Equal opportunity for everyone, within reason.

Some folks think that the difference that exists in the pay gap between the workforce in a country or an organization would get shrunk down to zero. However, that's far from the fact. And, I don't particularly think we will ever get to a point where you will walk into an organization and everyone in it, from the CEO to the gateman, will be placed on equal pay.

Nah! I just don't see that happening and I've never heard of any place where that is put to test. Just out of curiosity, some organisations should give it a try and feed us the result of the trial.

I'm sure I would be interested to see some sort of data that shows what will become of an organization if they ever attempt something that's as extremely radical as that. I can only imagine how the working culture will be in a place like that. Of course, it will also be interesting to see how this approach will impact the overall performance of the organization.

Whenever a discussion about equal pay is up, it will be nice to think about these;

1. What happened to pay as you work?

If you are going to advocate for equal pay in a marketing setting for example, how will you walk around the fact that some employees do more work and yield more profit than others? It sure wouldn't be fair for someone to be on the same pay as another employee when he's making sales that are 3-10 times higher.

2. What about their level of competence?

In almost all organizations, both the employer and the employees know of those who are highly competent. They also know of the employees who are just doing the bare minimum. Imagine having all employees on equal pay. One thing that will happen for sure is that complacency will become the order of the day and productivity will be affected massively.

3. Have you looked into why there is a pay gap?

From my days in the corporate world, one of the things I learned is that there are a lot of factors that affect what someone earns from the very first paycheck he gets from an organization. Take the most common one which is Academic qualification. I don't particularly like that but that's just the corporate world for you. It's hard to see a B.SC holder that earns anything close to what an M.Sc holder earns. Also, your work experience and pay negotiation skill affects what you are paid. Let's not forget that.

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From what I've said so far, I'm sure it's very obvious that I don't lend my voice to the 'equal pay' chant and I don't see why that should be practised anywhere. Nope!

What I would rather love to see is equal opportunity for everyone, within reason.

Take this hypothetical job advert for an example;

"_{We need the services of 5 videographers to cover events for 8 hours on Christmas day. Anyone who can do the job well can apply and stand a chance of getting the job. The pay range is $50-100 per hour".}

Now, that's an equal opportunity for anyone competent enough to do the job. And, it sure won't be a surprise if the employer gets the services of 5 different videographers and has each of them on different $$$ per hour. Yeah. The pay is affected by several factors, but the opportunity is open to everyone. EVERYONE that knows his/her stuff in the field of videography.

By the way, what do you think could have led to someone getting paid $50 per hour for the job while another person is getting paid $100 for that same job?

Think about that and maybe lemme know your thoughts in the comment section.

Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop Or Comma.
_{Thumbnail Image is taken from Unsplash
Additional Image is taken from Unsplash}

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