On the first day of the month an employee asks his boss for a raise. Boss says, "I am not sure that I can really justify paying more money. I don’t know that it really makes sense to pay your more money, but if you work hard and improve, we can talk in a few months about a raise."

So, the employee sends his résumé out into the world to find him a better job. For the next month, the employee is focusing his efforts on finding new work… writing cover letters, conducting interviews and making follow-up calls.

After focusing more of his time looking for a new job instead of doing his current job, he gets a new job offer worth 10% more than his current job… he is ready to jump ship.

The employee goes back to the boss and says that he is putting in his two week notice because he has accepted another job.

Two possible responses:

For a valued employee, the boss says, "If I can match the job offer, will you stay?"

For the mediocre or bad employee, the boss simply says, "Pack up your things."

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More often than not, the employee doesn’t even ask for a raise because he figures he knows what the answer is. So often, when a good employee turns in notice, I hear employers say, "What do I need to do to save an employee?"

My thought is that once someone decides to move on, it is going to cost me a lot more to keep him than if I would have just treated him fairly to begin with. Not to mention the amount of money the employee wasted of mine looking for other work, and now I have to pay to make the employee happy again.

Here’s a thought, always pay an employee what he is worth. Never be put in a position that you have to say, "Well, you weren’t worth it when you weren’t looking for other work, but now that you are looking for other work, you are worth it."

Always treat your employees like they are always looking for other work and really work hard to make them happy…. after all, they are looking right now.

Tags: Get a Job, Payroll, Raise, Recruiting, Resume

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