Know Thy Daily Bread

I always wondered how Carrie from Sex and the City could afford her steady diet of Manolos and cosmos on a columnist’s paycheck. She’s fictional, of course, but I’m going to give it a stretch and conclude that she knew every single detail of how she earned money from her employer. (Plus, two book deals likely didn’t hurt.)

A number of those in the real world, however, attempted over the past few years to live up to the Carrie lifestyle, but I’ll bet we put those shoes and drinks on credit cards, or didn’t save anything along the way. As the spending frenzy cools off, it’s suddenly easier to notice financial ignorance. Look around at work, for instance.

Case in point: One of our leaders today was talking with a room full of middle managers about the impact of one metric on this year’s bonus structure.

After a minute, he paused: “Does everyone here understand how your bonus is tied to this year’s metrics?”

Half of the room had no clue.

Given how many people have been freaking out over depleted 401(k) balances, I assumed they’re at least somewhat familiar with their complete compensation structure, and how much company performance factors into those packages. Wrong.

Do we only think about payday and the retirement balance? I put 60+ hours a week into this place, and I want a full account of my individual return on that investment of my time. Don’t people care about how much money they’re actually making—and how they perhaps can earn even more? Could they be more confident in their personal spending and investments if they had a better grip on how much was coming in, going out?

I can’t decide whether companies fail to help employees make sense of their full compensation packages, or if employees don’t know/care enough. All I know is that somebody isn’t channeling Suze Orman. People, go read the fine print. Know how much you’re making, how much you’re entitled to earn, and how much more time and effort you have to invest to get a little more at the end of the year.

I like my money right where I can see it—hanging in my closet. —Sex and the City

Comments

[jenny]

sounds like my workplace, and were in completely different fields...yet our small business employees get whats offered (benefits, at least) in the 'list' they receive upon hire, but have no idea how it works/etc...()

oh, and i'm a huge fan of that episode, btw ;) ...and also figuring out how the hell she (carrie) could accomplish her lifestyle in NYC in her studio apartment as well...times are tough now, yeah, but she did that in a time when HBO had no problem w/ showing the 'superficial' side of living...hmm...and i have a similar situation currently (minus the job, and the shoes, and...well, yeah :) hehe)