a critical role and set of responsibilities.Or be lured away by a talent competitor for significantly more money. These employees could be manufacturing technicians or nurses. They might work in the physical sciences or account management. What they have in common - regardless of their role or your industry - is that you have invested time, energy and resources into making them very valuable, and now your pay program may be preventing you from paying them commensurate with that value. That annual 3% merit opportunity simply won't cut it in these circumstances. Situations like this often drive a lot of fire fighting, a lot of adhoc market adjustment activity. Unfortunately, this type of reactive approach only feeds employees' perceptions (and the possible truth) that the organization doesn't recognize how valuable they are. That they must take matters into their own hands in order to get paid what they're worth; not a tough thing to do when the recruiters start calling. Do you make your employees too valuable too fast? First of all, congratulations! Likely you've invested a lot in defining the competencies required for success in an important role and you're delivering the necessary training experiences to get employees there quickly. Well done you! Now let's make sure you aren't undermining that investment with your pay practices. Here are a few thoughts on tackling that challenge.
Gather data to understand the problem. Start by collecting the data necessary to get a clear understanding of the nature and scope of the problem. You might look at your market adjustment activity, information on departures, counter-offers and what can be gleaned from exit interviews. Is this a more general and diffused issue - or is it concentrated in a particular job or job family? Is compensation really the driving force behind quits and threatened quits, or are there other forces at work?
Seek market reference points to confirm the value trajectory. If you are indeed hiring "fresh outs" and losing them 12-18 months later, and you have confirmed that compensation is a significant factor, focus on the kind of market reference points that will help you understand the value trajectory that these employees take during the first critical years. Career centers at educational institutions often have information on new grad job offers, allowing you to confirm the starting point. Then try pricing the kinds of jobs to which they are fleeing. Note that these might be very different roles in very different organizations from yours. Use this to estimate the typical net change in value for these employees through and following their development period.
Audit/adjust pay policies and practices accordingly. If you have an employee group where, thanks to your training efforts, the market value needle is moving at a rate that "regular" merit increases - or even merit plus promotional combos - can't possibly match, you've created a poaching risk. Time to consider carving out this job - or job family - for a different approach. This might be a tighter series of more narrow salary ranges, coupled with an accelerated salary review process, allowing employees to move both through and up as they hit developmental milestones. Or it might be a defined set of salary steps overlaid on a the regular salary range, allowing a rapid progression through the first 12-18 months (again, assuming development and performance milestones are met), after which they can be rolled back into the regular cycle and process. Or something else still.
How have you responded to situations where you've made employees too valuable too fast? What advice and experience can you share?Ann Bares is the Founder and Editor of the Compensation Café, Author of Compensation Force and Managing Partner of Altura Consulting Group LLC, where she provides compensation consulting to a range of client organizations. Ann serves as President of the Twin Cities Compensation Network (the most awesome local reward network on the planet) and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Compensation & Benefits Review, the leading journal for those who design, implement, evaluate and communicate total rewards. She earned her M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, is a foodie and bookhound in her spare time. Follow her on Twitter at @annbares. Creative Commons image "Arrows showing up" by FutUndBeidl |
Showing posts with label everything else. Show all posts
Showing posts with label everything else. Show all posts
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Sunday, May 12, 2013
The Little Prince
Have always heard about the existence of the book "The Little Prince", yet have never really sat down and read the book
If you are this way as well.. below is a cheat-sheet on the story...
If you are this way as well.. below is a cheat-sheet on the story...
If Saint-Exupéry is to be believed The Little Prince is a book for children written for grown-ups. It can be read on many different levels to provide pleasure and food for thought for readers of all ages.
The author, an aviator, crashes with his aeroplane in the middle of the Sahara desert. While he is trying to repair his aeroplane, a little boy appears and asks him to draw a sheep. The author learns that The Little Prince comes from asteroid B-612 where he has left behind three volcanoes and a rose.
