Almost everyone at least once thought about why some, working 12 hours a day, earn a penny, while others on easier work get an incomparably greater salary. To understand why labor is evaluated differently, and therefore paid, you must first understand what labor is.
Foundation basis
There are two types of work. The first of these is called physical. By the way, many unknowingly confuse it with difficulty in general. This is fundamentally wrong, because the first thing that matters is not physical strength, but the ability to use it correctly. But the latter refers to mental work, and more on that later.
To understand how the labor of a person engaged in physical work is evaluated, one needs to remember about energy consumption. While contracting, the muscles spend a certain amount of energy, which requires food and rest to replenish. Depending on the load and the level of energy expenditure, physical labor is divided into three groups.
- Easy - sedentary or maximally light work, not associated with frequent stress and weight lifting, is suitable for this definition.
- Average physical labor is work performed standing up, or associated with the constant movement and transfer of light (up to 10 kg) objects.
- Heavy physical labor is characterized by constant stress, as well as lifting and carrying weights.
For each of the above varieties, there are norms and rules designed to reduce body wear from constant stress. So, for example, with hard physical work, regular breaks and a full healthy sleep are necessary. Otherwise, heavy activity will lead to exhaustion of the body. It also serves as one of the reasons why labor is valued differently.
Ability to think
Mental labor, unlike physical labor, cannot be evaluated by simple criteria. You can try to characterize the work by the amount of information stored or by the speed with which a person processes it all. But this does not allow us to fully appreciate the work of each of us.
An important role in mental work is played by the ability to make decisions quickly and bear responsibility for them. These qualities are extremely important for many professions. It should be remembered that the processing and analysis of a large amount of information require the mobilization of attention. Working with your head, you can get tired no less than carrying heavy loads, only this will be a completely different tiredness.
How is labor evaluated?
The work of each person is evaluated according to many criteria. And usually, first of all, everyone remembers the time spent on this or that activity. For some professions, this is quite true, and there even the salary is calculated in accordance with the hours worked.
But how is the work of those who work not for a while, but for the result, evaluated? It all depends on the employer. Of course, he cannot assign a very meager beggarly salary for hard work. But the level of payment depends entirely on the decisions of the head. And this, in turn, is one of the answers to the question of why labor is evaluated differently. Each employer has an opinion on how much to pay a particular person. And it is not worth looking for some special logic in the decisions of the bosses.
Baggage of knowledge
The main criteria for evaluating labor have always been and will be knowledge and experience. And not separately, but together. A young specialist in any field knows a lot, but knows little. Knowledge itself is practically useless if a person cannot put it into practice. Therefore, the salary of experienced workers is so different from the income of newcomers. Although the latter are often much smarter, faster, stronger and younger.
Output
Now you know why labor is evaluated differently, and this can help you take a fresh look at both your salary and the income of your subordinates.