Will High Salary Hypothecate Great Performance – A HR Message

How true is the popular belief of the most corporate that if employees are paid high, employees would perform the best and will ensure great results? Most corporate offers hefty salary and perks to its employees these days. But how proportional is the contributions of the people to the salaries they receive. Whether the HR functions in any corporate has ever done any analysis or evaluation to know the relationship between the salary and other perks of people versus their effort and contributions.

Nature has already asked the above question while creating different species of plants and animals. Seed dispersal is the subsequent event after pollination and that occurs in nature for the purpose of growing newer plants to continue its generation. The seeds in general reside inside the fleshy fruits. The fruit eating animals when attempt to eat the fruit, the seeds are as a consequence, get dispersed elsewhere and grows into new plants.

When we compare the fruits such as fleshy mango and apple with neem and jamun the later group of fruits does not have rich and tasty fleshy parts. Based on the above comparison if we ask the question of whether mango & apple or neem & jamun seeds are more successful in getting dispersed and become new plants? Among the above four different groups of plants, which one grow abundantly in nature?

When the apple and mango tree offers great quantity of fleshy fruits to the fruit eating animals, naturally the seeds of mango and apple are only expected to get dispersed greatly. Moreover, the fruit eating birds may not even prefer the neem fruit when apple and mango fruits are available. This is the most possible and expected outcome.

How far the above ‘possibility’ is true in nature? In reality, the trees that offer fruits with rich fruit pulp gains less profits when compared to plants that have small and less fleshy fruits like neem. The above question should be answered from the management perspective than from scientific angle. Habitat differences of the plants should not be taken as a point for debate or dispute. One has to assume that all plants are growing in the same habitat; only then the hidden message can be understood.

The reward is not in line or in proportion to the payment in nature. When the seed dispersing animals get fleshy fruits to eat, they naturally prefer to settle with the same tree itself. When they can easily and completely meet their hunger with a single mango or apple fruit, naturally the animals may not move further as their hunger is satisfied. When there is no ‘hunger’ naturally one would become lazy and purposeless.

This is how most of the corporate employees are these days. They are paid high salary, hence grow fat and become lazy and purposeless. How to retain the ‘luxury’ becomes their major task and hence mostly they are neither creative nor are passionate. But the corporate may of the opinion that when great salary is offered, employees become more committed and would contribute effectively.

Learn from nature that more if you offer, more you receive is a myth. The argument is not against giving fat salary, but evaluate whether the contributions meets the salary that people receive. Plants have done such evaluation and that is why many plants have chosen different habitats to grow and seasons to flower and fruit.

Dr S Ranganathan