“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”

It’s getting that time of year when we begin to think about year-end bonuses and next year’s pay.  Some of you know that I am on the Board of the transparency for work company, Glassdoor.  Every quarter we field a survey called the Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey.  This past quarter we saw the most stable of numbers that we have seen before the Great Recession.  Not very high or very low expectations in any of the categories.  But, I expect that in the next survey we will see that a lot of people will be wondering how their year-end bonuses will play out and what level of salary increase they might expect in 2014.  I was corresponding with a Wall Street guy who finds out his bonus this month. I have no idea what amount he earns or will earn, but regardless how many zeros are on that check and where the decimal point lands, he, like most of us, want to be sure that we are getting paid at the level we think we are worth and deserve.  Another business owner asked me, “How do I make sure that I exceed my employee’s expectations?”  I said, “Be sure you are paying them at least a dollar more than they are expecting.”  I didn’t mean to be pithy, but the fact is that the only one who knows what it takes to not have an employee think, “Pay me or I am out of here”, is the person who manages the person. There is only one way to get to this information and that is to really know your employees, know their needs, know their dreams and know their concerns. Talk to them and get to a place of mutual trust where the conversation about pay is a conversation about fulfilling the relationship you have as company-manager-employee. If to keep Tracy it takes another $6500 annually because she had to move to another apartment that is more expensive and buy a car to commute to work, then that’s the right number.

As believers we are not exempt from needing to work and earn.  Sure, God provides, but if we have talents, skills, time and experience that He has provided and we decide to just sit at home and do nothing with what we have been given and think, “God will provide”, then we need to think again, because I am pretty sure He will provide just about as much as you are putting into utilizing the gifts of life He has given you.  I sometimes think that we look at life like we are looking at a nail that needs to be hammered into a board.  We are given a screwdriver and a hammer to pound the nail into the board.  We pick up the screwdriver and we hit the nail with both the shaft and the handle. The nail doesn’t budge.  So, instead of picking up the hammer and using it, we instead sit back and say, “God will provide”, instead of using what He has given us. The nail, the screwdriver AND the hammer all came from Him.  It is clear from the Bible that we are to work in a way that we are working for Him and not people.  If we knew that God was our boss, we would, and I am sure of it, be working our hearts out, using and giving all that we have, each and every day to be the best we can be with what we have been given.  Let’s remember, He is the boss and how we work today can be a reflection of Him!

Reference: Colossians 3:23 (New Living Translation)