Why an employee is sometimes so curious to know about the company it works for?

As an employee, you often feel like if you could really know a lot more about – what everyone is doing in the company you work for – other than your own department.

As Thomas Hobbes said: “curiosity is the lust of the mind“.

Though you are being paid for the job you do, still you are curious to know what other employees might be doing, how much they contribute to the business, what their capabilities are and if they are being paid less or more than you.

Also, you want to know how many sales leads the company is able to generate each day or each month, what are the sources of those leads and what all the extra efforts the company is putting into, to increase those leads.

If it is so with you, then your mind is – of a businessman who was somehow forced to become an employee. The rationale behind all this is to know if there is any possibility for you to get a raise or promotion so that you can make more money.

But, this is actually a sign of a good employee who is trying to find – if the organization is progressing well or not in the business – for him/her to ask for a raise or promotion.

This is because you already know the employees are being paid a fixed amount which is also only a fraction of the total earnings of the company. Increments won’t be possible unless the business is growing at the required pace.

An employee who is worried only about his own promotion – without being concerned about company’s goodwill, the market share of its products or services, earnings, and future prospects – is considered a selfish employee.

But in reality, it is very difficult for you to know the exact monthly or yearly net profit of the company unless it is a public limited company because a public limited company is legally bound to disclose it’s earnings but not a private company. This is only possible if the management of your private company is transparent and willing to share the financials with all of their employees.

According to entreprenuer.com, in a 2016 study, it was found that only 25% of privately held companies surveyed were found sharing their financial information with their employees. So, you are not a lucky employee unless the company you work for is among those 25% privately held companies.

You want to know about your company’s financials as it gives you an idea if an increment will be possible or not. If the company is still into the loss or not progressing well then you can clearly assume your future is still not good in terms of making more money from your job. The management is mostly happy when the company does well in terms of sales and profits and then only they reward employees with what they need.

70-75% of private companies will still not disclose their financials and in that case, it becomes more difficult to make a decision whether to ask for a raise or not. This is because it sometimes irritates the management when you ask for an increment during times when the company’s growth is still not in a position to reward employees better and that really leaves a bad impression on your part.

On the other hand, when you already know that the company is doing great in the business and still if you are being underpaid then it’s really the best time to ask for a raise. In that case, you may even threaten to quit to get a raise but also think first if you should really do that.

You should also look at your own capabilities before asking for a raise or in other words ask yourself whether you deserve it or not.

This is, of course, true that the management is not of a professional level if they are not rewarding even when you deserve it and the company is also doing great in the business. Then you may even threaten to quit depending on your personal choice, health, age (as old age matter) and your family conditions as all these may be affected from losing your job (though it may be temporary until you find a new job).

If you are still not sure whether you deserve a higher salary or not best is to make a Google search to help you with that. You may wonder how that is going to help? Yes, of course, that is going to help. Suppose you are a software engineer in the UK then you must make this query in Google UK: “Average salary of a software engineering in the UK“. The top results in Google will exactly tell you the average salary of a software engineer in UK, then you can compare it with your own salary and that is surely going to help to know whether you are being fairly paid or not.

Also, your curiosity to learn new things may help you to gain expertise in different things and that will be good to earn the title of a more valued employee with a better salary.

The curiosity to know and learn new things always keep your mind active which becomes a mental exercise to make your mind stronger. The new and different ideas that come in your mind are all due to your curiosity which even makes you a multi-tasker. For that reason, you should not let go any opportunity to learn all that you can from your co-workers and through other departments of the company and that is ultimately going to help your salary being raised at some point in time.

About Author

Benjamin Stewart is a business developer, an entrepreneur and partner with The Total Entrepreneurs

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