leftovers: why aren't wages rising

Here's another post I stumbled across in the old archives - some kind of BB rant about wages. As usual, it's delightful reading, the standard combination of nonfact, fiction, and outright lies that I like to think of these days as the TOA trademark. (Again, as I noted a few days ago - returning to the TOA archives is not recommended).

So, what do I make of this topic a year and a half later? I still think a lot of people stagnate at work because they confuse 'advancement' with 'continuing to do what they are told to do' (1). A little obedience is required every now and then, of course, and for the most part there are certain things that just have to get done in every workplace. I do agree that being a reliable employee is worth a lot to any organization and that somewhere in the concept of a 'cost of living adjustment' is the very idea of The Raise that most people are talking about. But does the man pulling beer bottles out of my recycling get six cents a pop just for being a year into it? At some point, if you haven't created more value, you aren't more valuable... right?

Still, I get it. My post last year essentially responded to an argument that didn't really exist except on maybe the craziest fringes of humanity (which is basically TOA anyhow) and then, after inventing this non-argument, I attacked it with gusto. I think it's like the straw man method, or something like that. Whatever. My point remains the same because I talk to a lot of people who mention some vague interest in 'opportunity for advancement' or 'room to grow' yet they never seem to do anything that demonstrates a capacity for advancement or growth.

It's like my friend Mike from fifth grade who had a comically stupid golden retriever. This dog just had no concept of a glass door. We'd open the door and the dog would just stand there, breathing and blinking at what it thought was a forever sealed threshold. I'm sure at some level this dog wanted to go outside - it always responded to the leash - but really, this dog didn't need a leash because all of the neighborhood knew that no matter how good the opportunity, this dog wasn't going anywhere unless forced.

I think there is something to be said for crashing into all the barriers around you, and crashing hard. It'll be awkward and painful and frustrating but how else do you find your limits? How else do you reach your potential? Businesses don't just get more money for being in business a year, they earn more money by creating value for others through the application of their resources. That's all it is, and that's all it'll ever be. The sooner an employee figures it out, the sooner those elusive raises will find their way into those stagnant paychecks.

Footnotes? Sure, why not, I've already made a fool of myself...

1. Now, to be fair...

It doesn't help that a lot of bosses confuse 'leadership' or 'developing talent' with 'telling subordinates what to do' but that's a different idea for another time.