As a manager, one of the core roles that you have is to motivate your team so that they are engaged with their work and ultimately, do a good job. It’s hard to get a team to deliver great work if they aren’t motivated or engaged!
One of the biggest motivators for people is their salary. Sure, it isn’t everything to them but it’s a very important one in a few ways:
- They need to be paid enough to “live” i.e. they have bills to pay, commitments to meet etc, so they need a job that enables them to do this.
- They need to feel like they have the opportunity to increase their pay over time.
- They need to feel that their pay is a fair reflection of their role and responsibilities.
If they feel that these needs aren’t being met, then they are likely to become unmotivated and disengaged over time. Potentially leading to them looking for opportunities elsewhere.
But what if you want to meet these needs but you can’t?
What if your company is going through a tough period and the budget for salary increases is tight?
What if a close competitor is advertising a role that pays much higher?
Every company is different, so I can’t give you specific guidelines on this. But I can give you some general principles of how you can think about and approach this situation.
Related: Here is how to tell someone that they’re not getting a pay rise or promotion.
Be open about the position that you’re in
If you’ve been told by your own manager that pay rises can’t be given at the moment or that you’re only able to give nominal increases, then you should push to be allowed to communicate this to your team. It’s important for them to know that this is a company issue and that they aren’t being singled out and treated differently to everyone else.
Try to get as much context and information as you can from your own manager to explain what’s going on and if possible, a timeline for when things may be improved.
There is a balance here of course because if you are telling your team that budgets are tight at a company level, they may start to panic about their roles and potential layoffs. So you do need some support from upper management/leadership here to communicate what the situation is, therefore making your job a lot easier.
Acknowledge that team members might be disappointed but emphasise that you’d rather be open and honest with them, as opposed to leaving them in the dark.
Communicate upwards with feedback
It’s really important that you share the reactions and feedback from your team to your own bosses and managers. I’m not saying to relay every single conversation! I am saying that you should summarise (and probably anonymise) the feedback from your team and their general reaction to not being awarded pay rises. They need to be aware of the reaction “on the ground”, even if it doesn’t change their position.
The other side to this is that your team will want to feel heard in this kind of situation. They can pass on their feedback (and probably frustrations) to you as their manager. But you can extend this by promising that you’ll pass along their concerns and feedback to upper management as well so that they also feel heard at a higher level.
One thing that you can say to your team here (assuming it’s true of course!) is something along the lines of:
“I can’t promise that I can change anything, but I can promise that I’ll listen and pass along your feedback and concerns to management and that they’ll listen too.”
Sometimes, this is all that you can do and ensures that you’re being honest with your team.
Try to be objective about what your team is paid
There will be times when you may have the budget to give someone a pay rise, but it’s actually not the right thing to do. Or they deserve a pay rise but a fairly minimal one.
This could be for any number of reasons, including:
- Their performance has plateaued a bit and they’re struggling to hit targets or meet expectations.
- They have historically received very large pay raises and whilst the next one is fair, it may appear to be a lot smaller in comparison.
- They have unrealistic expectations on what their next pay rise may be and how much they feel their overall salary should be.
In situations like these, you need to be as objective as possible in regards to their salary and ask yourself honestly whether they are paid fairly at the moment. You will almost certainly need some help from external market research to get a feel for what other companies are paying for similar roles.
You should also compare against other people that you manage to ensure that those who are in similar roles with similar experience and responsibilities, are paid similar amounts.
As a result, if you feel that someone is already paid fairly and / or that the pay rise they’re receiving is also fair, then you should be prepared to communicate this to them if they’re unhappy with either.
Learn what motivates them beyond money
Motivation is highly subjective and personal to all of us. The reasons that we get out of bed in the morning and why we work can vary massively depending on the individual. As a result, this is a great example of where the right approach is to treat everyone differently and try to understand them individually.
Of course, you may well see patterns and trends across different people, but don’t go into this exercise assuming that everyone is the same.
Instead, be curious about them during your one-on-one meetings and try to uncover what really drives them.
It’s a good idea to be pretty direct about their drivers and motivations beyond money. So you should ask them pretty directly about this when you get the opportunity.
One note here – it’s a good idea to ask this kind of question early on in your relationship with them and ideally, when pay rises aren’t generally in doubt across the company. This is because if you wait for a time when pay rises are stopped or minimised, the question is basically a precursor to having to tell them about this situation.
Some examples of non-monetary motivators
Finally, here are some examples of what you can look out for when it comes to motivators that aren’t money related.
Concrete professional development
Do they have a concrete professional development plan and a “next step” that they are moving towards? A good development plan will include far more than just being paid more and you need to ensure that it’s up to date, relevant and that your team member is working through it.
Autonomy and trust
Don’t underestimate the power that giving someone autonomy and trust can have. Feeling like your manager trusts you to get on with your job and not feeling micromanaged can have a huge positive impact on someone’s motivation and engagement.
Work/life balance
The agency world is littered with examples of companies who pay very well, but then have a working environment that leads to stress, anxiety and burnout. Giving your team an environment that respects boundaries and enables your team to enjoy their life outside of work has a lot of value beyond money. This is particularly true for those people who are a little more experienced and later in their careers.
Strong culture and colleagues
In one of my agency roles when I was younger, I was paid well but I knew that I could get a lot more money by going elsewhere. The main reason that I didn’t was because of the culture I worked in and the team who I worked with. They were super smart, super motivated and we got the best out of each other. For me, this made it worth having a lower salary than I could get elsewhere and was a big motivator for many of us at that time.
Meaningful work and having an impact
No one likes the feeling of working really hard but never feeling like it actually means anything. For some, this goes even further and they proactively want to know that the work they are doing means something. This could just be for the clients or stakeholders they are working for, or it could be a wider meaning such as the environment or a cause that means something to them.
Recognition
Finally, recognition and praise for a job well done can be a great motivator. You don’t need to go overboard, but someone knowing that you have seen and recognised when they do a good job can go a long way in keeping them motivated and engaged with their role. Again, don’t underestimate this and its power.
