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A salary is extremely important as it’s what someone gets paid for a living. This is the money that ends up in your bank account for doing a job, and you need to have a big enough salary to cope with all the various expenses in life. Speaking of which, one of the biggest problems people have is that they need a better salary. They aren’t getting paid enough by their employers, so they want to take action.
There’s an issue for employers as well! They know that salaries are crucial, but they’re also managing a budget. It becomes a question of trying to pay your employees what they deserve without spending too much.
On the topic of salaries, we’re going to go over a few things that both employees & employers can learn from the world of professional sports. Pro sports is arguably the most expensive industry in the world, but it’s also one where salaries are made public. When you look at this world, you start to see that there are a few things we can maybe adopt in the normal world…
Demanding new contracts
You will see that a lot of professional athletes flat-out demand new contracts when they think they deserve to be paid more. This happens a lot when young players break into a team, start performing really well, but are still stuck on a youth contract. They’re being paid way less than people in other teams who perform worse than them. So, they make it widely known that they want a better contract or they’ll leave.
It’s an ultimatum that puts the employer on the spot. They need to decide if they’re willing to give them a raise or lose a valuable team member. The same can apply in your workplace. If you think you’re being paid less than you deserve, make a fuss about it. Give your boss an ultimatum, then alert any other companies about the situation. If you’re good at your job, you will be snapped up by a rival company in no time. This is further encouragement for the employer to act fast and give in to your demands, increasing your wages.
Going above and beyond to reward loyalty
If you are an employer with a small business, one lesson you can take from pro sports is to go above and beyond to reward your loyal employees. We can look at a couple of instances where this has been shown, so let’s look at the NHL for an example. In 2018, Drew Doughty signed an 8-year contract worth $88 million for the LA Kings. It followed many impressive performances for the team, and they rewarded him with a long-term contract that saw him as one of the top-paid athletes in the division.
Patrick Mahomes in the NFL is another great example. Again, his excellent play and loyalty were rewarded with a 7-year contract worth $150 million in 2020. In both of these cases, you see the employer doesn’t just reward them financially, they also ensure they’re locked in for a long time. As an employer, this is something to consider when setting salaries. Give them a contract that includes a salary for many years, making them feel financially secure at their job. It helps you retain employees, which is great for business!
Constantly providing raises
It is incredibly rare that any athlete will play for a sports team and not get a raise when signing a new contract. In the real world without million-dollar contracts, raises are harder to come by. It seems that businesses are less inclined to give them out, but it’s something they should start doing. If you employ people, raising their salary is the easiest way to give back and show appreciation for what they’ve done.
From an employee’s perspective, you should learn from this as well. It’s a case of knowing your worth and knowing when you deserve a raise. So many people will stay at the same job for years without a raise, purely because they don’t think they deserve one, or are maybe resigned to the idea that raises are rarely given. Learn from sports; good performance deserves rewards. Ask for raises if you think you deserve one!
Obviously, there are huge differences between pro sports and most of our jobs! The money involved is completely different, so you can’t expect huge raises of million-dollar contracts. Nevertheless, there are certainly ways of doing things that you see in pro sports that can be applied to normal jobs. If you have salary issues at work, this post should give you a few things to mull over.
