8.moving on
- 1. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0888-045X.htm RETURNS AND INVESTMENTS Salaries and managing Moving on: salaries and managing turnover turnover 187 Terry Cottrell University of St Francis, Joliet, Illinois, USA Received 1 July 2011 Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reveal particular unique aspects of librarian pay, retention and hiring issues as a means of advocacy for managers searching for new ways to tackle this function of their work. Design/methodology/approach – The paper gives specific salary negotiation suggestions, and also provides strategic team building concerns on which future planning may be made. Findings – It is found that salary information is shared much more often between librarians at other institutions and this sharing leads to many negative and positive effects for future pay structures within organizations. Originality/value – The paper is original in the sense that it is written for librarians and non-librarians alike. It presents the issue with candor as a means of sparking fruitful conversation aimed at stabilizing and increasing librarian pay through joint understanding of the issue. Keywords Salary, Pay, Negotiation, Turnover, Management, Staffing, Employees, Librarians Paper type Viewpoint The importance of salary The library world is small indeed. When an employee moves from one position to another within the same general geographic region, many librarians know of the change in job status. A certain amount of history about the departing person’s previous employment also enters the cultural ethos among professionals whenever a new, yet experienced, librarian begins a new role nearby. Many upper-level administrators and leaders who control funding for libraries know nothing of this dynamic. These administrators also do not know that librarians keep their own employment networks outside of HigherEdJobs.com, The Chronicle of Higher Education, or simple want ads placed in the Chicago Tribune. Libraries are everywhere; and, librarians tend to be friendly and collaborative with each other. This collaboration leads to mass levels of communication, and this communication can have positive and negative impacts on the recruiting and retention of talent. Because most librarians in the US are public employees and their pay is public knowledge, and because libraries cannot survive without collaboration, librarians tend to know what each other is paid. The need to collaborate, has forced librarians to operate as a large family where some members might not know which members make six figures or more, but everyone knows who is fairly-compensated and who is struggling for to get respect from their portion of the The Bottom Line: Managing Library salary budget. Finances Vol. 24 No. 3, 2011 When a librarian takes advantage of the numerous volunteer opportunities within pp. 187-191 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited the many associations and special interest groups devoted to literacy, sharing of 0888-045X information and open access what they are also doing is supplementing their career DOI 10.1108/08880451111186044
- 2. BL potential. Exposing themselves to the greater job market hungry for talent gives 24,3 librarians all they need to move laterally and up the ranks at other institutions. This library world is filled with people who share strategies for service delivery, tips and tricks for managing finances, and also a hidden understanding of the financial circumstances of different institutions. In short, assumed secret financial information regarding hourly pay rates and yearly salaries are sometimes not so secret in the 188 library world at all. In this time of economic restructuring, a key reason why a librarian leaves their current position is salary. Some managers believe salary is not as important of a motivating factor for retaining employees as a friendly organizational culture or supportive knowledge sharing and collegiality. This belief is a fallacy if the current pay rates too far below market. General job happiness, the potential for new learning experiences, salary, rank, promotion and fringe benefits are all important points on which to focus if maximum retention is desired (Schuster et al., 1971; McLeana et al., 1996; Tzeng, 2002). Rather than focusing on trying to predict which one of the aforementioned factors is the best determinant of keeping an employee, library managers are best served to always be aware that all factors are important. Individual conversation (either structured through performance reviews or unstructured over coffee) with employees will dictate which factor is truly a priority on a case-by-case basis. There is one simple fact in all employment situations: salary is what provides the means by which all employees tend to base many aspects of their lives around their work. It is the “bread and butter” of the employment agreement, and it is commonly the reason why defecting employees divulge certain pieces of sensitive financial information from their old employer to their new colleagues as soon as they arrive at a new place of work. Phrases like, “I was only making X at that library,” or “They were not paying enough” can be heard in the lunchrooms and even at open staff meetings. For the library left searching for a new replacement staff member, this sort of water cooler chatter at other libraries is murderous for recruitment. It leaves the empty-handed managers left with a very limited set of hiring options within the local talent pool of experience. This talent is definitely worth paying for, but will be closed off in most cases until pay issues are resolved and the resulting zeitgeist on the issue of pay related to the institution in question becomes more positive. Like a spreading virus When a library staff member departs because of pay, the conceptual framework of compensation becomes central to all who were in contact with that person. Remaining employees will contact friends, peers and relatives to compare salary information regardless of confidentiality agreements signed or implied by home institutions. It can be found that peers truly vie both publicly and privately for information regarding compensation for their labors (Machiavelli, 1532). For managers, the idea that salaries may be too low or inadequate when compared to the general marketplace can initially cause more need for damage control than assistance in correcting the problem. If a librarian leaves for a different career altogether outside of libraries, this can send a shockwave throughout the library community that the profession itself is less valued and subject to budget cuts and de-prioritization. Good employees commonly