Before reaching Earth, he has visited other planets and met some very odd people: a king, a conceited man, a drunkard, a lamplighter, a geographer… Since arriving on Earth, he has spoken to a fox who has taught him that to know someone or something, you must « tame » them, and that makes them unique. « What is essential is invisible to the eye, says the fox. »
In order to return to his planet and his rose, The Little Prince allows himself to be bitten by a poisonous snake: his planet is too far away, he cannot take his « shell ». The aviator, who has succeeded in repairing his plane, also quits the desert. He still hopes The Little Prince will return one day and asks us to write and tell him if ever we should meet his friend.Pour les lecteurs qui souhaitent se remémorer le livre et ses principales lignes, voici un résumé du voyage du petit bonhomme et de ses rencontres.
More about the planets visited by the Little Prince
Each planet the Little Prince visits can be seen as an allegory of human nature. If you have already read the book, we invite you now to take a new look at the different planets.
Each planet the Little Prince visits can be seen as an allegory of human nature. If you have already read the book, we invite you now to take a new look at the different planets.
The king – asteroid B 325
In the book, the Little Prince meets a king who claims to rule over all with absolute power. His only “subject”, however, is an old rat that he hears at night. The king exercises his power over the sun by ordering it to set – but only at sunset. In order not to lose face, this oddity of a king gives only “reasonable” orders (“I order you to sit down”) – as good a way as any to satisfy his thirst for power. The Little Prince is not fooled, however, and sees the monarch as no more than another odd grown-up.
In the book, the Little Prince meets a king who claims to rule over all with absolute power. His only “subject”, however, is an old rat that he hears at night. The king exercises his power over the sun by ordering it to set – but only at sunset. In order not to lose face, this oddity of a king gives only “reasonable” orders (“I order you to sit down”) – as good a way as any to satisfy his thirst for power. The Little Prince is not fooled, however, and sees the monarch as no more than another odd grown-up.
The conceited man - asteroid B 326
Wearing a hat as showy as it is ridiculous, the conceited man sees himself as the handsomest and the most intelligent man on his tiny planet. The Little Prince reminds the conceited man that he is, in fact, all alone on his planet, but still the conceited man wishes to be admired and applauded. The Little Prince is perplexed by such insistent vanity: “Grown-ups are really very odd,” he says to himself.
Wearing a hat as showy as it is ridiculous, the conceited man sees himself as the handsomest and the most intelligent man on his tiny planet. The Little Prince reminds the conceited man that he is, in fact, all alone on his planet, but still the conceited man wishes to be admired and applauded. The Little Prince is perplexed by such insistent vanity: “Grown-ups are really very odd,” he says to himself.
The drunkard –asteroid B 327
He lives alone with his collection of bottles and spends his time drinking to forget that he is ashamed of drinking. To the Little Prince, it is clear that the drunkard is deeply unhappy, and he wants to help. The drunkard, however, withdraws into sadness and silence. The Little Prince is left perplexed by this adult who sees no way out of his misery.
He lives alone with his collection of bottles and spends his time drinking to forget that he is ashamed of drinking. To the Little Prince, it is clear that the drunkard is deeply unhappy, and he wants to help. The drunkard, however, withdraws into sadness and silence. The Little Prince is left perplexed by this adult who sees no way out of his misery.
The businessman – asteroid B 328
The businessman is a large gentleman who is so very busy that he does not even have time to light his cigarette. He spends his time counting stars, which he claims to own. Then he writes down the numbers on a piece of paper that he puts in the bank. The Little Prince tries to make him see that he is wasting his life and that “owning” means being useful to what you own. He speaks of his rose, which he waters and protects. The businessman is left speechless, and the Little Prince once again finds grown-ups to be very disappointing.
The businessman is a large gentleman who is so very busy that he does not even have time to light his cigarette. He spends his time counting stars, which he claims to own. Then he writes down the numbers on a piece of paper that he puts in the bank. The Little Prince tries to make him see that he is wasting his life and that “owning” means being useful to what you own. He speaks of his rose, which he waters and protects. The businessman is left speechless, and the Little Prince once again finds grown-ups to be very disappointing.
The lamplighter – asteroid B 329The Little Prince is initially rather charmed by this character. His job is a useful one: to light the lamp at sunset. But the speed of rotation of the lamplighter’s planet is increasing all the time, and the poor lamplighter is forever putting out his lamp and immediately lighting it again. “Orders are orders,” says the lamplighter to the Little Prince who, in spite of everything, can only admire the effort this grown-up puts into being faithful to his orders.
