I tried posting this to IAPCT but couldn’t get it to work. I sent it to iapct@discourse.iapct.org and got a message saying the remote server was misconfigured. I probably used the wrong address. Anyway, here’s the story.
I was doing some work with a field sales force when the
manager asked me to look into a puzzling situation. It seems one of his best sales reps would
call in sick every now and then, even in the middle of a hot streak. The manager knew the rep wasn’t ill, but he
couldn’t figure out what was going on and so he asked me to see if I could find
out. It took drinking a lot of beer and
playing a lot of pool with the sales crew but one of them finally explained to
me what was going on.
“Joe,� the sales rep told me, “is doing what we all do. He’s managing his paycheck.� Puzzled, I asked him to explain further.
“It has to do with the way sick time is paid and the way
commissions are paid. Sick time is paid
the payday immediately following the sick time taken. Commissions are paid the payday two weeks
after the commissions are earned. So, if
Joe had a bad week a couple of weeks ago and the lower sales are about to show
up as a lower paycheck, he can take a couple of sick days, which are paid on
the basis of average commissions, and offset the lower pay from commissions.�
Later, I explained this to the sales manager. I pointed out the different ways in which
commissions and sick time were paid and said, “Joe is managing his paycheck,
which some would call ‘playing the compensation system’.� He nodded and said, “Not much I can do about
that.�
In PCT terms, I knew the sales rep in question was
controlling for something, but I didn’t know what. Turns out it was the amount of pay in his
paycheck. More specifically, he was
controlling for stability in the amount of his paycheck. He could tolerate big swings up but not big
swings down.
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Regards,
Fred Nickols
Managing Partner
Distance Consulting LLC
“My Objective is to Help You Achieve Yours”