Employee Acceptance: A Key Factor
Employees judge the fairness of their pay through comparisons with the compensation paid others for work related in some fashion to their own.33 Accordingly, an important factor influencing the internal pay structure is its acceptability to the employees involved. Pay structures change in response to changing external pressures such as skill shortages. Over time, the distorted pay differences became accepted as equitable and customary; efforts to change them are resisted. Thus, pay structures established for organizational and economic reasons at an earlier time may be maintained for cultural or other political reasons. It may take another economic jolt to overcome the cultural resistance. Then new norms for employee acceptance are formed around the new structure. This “change-and congeal” process does not yet support the continuous changes occurring in today’s economy. New norms for employee acceptance will probably need to include recognition that people must get used to constant change, even in internal pay relationships.
The pay for airport security screeners relative to other airport jobs illustrates the change and congeal process. Prior to 9/11, airport screeners were paid about $5.50 an hour with no benefits. Recent immigrants, some undocumented and relatively unskilled people were hired to screen travelers and their luggage. After the 9/11 attacks, the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) took over airport security and screening. Wages are now comparable to police and fire protection jobs. Entry-level pay starts at around $20 an hour plus U.S. federal employee benefits. Employees in other jobs need to accept the changes in the security jobs—or they will be at the door asking for more pay.