News of Dominic Cummings, senior aide to the Prime Minister, calling for "weirdos and misfits with odd skills" to work in government have raised questions over the role of pay in attracting different types of specialist skills to the public sector.

However, the current focus on pay restraint in this debate is too narrow. There is indeed a need to ask questions about how pay can support the attraction of talent to set and deliver the government’s agenda, or the strategy of any organisation for that matter, but the questions should be about how to pay right rather than how to pay more.

Let’s examine this in more detail.

It does not come as a surprise that an extended period of pay restraint has made it more difficult for organisations to attract talent, especially when competing for skills in high demand transferable across sectors. This is especially true for organisations bound by frameworks such as the civil service pay remit or other restrictions.

This however contributes to a misconception that paying more is the solution to the problem, potentially ignoring other aspects of pay that can have as much impact, if not more, on the ability of organisations to get the talent they need through the door and helping these individuals to thrive.

First of all, there is a need to make sure that there are clear rules to determine pay outcomes and that these rules are consistently applied across the organisation. This sits at the heart of most people’s definition of fairness in pay.

It is also important to make pay competitive, but not necessarily in the sense of ‘outbidding’ other potential employers. Competitiveness is about offering a compensation package that is valued by employees which typically involves helping to meet living expenses, matching a sense of worth for the job and having a degree of alignment to pay for individuals doing a similar job elsewhere and in the same organisation.

Then there is a need to give employees line of sight to how they can influence their pay and making sure pay is aligned to the organisation’s purpose and values i.e. having congruence between these factors.

This can be summarised in 5 “Cs”: Clarity, Consistency, Competitiveness, Control and Congruence. More on this model here.

Beyond these 5 Cs, organisations need to focus on setting the right conditions for employees to do their best job.

Time and time again we find that what “not being paid enough” really means is not being paid enough to put up with poor leadership, boring work, lack of meaningful impact or just a general sense of not being able to get on with the job. Therefore by addressing these and other factors creating frustration in employees organisations can relieve pressure on how much they need to pay to get great people in and get the best from them.

And, if you build this into a nice story to tell, then you will have a compelling Employee Value Proposition that will make your organisation stand out as an employer for candidates and employees alike.

Will paying more help you get the weirdos and misfits you need to succeed? Not necessarily. But paying right and looking at the wider employee experience most likely will.

How to do just that is the question you should be asking.

Contact us if you want to learn about how QCG can help you with this.

Juan Novoa, Lead Consultant at QCG – January 2020