I guess it's all a big mystery to the upper brass.
Today there was a meeting with heads of different departments. And the director of the company's call center announced the results of an employee survey that recently went out.
One of the biggest gripes listed in the survey was ''below market compensation,'' which explains why the turnover rate is higher than usual. The head of this department then went on to say that she doesn't understand why this perception exists given that she checked the national average for this type of work, and apparently our company is “more than competitive” by that standard. Nobody (who was allowed to speak in the meeting) questioned this idiotic notion.
My head almost exploded when she uttered these words. Seriously, NATIONAL fucking average?? We're located in freakin' California, where the cost of living is insane and gallon of gas is $5 in some places, not to mention skyrocketing rent, etc. National average is an incredibly flawed metric for gauging the competitiveness of salaries when you're living in the second most expensive state in the nation.
Of course the national average is going to be lower considering that it's totally moderated by all the states where it's much cheaper to live. How about taking the local average? Hell, even the state average?? How about actually listening to the survey results! What a joke. I can't fathom how anyone could be this dense yet hold such a high position. It must be deliberate mental gymnastics to justify this bullshit
Your employees are literally spelling it out for your why they're leaving, and yet you decide to reference the most idiotic statistic to back up your shitty pay. Boy, was I pissed hearing that. These people are so clueless.
TL;DR
I live in a very expensive city in a very expensive state. The company bases their pay on the national average instead of looking at local averages, yet they can't figure out why people are quitting.