Fair Trade

What happened to the concept of a fair days work for a fair days pay?

An associate of mine directed my attention to a vacancy for a Studio Manger position being advertised on LinkedIn today. What aroused my curiosity was not the role, but the details contained therein. Having had considerable experience as a Studio Manager I know that these roles involve extended periods of sweating blood, and reading this ad, this role was no exception. They wanted experience in a number of fields located on the periphery of the role itself, it involved co-ordinating, managing, and being responsible for the deliverables of the personalities beyond what would be deemed the core responsibilities of the role. For the right person with the right experience this could be quite an exciting position, offering the opportunity to become involved in all aspects of the agency, despite the stress, pressure, and long hours that we all know would be essential to performing this role with competence. However, this is where it all fell over, and to be perfectly blunt, at which point my ire was stirred, the offered salary was £18-22k per annum!

What happened to the concept of a fair days work for a fair days pay?

Those of us that are in this media, and are as passionate about it as I, keep hearing the repeated complaints about the industry being underrated, undervalued, and the 'dumbing down' of the participants is being bemoaned.

This occured in the same week that the MPs were in the news for their latest pay increases of around £20k per annum, which was justified with the statement that 'if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys'. This statement implies that the qualities of the current MPs can be rated as monkeys, and that this can only be improved by increasing the offerings. However, this does make one wonder what they will do with the monkeys that they currently have.

Returning to the subject in hand, the MP situation only adds insult to the above mentioned position. Looking at the number of people that have already applied for this role, it raises several questions and concerns about the applicants and the broader picture of the state of the industry. Are these applicants experienced people who have been forced into the unfortunate position of thinking that they are better off working for peanuts rather than having no job at all. Or are these applicants naive and inexperienced people who are being taken advantage of, and who will fail to competently deliver to the expectations of the employer. In doing so this just reinforces the employers perceptions that the rest of us have no ability and no skills, and therefore degenerate the 'fair pay' expectations of those of us with real skills and real experience.

What happened to the concept of a fair days work for a fair days pay? There is a lot of noise made about the fair trade of consumables produced offshore, such as coffee and cotton. Isn't it time that this principle was applied a little closer to home and we started looking at our own industries, and the abuse and the advantage being taken of our own people on our own home ground.

Stop offering peanuts, and you might obtain the skills and experience that you require. You may find that this may provide the backbone to the growth of your business, generating increased production, increased revenue, and perhaps together we can dig this economy out of the mire. Hire the right people, with the right attitude, with the right work ethics, to do the right job, and pay them what they are worth … not what you can get away with.

A fair days work for a fair days pay!