The geographer – Asteroid B 330The geographer is an old gentleman who writes down, in thick books, the information brought to him by explorers. His planet is vast and magnificent, but he has no way of knowing whether it has rivers and mountains because “the geographer is far too important to waste his time browsing around”. The geographer is someone who needs the stories of others in order to know things; for the Little Prince, on the other hand, it takes effort to know things. It is the geographer who advises the Little Prince to visit Earth because, he says, it has “a good reputation”.
Monday, January 02, 2012
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Beware Of Pitfalls In Property Deals
Besides errant agents, there are other factors to be mindful of during bad times, say experts
A couple recently lost out on a property deal because their agent sold off the unit without their knowledge.
In another case, a couple paid cash for a deal that did not materialise.
In every property downturn, some agents will get 'creative', though a deal can fail for many other reasons, property agency bosses said.
Buyers should always take precautions and do their homework when presented with what seems like a really good deal, they said.
Case 1
A couple thought they had bought a unit at Yishun Emerald when they paid $5,000 cash for the option to purchase, as well as another $20,000 upfront to the seller, of which $8,000 went to the agent.
The seller let them move in early while they waited for the $550,000 sale to complete. They held their housewarming party and settled in.
But the deal fell through. The condo's management could not transfer the unit to them because of the seller's debt arrears.
The $12,000 upfront cash was for the seller to pay that debt. Not only did he not pay it, he also asked to borrow money from the couple on a few occasions, said the husband, MrJumari Osman, 34.
'We realised the seller was also defaulting on his housing loan and that his flat was later repossessed by the bank,' he said.
By then, the couple had forked out nearly $40,000, including legal fees and the bank mortgage penalty fee. The agent refused to return his commission to them and the seller said he was flat broke.
'It was a negative sale, so we knew the seller wasn't going to get anything out of it, and that he had a debt with the condo's management,' said Mr Jumari.
'But we were not told at all that the unit was in danger of being repossessed.'
The agent, Mr Jumari said, claimed that he did inform them of the problem. In any case, he was the one who instructed them to pay the $20,000 to speed up the sale, said Mr Jumari.
In this case, 'the buyer should have made the cheque out to the MCST (management corporation) instead of the seller, knowing that the seller has debts', said Mr Chris Koh, director of Dennis Wee Properties.
What the agent should have done was to get a lawyer to add a clause in the standard option to purchase document, saying the $12,000 is for the payment of the MCST debts, he said.
As an added precaution, the clause could have also said that the $12,000 was conditional to the sale, he said.
As a sign of goodwill, the agent should refund the commission, agency bosses said.
In general, buyers should avoid paying more than 1 per cent option money in a resale deal, said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail.
This way, their exposure will be limited if the deal gets terminated for various reasons, such as the death of the seller or if the seller becomes bankrupt, experts said.
Case 2
Mr Kenneth Chia and his wife were so keen on a Spring Grove unit in Grange Road that they were prepared to offer a cheque on the spot.
They offered $990,000 - $10,000 more than the previous offer - and were willing to raise it if there was more competition.
The seller's agent told them not to bother with the cheque (the asking price was $1.08 million) and later sold the unit to another party for $1 million in a co-broke deal.
The couple's beef was that the agent did not inform them of another higher offer that came later.
When confronted, the seller's agent said she was not bound by duty to tell them about it, said Mr Chia, 32.
'We bought a much better unit for a bit more ($1.08 million). But if we had known about the $1 million offer, we could have bid at $1.05 million and the seller would have got $50,000 more.'
In hindsight, everyone may be willing to pay a bit more, experts said. 'What keen buyers should do is to make an immediate offer that is close to the seller's expectations,' said PropNex's Mr Ismail.
In this case, if the couple did not raise their offer on the spot, it meant their offer was only $990,000, said ERA associate director Eugene Lim.
'If another buyer later offers a cheque at a higher price that the seller agrees to, it will be a done deal. The agent is not obligated to inform the previous home-hunter of the higher offer,' he said.
The key is whether buyers are serious about their offers, experts said. 'When the buyer makes an offer to the seller through our agent, we do it officially through a document called the offer to purchase. It is never verbal,' said Mr Lim.
Case 3
There are sellers out there desperate for cash, and agents may thus structure an attractive deal for the buyer.
In these cases, the buyer may be tempted by the extra discount, which is all right as long as precautions are taken, said Mr Ismail.
Let's assume a seller is willing to sell his $1 million property for $950,000 on the condition that the buyer gives him 10 per cent of it in cash immediately.
Typically, the buyer pays 1 per cent, and a further 4 or 9 per cent within four weeks, to the seller's lawyer. The money will be transferred to the seller when the deal is completed three months later.
So if the buyer agrees to give him 10 per cent cash, it means that only 90 per cent, or $855,000 is going towards the property purchase.
Problems will arise if the seller's housing loan is more than that amount. 'If the seller cannot redeem the loan, the property will not be transferred to the buyer,' said Mr Ismail.
To avoid this problem, a buyer should get his lawyer to check on the seller's outstanding loan on the property, he said.
Another risk is that the seller becomes a bankrupt within the three months it takes to complete the deal, said Mr Ismail.
A buyer should therefore also check to see if there are any pending legal suits against the seller to ensure he won't be made a bankrupt before the deal is sealed, he said.
Besides errant agents, there are other factors to be mindful of during bad times, say experts
A couple recently lost out on a property deal because their agent sold off the unit without their knowledge.
In another case, a couple paid cash for a deal that did not materialise.
In every property downturn, some agents will get 'creative', though a deal can fail for many other reasons, property agency bosses said.
Buyers should always take precautions and do their homework when presented with what seems like a really good deal, they said.
Case 1
A couple thought they had bought a unit at Yishun Emerald when they paid $5,000 cash for the option to purchase, as well as another $20,000 upfront to the seller, of which $8,000 went to the agent.
The seller let them move in early while they waited for the $550,000 sale to complete. They held their housewarming party and settled in.
But the deal fell through. The condo's management could not transfer the unit to them because of the seller's debt arrears.
The $12,000 upfront cash was for the seller to pay that debt. Not only did he not pay it, he also asked to borrow money from the couple on a few occasions, said the husband, MrJumari Osman, 34.
'We realised the seller was also defaulting on his housing loan and that his flat was later repossessed by the bank,' he said.
By then, the couple had forked out nearly $40,000, including legal fees and the bank mortgage penalty fee. The agent refused to return his commission to them and the seller said he was flat broke.
'It was a negative sale, so we knew the seller wasn't going to get anything out of it, and that he had a debt with the condo's management,' said Mr Jumari.
'But we were not told at all that the unit was in danger of being repossessed.'
The agent, Mr Jumari said, claimed that he did inform them of the problem. In any case, he was the one who instructed them to pay the $20,000 to speed up the sale, said Mr Jumari.
In this case, 'the buyer should have made the cheque out to the MCST (management corporation) instead of the seller, knowing that the seller has debts', said Mr Chris Koh, director of Dennis Wee Properties.
What the agent should have done was to get a lawyer to add a clause in the standard option to purchase document, saying the $12,000 is for the payment of the MCST debts, he said.
As an added precaution, the clause could have also said that the $12,000 was conditional to the sale, he said.
As a sign of goodwill, the agent should refund the commission, agency bosses said.
In general, buyers should avoid paying more than 1 per cent option money in a resale deal, said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail.
This way, their exposure will be limited if the deal gets terminated for various reasons, such as the death of the seller or if the seller becomes bankrupt, experts said.
Case 2
Mr Kenneth Chia and his wife were so keen on a Spring Grove unit in Grange Road that they were prepared to offer a cheque on the spot.
They offered $990,000 - $10,000 more than the previous offer - and were willing to raise it if there was more competition.
The seller's agent told them not to bother with the cheque (the asking price was $1.08 million) and later sold the unit to another party for $1 million in a co-broke deal.
The couple's beef was that the agent did not inform them of another higher offer that came later.
When confronted, the seller's agent said she was not bound by duty to tell them about it, said Mr Chia, 32.
'We bought a much better unit for a bit more ($1.08 million). But if we had known about the $1 million offer, we could have bid at $1.05 million and the seller would have got $50,000 more.'
