Ducks In A Row: Why Be Fair?
by Miki SaxonIs your company fair? Are you fair to your people? Is fairness part of your MAP?
How often have you heard (or said), “That’s not fair!”
People more or less accept that life isn’t fair, but are more than likely to walk from a company or manager they perceive as being unfair.
What do people expect within the business world in terms of fairness?
The obvious is that they don’t want to be shafted a la Enron. But fairness refers to more than the obvious, most often to the company/manager doing what they said they would do, i.e., walking their talk.
Fairness is what people want and companies/managers promise, but frequently don’t provide. For example:
Fairness excludes politics
- Official – people will be promoted based on what they do
- De facto – people are promoted based on who they know
Fairness is egalitarian
- Official – everybody will fly economy class when traveling
- De facto – senior managers fly first or business class
Fairness includes parity
- Official – similar skills are compensated similarly with any differences the result of merit
- De facto – compensation differences result from expediency, prejudice, or favoritism
All that’s fine and sounds wonderful if, in fact, fairness is part of your MAP.
Why be fair? If ‘doing the right thing’ doesn’t come all that naturally to you, is there a reason to embrace it anyway?
In other words, what’s in it for you?
Quite a lot, actually.
Fairness reduces turnover (and its associated costs), increases productivity, and fuels innovation.
These, in turn, make you look good as a manager, help your company’s street rep, which has a major impact on the caliber of the people applying for positions, making it easier to higher great people.
Bottom line: better reviews and increased compensation for you.
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: ZedBee|Zoë Power on flickr
August 4th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Things like walking the talk, practicing what you preach and keeping true to your stated principles are all key ingredients in being a “fair” employer.
I think that maintaining fairness across the board for everyone requires a above average level of awareness.
The biggest challenge in all this is that “fairness” can be subjective and based on an individual’s expectations.
Those situations of perceived “unfairness” become stories shared with friends and the company’s “street rep” is immediately in jeopardy.
I know it’s been said many times before but I think there should be a focus on soldifying lines of communication with employees.
If the enviorment allowed for open feedback without fear of repercussion in a perfect world, individuals may be a bit more open to sharing thoughts on situations that they perceived as being unfair.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Hi Audley, I agree totally with you regarding the need for open, honest communications backed by a culture in which the messenger is never killed.
I probably should have included that, but I try to keep my posts fairly short. I have written extensively on their importance in other articles, so I’m not ignoring them.
Thanks for taking time to remind us of their importance.