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threa tens quality, and creates unrest
and friction among the other work–
ers. Anyone who thinks he can ere–
ate havoc for a boss by being absent
continually and slill expect a raise is
li ving in a fa ntasy la nd.
Anolher high ly prized lrail is loy–
alty.
lt
goes hand in hand with re–
lia bility. Employers 1ake no tice of
loyal employees : those who can be
lrusted with company funds, who
ca n be depended on 10 gel lhe job
done properly wi thout conslant s u–
pervision, and who a re responsible.
They litera lly ca n' t " afford" to lose
this kind of employee, a nd a good
sa la ry a nd accomp a ny in g pay
boosts wi llusua!Jy fo llow.
On e e m ployee. Mary K ass.
lh o ug ht her age , ex pe rtise, an d
friendly disposition wou ld make up
for her disloyal ly. She was one of
the besl liked clerks in the dry goods
sto re where she worked. To enhance
her image with cuslomers, she se–
cretly gave away samples of her
store's merchandise - a t the store's
expense. When the boss discove red
what was happening, she begged for
merey and got it, but she almost got
fired instead of receiving lhe wage
boost she had coming.
Employers !ove cooperalive em–
ployecs. There's no thing more irri–
taling th an an emp loyee who
slubbornly balks at every directive
from his boss, who is regula rly of–
fending fellow workers, and who ar–
gues disrespect full y with his boss.
That was Kay Mande l's problem.
She had a good job a t a nutrition
store. She displayed inlelligence and
resourcefuln ess, bul s he almost
never did any thing the way her su–
pervisor instrucled her lo. She con–
linually went over her ma nager's
hcad lo lhe owner concerning picky
problems and ended up angering
bo lh of them. She lried to pil one
employee againsl another by gossip–
ing aboul lhem, bu t il a ll backfired
on her. She not only didn' l get th e
raises she could have, but she a lso
ali enaled everyone in 1he sto re.
You should not only strive to get
along well witb your boss and fellow
workcrs, bu1 a lso with your firm's
cus tomers.
If
you neglect lhis seem–
ingly obvious poi nt. you ' re a bout as
useful to your boss as an a ir condi–
tioner tha l conks ou t every time it
ge ts hot outside, and you will soon
20
Raises are won by those
who have sized up the
complete situation
and then handled it with
finesse and patience,
rather than with
guile or dishonesty.
find yourself standing in a long
unemployment line. ra ther than get–
ting a raise.
In short,
if
you are diligently
practicing lhe Golden Rule on the
job, you s hould have no trouble
pleas ing your boss, yo ur fellow
workers, and your firm 's customers.
11.
Job Skllls
You can be the most re li able, loya l,
cooperative person alive. but if you
don ' t possess al! the technical skills
required to perform your job prop–
erly, you' d better do something fast.
You certain ly can' t expecr a raise
when you aren ' t even performing up
to par o r you aren ' t staying abreasl
of new developments in your field.
Jack Dixon thoughl otherwise. He
was a budding writer on a growing
publica tion. He continually turned
in bo ring, repetiti ve, poorly re–
searched articles. The few that were
published were heav ily rewritten by
the editors. Whal do you suppose he
did to be tter his performance? He
took night cl asses on selling insur–
ance. And lo lop lhal off, he asked
severa! associa1es why lhe boss was
so stingy a bout raises. lnstead of
study ing insurance and complaining
about his sa lary, Jack should have
immedialely begun lo develop and
carry out a program to stimulate his
professional growth.
Such a program should be based
on a sober and realistic appraisal of
yo ur s trengths and weaknesses.
When formul aling il, you should
discuss wilh your boss the areas in
wh ich he feels you need to grow and
deve lop.
Exhibiling a wiUingness lo learn
and a desire to improve your j ob
skills is lhe besl approach to take to
insure thal you get the salary hikes
you need.
111. Job Performance
Probably the most important thing
you can do on your job is be pro–
ductive. After all. you were hired to
produce. A company, being in the
business to make a profit, eyes very
closely two aspects of an employee's
performance record: fhe quality and
quantity of the work he produces.
These two tra its go ha nd in hand.
One is often of little worth wi thout
the other. What good is a financia!
re port fill ed with errors, even if it is
compiled in record time?
The person whose work is accu–
rate and high-quality will generally
have no problem earning his just
due and collecting raises.
Employers appreciate employees
li ke Stan Ball who worked at a man–
ufacturing company. He was a real
dynamo all day, exuding enthusi–
asm and drive. Stan was usually the
last to leave, and he was well-orga–
nized and met production schedules.
In fact his work was so impressive
that he received three raises in less
than
12
months on the job.
T he employees who adopt So lo–
mon's advice and do whatever their
hand finds todo with a ll their might
(Eccl. 9:
12)
will discover tha t, even–
tuaUy, the diligent are always re–
warded.
Go See Your Boss
Su ppose, though, your diJigence
doesn't pay o ff as soon as you ex–
pect. Then you should consider dis–
cussing the matter with your boss.
This
is
a big step and shouldn ' t be
done hastily. Remember, the boss
probably thinks he
is
pay ing you
enough, and if you rush in madly
and blurt out that you are being
unjustly trea ted , he may want to
throw you out the door headfirst. So
before you sacrifice yourself on the
altar needlessly, evalua te yourself.
In some cases you might even check
with outside firms who are hiring
people in your field to de termine
how much they are being paid and
whether or not you could be hired if
you lost your present job.
Once you've done this. determine
what you wish to say to your boss,
a nd then confidently go and present
your case to your supervisor. You
might emphasize your financi a !
needs. You should ce rtainly stress
The
PLAIN TRUTH October 1976