You will be shocked and maybe even ashamed to know that my interest (as a Melbournian) in sport is next to nil. However, the sport that has gained my interest this past month or so has been the media attention around salaries, such as for Gary Ablett Jr’s move to another AFL club for more money and how this has thrown into question his loyalty to his current club. He is being painted as somewhat of a traitor for considering advancing his sporting career and pay cheque, over that of being loyal to the club where he started.
In the business world, it seems to be an easier decision to make and one less judged in such a negative light. Yet, in some organisations, there is also this sense of disloyalty and ill feeling when staff leave an organization that would clearly rather have them stay. Generally, these are the top performers whom they make feel guilty about moving on and in some instances coming up with the sweetest deal to keep them. However, research shows that most leave within 12 months after being convinced to stay!
So how do you keep and attract top performers? Regardless of what we all like to admit, money talks. We see it in the sporting and business world. Sporting teams and organisations know that to succeed they need the best people. When there are barriers in place to prevent this, then some will take a different approach (ethical or not) such as the Melbourne Storm affair. Ross Clennett has gone into this topic in much detail in his blog post ‘Integrity – what is it?‘ He is appalled at the former Storm officials who stand accused of having established and perpetuated this deception: ‘Everybody does it.’ Ross goes on to say “If you don’t have a foundation of integrity, what do you have? What’s the real accomplishment in victory if you’ve cheated to get there?”
In next to all research around what drives and motivates people to join an organisation, salary will be in the top three reasons. We certainly found this in our High Salary Earners report, where the top three criteria in a high salary earner’s decision to change jobs were (in order of importance): the leadership team of the organisation; career progression opportunities within the organisation; and the salary package on offer. Therefore, it is not surprising that salary can cause a lot of angst – and even bad behaviour – within the business and sporting worlds.
