Managerial rewards

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 24

Managerial rewards

Sir, — The John Balneaves letter typifies the contrasting philosphies of, “Equal share of the cake no matter what the size” compared with, “Let’s make it grow first and negotiate its sharing afterwards.” There is an old saying that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Managers in common with tradesmen, airline pilots, academics, etc, have internationally recognised skills. To attract the best we need to reward them on a par with what can be earned internationally but some discount for lifestyle can apply. It is also true that that segment has a greater readiness to travel to achieve those rewards. While we have such a close neighbour as Australia where those rewards are much higher we will continue to have erosion of those skills with the resultant reduced opportunity to help the cake grow. If relativity is important then it should be based on the widening margin for skills being experienced overseas rather than on a fixed historical basis. — Yours; etc.,. D. G. SANDERS (sen.) November 24,. 1980.