In hindsight, everyone may be willing to pay a bit more, experts said. 'What keen buyers should do is to make an immediate offer that is close to the seller's expectations,' said PropNex's Mr Ismail.
In this case, if the couple did not raise their offer on the spot, it meant their offer was only $990,000, said ERA associate director Eugene Lim.
'If another buyer later offers a cheque at a higher price that the seller agrees to, it will be a done deal. The agent is not obligated to inform the previous home-hunter of the higher offer,' he said.
The key is whether buyers are serious about their offers, experts said. 'When the buyer makes an offer to the seller through our agent, we do it officially through a document called the offer to purchase. It is never verbal,' said Mr Lim.
Case 3
There are sellers out there desperate for cash, and agents may thus structure an attractive deal for the buyer.
In these cases, the buyer may be tempted by the extra discount, which is all right as long as precautions are taken, said Mr Ismail.
Let's assume a seller is willing to sell his $1 million property for $950,000 on the condition that the buyer gives him 10 per cent of it in cash immediately.
Typically, the buyer pays 1 per cent, and a further 4 or 9 per cent within four weeks, to the seller's lawyer. The money will be transferred to the seller when the deal is completed three months later.
So if the buyer agrees to give him 10 per cent cash, it means that only 90 per cent, or $855,000 is going towards the property purchase.
Problems will arise if the seller's housing loan is more than that amount. 'If the seller cannot redeem the loan, the property will not be transferred to the buyer,' said Mr Ismail.
To avoid this problem, a buyer should get his lawyer to check on the seller's outstanding loan on the property, he said.
Another risk is that the seller becomes a bankrupt within the three months it takes to complete the deal, said Mr Ismail.
A buyer should therefore also check to see if there are any pending legal suits against the seller to ensure he won't be made a bankrupt before the deal is sealed, he said.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Look your best in photos
Learn to be more photogenic. Carson Kressley, who teamed up with Nikon to host an online series called "look Good in Pictures" @ www.lookgoodinpictures.com says:
* Create some spare between u your body and your arm, to appear more shapely. Try placing your hand on your waist, bringing your elbow out to the side
* Avoid a double chin by having the photographer hold the camera slighly above eye level and pointing it down
* Turn your face a little to the side instead of looking at the camera dead-on; this will make you look slimmer
* Giggle out loud right before the picture is taken - it will give a more natural smile
[Note: Ms ang..if you are reading this..you don't need the above! ]
Learn to be more photogenic. Carson Kressley, who teamed up with Nikon to host an online series called "look Good in Pictures" @ www.lookgoodinpictures.com says:
* Create some spare between u your body and your arm, to appear more shapely. Try placing your hand on your waist, bringing your elbow out to the side
* Avoid a double chin by having the photographer hold the camera slighly above eye level and pointing it down
* Turn your face a little to the side instead of looking at the camera dead-on; this will make you look slimmer
* Giggle out loud right before the picture is taken - it will give a more natural smile
[Note: Ms ang..if you are reading this..you don't need the above! ]
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Blue + Yellow = Green
Bought these 2 plants in Dec-2008 - left is "baby pumpkin" (not meant to be eaten) and right is red peppers. Originally had thought that once the flowers/fruits (when first bought it) wilts, that's it and time to say "bye bye..". But hey, there are many new leaves, flowers and fruits!
Bought these 2 plants in Dec-2008 - left is "baby pumpkin" (not meant to be eaten) and right is red peppers. Originally had thought that once the flowers/fruits (when first bought it) wilts, that's it and time to say "bye bye..". But hey, there are many new leaves, flowers and fruits!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Australia may cut migrant flowHope that this doesn't affect my friend and her hubby's plans to continue in Australia after graduation.
Of course, I would love that she is back to Singapore. But ... ... for all I know, she may decide to settle in yet another country, even if not successful in Australia yet.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Photography
With the decreasing prices of digital cameras, more and more people are being interested in photography.
With the decreasing prices of digital cameras, more and more people are being interested in photography.Saw this photo from the 'photography' thread of the gossip forum I frequent (yes..even gossip forum also have a thread on photography!)
I especially like the unfocused bits infront as well as that the main attraction is not right smack in the center. What do you think?
I especially like the unfocused bits infront as well as that the main attraction is not right smack in the center. What do you think?
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