No matter our chosen profession or political affiliation, most of us look for one thing above all from any employment relationship: ways to increase your pay. Some combination of benefits, a pension and additional perks may also be important to the average worker, but even those elements fall somewhere under the umbrella of compensation.
Put simply: We just want to be paid what we’re worth.
Seems fair enough. But democratizing that process is another story. Factors such as a lack of pay transparency, insular networks, discrimination and even just bad luck can keep talented, productive and experienced workers from climbing to rungs on the pay-scale ladder that are commensurate with the value they deliver.
In the meantime, PeopleCaddie is helping to level the playing field. Our digital talent platform allows professional contractors to set their rates, previous employers to post ratings of those contractors, and prospective employers to decide whether those figures jive. The idea: Good work leads to good ratings, which ultimately leads to higher compensation from future employers.
The traditional hiring process is clunky. Contacting references that are cherry-picked by the candidate takes time and bears questionable fruit. Verifying the professional relationship between the candidate and the reference can be tricky, and the objectivity of the assessment depends heavily upon the specific relationship between the reference and candidate. LinkedIn, for instance, offers the ability to request reviews from fellow members, but that function operates independent of the professional work history or nature of the relationship between two members.
At PeopleCaddie, employers searching through our database of candidates can be assured they are always seeing ratings from that candidate’s direct supervisor at a given position. This brings a level of standardization to reviews, allowing employers to compare apples to apples during the hiring process and ensuring contractors that they are being assessed based on criteria that is consistent from candidate to candidate.
For decades, scale-tippers such as the old boys’ network, the Ivy League pipeline and run-of-the-mill nepotism would often unfairly reward or penalize candidates. Even if a deserving prospect were hired on, they might be compensated at a lower rate or receive fewer career-advancement opportunities based on any number of subjective factors. With PeopleCaddie, contractors are better able to understand their worth in the market and can set their rates accordingly. At the same time, employers can pinpoint candidates based on ratings (as well as experience, skill set, etc.) and move forward with the confidence that a contractor will deliver on expected value.
Annual in-house reviews typically have been a thing for workers to dread. Supervisors could make arbitrary assessments to justify denying a pay raise or promotion, and salary bumps are often highly controlled and barely keep up with the cost of living. But a ratings system like PeopleCaddie’s offers full transparency, solicits reviews after a contractor has moved on from an employer, and establishes a rewards system in which a freelancer is more likely to be noticed while creating demand for their services.
Increase your ratings, increase your pay. That’s all any of us workers could ask for.
Looking for ways to increase your pay? Join PeopleCaddie’s talent cloud, set up a profile and allow employers to consider you. Here’s how it works.