Money Talks: Are you being paid your worth?
If you’re working hard at a job where you’re showing up as your best self every day and with the right attitude but you’re not being paid your worth, then it’s time to make the hard decisions.
Today is Wednesday. I don’t know where you’re reading this from or what you spend your daylight hours doing but if you’re in your 20s to 40s – perhaps even early 50s – then I can guess that you spend these prime hours in the sun trading your time and skills for money.
They call this working. Every adult must work – you must work to earn a living; you’re paid money by whoever you’re working for.
Working is hard, you know that already. The work itself is hard, my goodness, given the choice we’d rather stay home and chill than go out there to work for money.
Away from your time and skills, working also demands that you give your mind, body and self. You may also give your heart, perhaps your soul, who knows?
Because working is so hard and because you trade your prime hours in the sun to get it done for years and years, then surely it must be worth your while, yes? Whoever you’re working for should pay you some decent money for trading in this mutual exchange, they ought to make the exchange worth your time.
Question is, do they? Are you content with what you’re being paid? Do you feel that you’re being paid your worth? If not, is your current price very close to your worth?
There’s a crucial distinction between your price and your worth: Your price is the cash money you’re paid for trading your time and skills, your mind and body. It’s measured in Kenya shillings and cents – it’s the figure in the contract you signed by hand, or in the gentleman’s agreement you shook hands on.
Your worth is how much you feel you should be paid. It’s how you value your time and skills, your mind and body. Yourself. Just because it’s a feeling doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attach a concrete figure to it in shillings and cents.
Many people I know – me included – aren’t getting paid their worth. Every workday, every month, you trade your time and skills, your mind and money for a paycheck that doesn’t give you the contentment you seek.
Worse, it doesn’t wholly cover your personal budget. There are some personal pursuits you have to forgo because you didn’t make enough money that month.
For most people, they have to forgo their savings and investments because they’re making just enough money to cover their expenses. And these are not the non-essential expenses like drinking and dining, grooming and whatnot.
Self-worth
No: You make just enough money to cover your essential expenses like rent, food, water and electricity, and school fees. After that, you survive on the bare minimum until the next payday. Hand to mouth.
You deserve to be paid what you are worth. You do! You’re not being greedy, unrealistic or overambitious when you ask whomever you’re working for to increase your pay.
You ought to be making enough money to sufficiently cover your personal budget, and to also make you content as an individual. You also need to be content that you’re earning your worth and not selling yourself short.
If you’re not content where you work, then you’ll not give your best and your all, and you’ll always resent the people you’re working for. You may never articulate this resentment for fear of losing your job and your income but ultimately, it’ll reveal itself in your attitude and poor performance – this poor performance will be one of the arguments your bosses use for not increasing your pay.
They’ll tell you, ‘How can we double your salary when your performance is consistently in the toilet?’
Basically, you lock yourself in a vicious cycle where you end up hurting yourself, threatening your career growth and financial security, and not earning your worth.
If you’re working hard at a job where you’re showing up as your best self every day and with the right attitude but you’re not being paid your worth, then it’s time to make the hard decisions. I don’t think I need to tell you what to do next.
Florence Bett-Kinyatti is a certified accountant and former financial auditor. She is also the author of two books about money. Engage with her on the socials @_craftit.
