By: Abiola Anyakunbi
An employee deserves to earn his pay after performing the task expected of him at the end of an agreed period. Salary can be a satisfier or a dis-satisfier at the same time. It is a satisfier when it is paid promptly and a dis-satisfier if it is not paid as at when due.
Print media houses celebration on their front pages, governments failure to pay salaries promptly could at be best described as nauseating because these media houses are indulging in similar act. Some media firms’ situation is even worse because they have deliberately failed to address this issue over a period of time and the aftermath of Covid-19 ha compounded the already bad situation because staff are being paid percentages of the agreed salary.
First and foremost, salary is monetary compensation or remuneration, or personnel expenses paid by an employer to an employee in exchange for work done. Payment may be calculated as a fixed amount for each task completed or based on an easily measured quantity of work done. It means salaries are part of the expenses that are involved in running a business. Depending on the structure and traditions of different economies around the world, salary/wage rates will be influenced by market forces (supply & demand), legislation and tradition.
The salary range should reflect employer needs such as the overlap in salary ranges that will allow career development and pay increases without promotion at each level and the percentage of increase the organization will offer an employee for a promotion.
The number of employees available to perform a specific job in the employers stable, competition for employees with the needed skills, education, and the availability of jobs, in general help employers, set the salary range for a particular job.
Media houses must carefully define the work culture that they want to create and aim their best salary increases at those contributing to the success of that culture. Salary strategy must align with the company’s human resources goals and strategies. If the human resources function is charged with developing a highly skilled, outstanding workforce, company must pay above industry range to attract the quality employees being sought.
It must be noted that paying far less than comparable media firms will bring in mediocre employees and fail to fulfill desire to create an outstanding workforce. If on the other hand, the human resources strategy is to get cheap labour with little regard for turnover, a firm can then pay people less salary.
However, if a media firm overpays or underpays an employee, it will eventually come back to haunt it. Overpay and the media firm risks salary that is economically unsustainable and unfair to longer-term employees. If a media firm underpays, (even if an employee accepts a job), such an employee may never feel valued by the organization if the pay is out-of-line with the experience and contribution. This type of employee may never really stop job search, using the present media firm as a resting place until the right offer arrives.
Just as it is seen as an irresponsible act for any tiers of government not to pay its work force promptly, media houses cannot be absolved of the same tag. Although, government is expected to create an appreciable conducive environment for any business venture to thrive but it has failed woefully in this regards, especially in the provision of uninterrupted power supply. And the media houses are not mounting enough pressure on it in terms of an agenda setting.
In Nigeria, arguably, in terms of payment of good salary, only one newspaper is adjudged and seen to be living up to expectation. It pays 13th month salary and increases its work force salary by certain percentage across the board on a yearly basis until recently when it stopped temporarily due to some self inflicted policies. It must be noted that no salary can be adequate but whatever is agreed upon should be paid as at when due.
There is no need for a populist approach or contest when engaging personnel for jobs in the media house. Number of employees needed for a particular job and payable salaries need to be predetermined. Each of the employees must be able to add to the company’s bottom line by way of their value added contributions.
Media managers do not need to be told that their organizations are losing enormous amount of money due to failure to pay salaries promptly. Virtually all the employees, the core ones (journalists) and supportive ones (marketing, production, procurement, administration, accounting, etc) are finding a way to stay afloat by making money illegally from the system. In fact, most of them just need a platform to operate. How can it be justified for an employee to remain on the job having not been paid for more than six months? (Details of this are reserved till another day.)
Employees always talk about salary. Media managers cannot coerce them not to discuss this and other personnel issues at work because they have the right to do so. Nothing impacts employee morale as much as individuals who feel they are underpaid in comparison with others based on their contribution and that of other similar jobs.
Majority of media managers have succeeded in violating all known principles and rules guiding payment of salary and their approaches have caused disequilibrium in the system thereby creating disgruntled, grumbling and unhappy employees.
In conclusion, those at the helm of affairs should identify “tired legs”; pay them off and excuse them from job instead of carrying avoidable wage bill on a monthly basis. Media managers should ensure that salary is related to the accomplishment of goals, the company mission and vision. Any system that offers an employee the average increase for their industry or length of service is counter-productive to goal accomplishment. Even an above-average increase that differentiates one staff person from another can cause de-motivation.
Ayankunbi, MD/CEO at AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy
08023051315
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