What to pay

What is the time from someones life worth?

The topic of salaries and renumeration is a huge topic that deserves its own book. My take on it is that people should be paid fairly, to their market “value” and “enough”. 

Up to a certain level, getting a salary is needed for survival. The employee needs to buy food, have shelter and warmth. Leaving Maslow's Theory of Needs (1943) right here, we are talking about what happens after that level is met; after all we are all in “self-actualisation”, the lucky top of the triangle in the world that can even have the luxury to think about this. 

Motivation can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. Once we have the “Hygiene factors” met such as people have an ok computer to work with, somewhere to sit and work, colleagues or some other factors met — the topic of salary is a big topic.

If you pay much more than everyone else, you are of course appreciating your staff and in a way sharing profit fair, but it could also attract employees that's only in it for the money; they are extrinsically motivated. They will, paradoxically, work less for more pay. Their main motivation is to make money.

I don’t know about you, but I would like to work with people who’s main motivation is to build great products. Of course everyone wants more money, so be fair and increase the salary in parity with profits and gradually every year instead of the employees having to ask for it.

Otherwise the discussion will be around salary all the time...

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