"Management By Objective"

I learned from my time leading men in the Army, and leading employees to profitability, that paying folks by the hour is completely upside down and inside out.  

And stupid.

Think about it:  We pay an hourly wage to those who agree to work for it.  And then watch them congregate around the water cooler, scratch their asses and talk about last night's football game.

And to those who think they're worth more than their stingy boss(es) agree to pay, they can express their displeasure by simply f**king off.  Got it?

NOW TELL ME YOU HAVEN'T DONE THAT!

And especially in these days of "remote" work.  Where they stay home but are supposed to be churning out the work.  But instead they're eating bon-bons, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and watching reruns of Jerry Springer on the Telly.

I learned in the Army to have a sit down with those under my leadership, reach a mutual agreement about their near-term Plan Of Action, put it writing, and have both of us sign it off.  I could then go off and take care of other duties, knowing full well that my employee would then manage himself.  And accomplish that Plan.  Because he feared not doing so.  The future was verrry dark for those who intentionally underperformed.  And is was intentional, because they were in complete control of the outcome.  

Get it?   

Then I came home, got a job, got promoted to leadership and learned all about Management By Objective.  I learned that what I'd done in the Army was an actual thing in business.  My employees told me what they were going to do, we negotiated it back and forth, we put it in writing, and I then held them to it.  They get it done, they get a raise.  They didn't, unless they had a damn fine excuse, they packed up and hit the bricks.

What's not to understand?

But get this, fully 55.5% of our entire workforce works by the hour!  Paid an average of $29.81 per hour.  That's a total of 73.0 Million, 16-and-older Americans.  43% of those employees are paid bi-weekly, and 29% are paid every week, BTW. 

And strangely, I found that the vast majority of our police are paid by the hour, all the way up to top management, ala the Chief and Asst. Chief!  

Think about that: Cops are hired in at an annual $ rate, which is then divided backwards into an hourly rate.  So while they're holding you up for an hour by the side of the road, running you for wants and warrants, they're still being paid.  Or sitting in a patrol car, eating donuts and watching YouTube videos.  Or riding a desk at HQ and watching, well, whatever, they're still "earning" their hourly pay. 

And then work x amount of overtime, at time and a half, thus possibly doubling their supposed "annual pay rate." 

How about we pay Patrolman Jones $X Dollars a Month to patrol East Jefferson all the way up to South Benjamin?  And then hold him to certain anticipated accomplishments?  Like reducing vagrancy by 8%?  Or slowing down traffic by 4 mph?  He could certainly call if or when he needed help, but that chunk of real estate would be Jonesies.'    Wouldn't Patrolman Jones be a little more judicious in the use of his time?  And perhaps a bit nicer to the members of his community?  Whose help he would need to accomplish his goals?  Truth is, we just want him to do the job he's paid to do, even if he does so out of fear.  

Remember, the fear of loss is a far greater motivator than the antici-pation of gain.

I can maybe see paying garbage collectors by the hour, or those who catch stray dogs, but the people with badges?  Our "sworn" officers?  Those licensed by the State to put us in jail and take our money?  If we're paying the folks who write the laws by the month, why shouldn't we pay those who enforce the laws by the month?  

My dearly departed wife and I started and ran our business for more than 38 years.  And never did we pay an employee by the hour.  Never.  Pay cops by the hour?  I Don't think so.

I have thus spake.