- 3. come to have a high sense of ownership and pride toward the work they perform. Salaries and Librarians are like many other professions in the sense that they are most sensitive to managing that which they most honor as their professional calling (Machiavelli, 1532). Most librarians do not desire to leave the library world. If they do find that they cannot turnover subsist on the pay they receive as a librarian, they will seek employment elsewhere and still want for some sort of connection to libraries. A unique situation can be found when a full-time staff person leaves for a different 189 position outside of libraries, but desires to remain in their current library on a part-time basis. As a warning: The concern here is that problems with low pay can lead to a general feeling of disgruntled self-worth on the part of this particular employee. It is understood that disgruntled employees are commonly recognized by other staff. Even if the ex-library employee is happy with their newly found position and subsequent higher pay rate, their discontent with their former full-time employer may not dissipate. Retaining an employee like this is akin to a manager understanding that a problem exists, and erroneously deciding not to take any action whatsoever to find resolution mistakenly for the sake of other employees and the institution. It is not impossible that a new job and higher pay for a person leaving the profession will not allay anger toward the previous employer, but remembering that angst can still reside within this specific employee is advised. Furthermore, if pay for the newly vacated position is adjusted upward after the employee has moved to part-time status, even more resentment could occur. Arguing for more: why librarians deserve it Arguing for more salary dollars is tricky. For many public libraries, convincing a board of trustees to match librarian pay rates with those of local public school teachers is an excellent strategy that can be especially effective if there are current or retired teachers on the board. For academic libraries, particularly at private institutions, vying for more of a cut of the institutional salary pool involves conversations that can be intimidating for librarians. At many institutions of higher learning, however, the following is true: . The library is open to students, faculty and staff more hours than any other department on campus besides security and/or campus police. . The library’s common mission is to be available and accessible by providing an essential seven-day per week service function that bleeds into student retention, university prestige and the fundamental knowledge output of the constituents the institution. . If students are looking for professional assistance after the common business hours of 9-5 p.m., the library is the primary place to go. . Many students study after 5 p.m. on traditional college campuses. The library that is the singular evening hub for instruction and knowledge sharing between the college and/or university and the student. . Many non-traditional students study via web tools and resources, the library is the first stop for many of these services as well. Each of the five truths mentioned previously is a springboard on which an argument for more pay can begin or find its capstone. If the aforementioned truths are not enough
- 4. BL to substantiate adequate pay for librarians, another aspect to explore is team building. 24,3 Low pay for librarians means that there will be more difficulties in recruiting new librarians eager to take an employment offer. There will also be more difficulties in keeping a cohesive team together due to new librarians becoming experienced at a low-paying institution and then moving on taking their skills and experience with them. If it is the job of the library manager and director is to build a cohesive team, low 190 pay stymies this effort, if not destroys it altogether. A further danger here is that low-paying libraries become catalysts for the sentiment that the parent institution is also a low-paying institution by rote. This stigma may cause other departments to suffer recruitment woes as well. If this occurs, the ability for other department directors to create a cohesive team atmosphere in their own areas where employees are excited about the institution, and buy into its mission and vision, is also hindered. This is where library pay becomes part of a larger comprehensive dedication to valuing employees as a whole for the sake of preserving an atmosphere with “familiar” faces that are eager to take on new projects and forge new services for the future. Solutions for library managers The simple solution is to simply bring librarian salaries up. Convincing the people high up the chain of command to do this swiftly and quickly is the struggle. One avenue to explore involves communicating to accreditation committees and external reviewers that without a seasoned cohesive team in the library, students, faculty and administrators will not maximize the potential benefits gained by mastering the essential services librarians provide. Adding to this argument is a further explanation that any potential for long-term collaboration that benefits students and university constituents is threatened directly if librarians cannot be retained due to low pay. What about fresh ideas and perspectives brought by new staff? Libraries do benefit from new perspectives brought by new employees. Acknowledging this is important. Encouraging the understanding, however, that these new perspectives can also be brought to the institution by long-term staff via professional development opportunities is equally as important, because of the shared benefits gained through employee loyalty. Loyalty born from compensation as an acknowledgment of services rendered is a powerful tool for the generation of new innovations. Library mangers and their supervisors do not benefit from new librarians every two years as much as much they benefit from librarians that believe in their institution and stay with it. Institutions reap enormous benefits from employees that feel like they are part of the family more than just employees using an organization as a springboard to work at other institutions (Van House, 1987). Finally, library managers can express that they are professionally confident that dollars spent to manage turnover, and retrain and rehire staff will be better spent if dedication to employees is made manifest. Retaining librarians who can build great instructional tools for students, forge strong relationships with faculty, genuinely commit to future research projects, engagingly participate in committees without prodding, and realize the vision of institution are worth every penny.
- 5. References Salaries and McLeana, E., Smits, S. and Tanner, J. (1996), “The importance of salary on job and career managing attitudes of information systems professionals”, Information & Management, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 291-9. turnover Machiavelli, N. (1532), The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, available at: http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option¼com_staticxt&staticfile¼show.php%3 Ftitle¼1866 191 Schuster, J., Clark, B. and Rogers, M. (1971), “Testing portions of the Porter and Lawler model regarding the motivational role of pay”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 55 No. 3, pp. 187-95. Tzeng, H.-M. (2002), “The influence of nurses’ working motivation and job satisfaction on intention to quit: an empirical investigation in Taiwan”, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Vol. 39 No. 8, pp. 867-78. Van House, N. (1987), “Labor market segmentation and librarian salaries”, The Librarian Quarterly, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 171-89. Corresponding author Terry Cottrell can be contacted at: tcottrell@stfrancis.edu To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints