Leveling the Paying Field: A Groundbreaking Approach to Achieving Fair Pay

by Rick Gillis

Overview

“An infectiously evenhanded, useful approach to assessing fairer pay.” — Kirkus

"How much are you worth? Rick Gillis brings science to the art of getting paid fairly at work." — Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton, Best Selling Authors | The Carrot Principle, Leading With Gratitude & Anxiety At Work

Leveling the Paying Field offers anyone who takes home a paycheck, seeking a new job opportunity, or carving out their own career path the opportunity to take pay parity into their own hands. Several books exist on the topic of fair pay, but none offers an individual approach to achieving fair pay like Leveling the Paying Field.

In his latest book, author Rick Gillis has created a rich new metric for measuring the value of the work you produce he calls the QTNT® (pronounced: ‘quotient’). Your QTNT score can then be used to reasonably and realistically challenge your current rate of pay. Not only can equal pay for equal work ultimately be realized, but even better, proper pay for outstanding performance becomes the new normal.

“This is an important book - for job seekers and hiring managers alike.” — Hung Lee, Curator & Editor | RecruitingBrainfood.com

“...in clear and concise steps, he has dispelled any uncertainty of exactly how to level up and get paid what you are worth.” — Alisa Murray, Award winning Columnist and Content Creator | Living the Sweet Life

“In Leveling the Paying Field Rick Gillis has brought his lifetime of career management experience to solving one of the hardest aspects of compensation and negotiation: quantifying performance and
value fairly and accurately, regardless of role or gender... His ‘quotient’ will work for everyone...” — Lisa Gates, Negotiation & Career Story Coach | StoryHappensHere.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950906963
Publisher:	Indigo River Publishing
Publication date:	09/28/2021
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Rick Gillis has been sharing techniques to maximize and manage careers with audiences for over two decades. In Leveling the Paying Field Rick has created an all-new category in performance measurement. This book is the sum of Rick's varied and colorful career in sales and as a counselor, an author, a speaker, an award-winning media host, and now an indisputable thought leader. Rick has written for CIO.com, Salary.com, and HuffPost; been featured on NPR, PBS, and Business Insider; and has also been noted and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., the Houston Chronicle, and USA Today College, among others. Learn more at RickGillis.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword XI

Introduction XIII

1 The Quotient: A Very Simple Idea - 1

2 The QTNT Personal Value Calculation - 5

• Q-Study No. 1: Vijay - Coder - 8

3 Three Kinds of QTNT Scores - 11

4 Three Ways of Looking at a Q < 1 - 13

• Q-Study No. 2: Lisa - Executive Assistant - 16

5 Salespeople Don't Need the QTNT Process-Yet - 18

6 Your Work Does Not Speak for Itself - 21

7 It's OK for Your Boss to Take Credit for Your Work (Ouch!) - 23

• Q-Study No. 3: Paula - Executive Search - 25

8 Your Commercial Value - 30

9 Your Employer Is Not Responsible for Pointing Out Your Wins - 32

• Q-Study No. 4: Mateo - VP, Bank Marketing - 34

10 Your Accomplishments Inventory - 37

11 The Defensible Statement and the Perfect Elevator Pitch - 40

• Q-Study No. 5: Mariana - Paralegal/Administrative Assistant. - 42

12 The Quotient and Soft Skills - 45

13 Quantification of Achievement - 47

• Q-Study No. 6: Allen - Construction/The Cement Pour - 49

14 The Net Result - 52

15 Formatting Accomplishments for Presentation - 54

• Q-Study No. 7: Lynne - Account Manager - 56

16 Speaking about You - 58

17 Accomplishments as a Tool: Where to Share - 60

18 Your Accomplishments and Your QTNT Score - 63

• Q-Study No. 8: Anthony - Captain, US Navy - 65

19 Equal Pay or the Proper Pay - 69

• Q-Study No. 9: Ellie - Process Improvement - 75

21 The Quotient and the Future of Employment - 77

22 The (Employment) Circle of Life - 79

23 The Earning Curve^TM - 82

• Q-Study No. 10: Peter - Executive VP, Cybersecurity - 85

24 Personal Performance Appraisal: Identifying Your Value - 87

25 Speaking Up at Your Appraisal - 90

• Q-Study No. 11: Nick - Chief Technology Officer - 92

26 There Is No I in Team - 94

27 Personal Performance Review: The Work Diary - 96

• Q-Study No. 12: Allen - Construction/Bridge Building - 98

28 Calculating Your Annual Quotient (Including Q = 1) - 101

29 Personal Performance Appraisal Prep -104

30 Personal Performance Appraisal: A Revolution - 106

• Q-Study No. 13: Brad - Property Management - 108

31 Project Management and the Quotient - 112

32 Independent Contractors, PMs, and the Quotient - 115

• Q-Study No. 14: Hannah - Software Implementation Manager. - 117

33 Open-Book Management - 120

34 The Overhead Expense Discussion - 122

35 Engagement: Thinking Like an Owner - 124

36 The Quotient and Proper Pay - 126

37 Position-Based Weighting and the Quotient - 129

38 Quotient Weighting in Practice - 131

39 The Baseline Audit - 133

40 Why Industry Detests Performance Appraisals - 136

41 Big 5 Performance Management - 139

42 The Big 5-Q Performance Model -143

43 The Quotient as a Hiring Tool - 145

45 Summing - 150

Appendix I: A Pro's Take on Sourcing Accomplishments -153

Appendix II: Sample Accomplishments Statement - 157

Glossary - 159

Acknowledgments -165

About the Author - 166

Editorial Reviews

“How much are you worth? Rick Gillis brings science to the art of getting paid fairly at work. With the Quotient you have hard data to make your case and truly level the playing, er, ‘paying’ field. This is a really cool approach and a must-have tool for everyone that has a job!

Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton

Putting numbers to the value of any employee’s performance is always a challenge, but Rick has created a simple, powerful formula with immediate applications for transforming how your workplace produces and evaluates value.

Ph.D. Educational Psychologist | DrRobSpeaks. ROB PENNINGTON

“Demonstrating 'fairness' in our hiring processes as well as in the treatment of our workforce may be the most critical challenge we face in the next decade to boost employee engagement—especially as we learn and measure just how important engagement is in every firm's performance. Rick Gillis takes on this most difficult problem head on with Leveling the Playing Field in an engaging, pragmatic approach that is easy to follow, understand and install.

Co-founder & Principal | CXR.works Gerry Crispin

What is true in life is true in business: rarely will others see your value until you do. In Leveling the Paying Field, Rick Gillis walks you through the ‘simple but not easy’ process of discovering your obvious, and hidden, contributions to your organization. You’ll learn to calculate and articulate your impact in financial terms, so you have agency in getting the compensation you deserve. Don’t wait for the outside world to notice your value and pay you fairly. Use Rick’s QTNT technique to develop yourself into a confident, self-aware individual, armed with a succinct, factual value statement of your contributions.

CATHERINE L. CROSSLIN

As a businesswoman who learned how to own her value through trial and toil, this book is a breath of fresh air. Using Rick Gillis’ QTNT, you will now be able to measure your contribution and work on the areas where you can improve, so you can increase your value (and confidence) and get paid what you’re really worth.

Founder | Discover the Edge and the Leaders O Nicole Jansen

A must-read book for every employee in any organization. Leveling the Paying Field clearly explains how anyone can calculate and showcase the value they add to their organization. Brilliant!

Shohreh Ghorbani & Kamran Akbarzadeh Founders & Directors | ProjectControlAcademy.com

In Leveling the Paying Field author Rick Gillis has brought his lifetime of career management experience to solving one of the hardest aspects of compensation and negotiation: quantifying performance and value fairly and accurately, regardless of role or gender. Gillis provides a simple, repeatable formula as well as many examples that illustrate that quantifying value is not just for those whose work directly impacts revenue. His ‘quotient’ will work for everyone, from secretaries to project managers to executives. A must for HR and hiring managers.

Lisa Gates

In Leveling the Paying Field, Rick Gillis provides you with all the steps necessary to prove your value to your company and why you deserve not just fair pay—but the proper pay for what you do.

Host | Rock Star Principles Dayna Steele

Rick Gillis may have resolved the issue of pay disparity in the workplace. By embracing the concepts laid out in this book, no matter what you do, you could realistically change your pay and your reality. The legacy of Leveling the Paying Field could be to change the lives of generations yet to come.

KEITH WYCHE

Rick’s book guides you step by step to help you identify and communicate all the value that you bring to your workspace.

Joyel Crawford

Rick Gillis's Leveling the Paying Field introduces a simple formula which reframes that negotiation. 'The Quotient' or QTNT enables both parties to share the same framework in deciding how to calculate compensation. At the very least it is a valuable personal tool; at most it could be a catalyst for cultural change. This is an important book - for job seekers and hiring managers alike.”

Curator & Editor | RecruitingBrainfood.com Hung Lee

"Gillis provides readers with a broad array of ways for supervisors and workers to come to an equitable calculation of how much actual value each employee generates for the company. The long experience the author brings to the subject is obvious on every page; he comes across continuously as workers' tireless cheerleader. Every employee in the world has commercial value, he insists, and in these brightly written pages, he seeks to help them all make the most of that worth. An infectiously evenhanded, useful approach to assessing fairer pay."-- "Kirkus"

"Demonstrating 'fairness' in our hiring processes as well as in the treatment of our workforce may be the most critical challenge we face in the next decade to boost employee engagement--especially as we learn and measure just how important engagement is in every firm's performance. Rick Gillis takes on this most difficult problem head on with Leveling the Playing Field in an engaging, pragmatic approach that is easy to follow, understand and install." -- "Gerry Crispin, Co-founder & Principal CXR.works"

"How much are you worth? Rick Gillis brings science to the art of getting paid fairly at work. With the Quotient you have hard data to make your case and truly level the playing, er, 'paying' field. This is a really cool approach and a must-have tool for everyone that has a job!" --Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton, Best Selling Authors The Carrot Principle, Leading With Gratitude & Anxiety At Work

"As a businesswoman who learned how to own her value through trial and toil, this book is a breath of fresh air. Using Rick Gillis' QTNT, you will now be able to measure your contribution and work on the areas where you can improve, so you can increase your value (and confidence) and get paid what you're really worth." -- "Nicole Jansen, Founder Discover the Edge and the Leaders Of Transformation Podcast"

"In Leveling the Paying Field author Rick Gillis has brought his lifetime of career management experience to solving one of the hardest aspects of compensation and negotiation: quantifying performance and value fairly and accurately, regardless of role or gender. Gillis provides a simple, repeatable formula as well as many examples that illustrate that quantifying value is not just for those whose work directly impacts revenue. His 'quotient' will work for everyone, from secretaries to project managers to executives. A must for HR and hiring managers." -- "Lisa Gates, Negotiation and Career Story Coach, StoryHappensHere.com"

"A must-read book for every employee in any organization. Leveling the Paying Field clearly explains how anyone can calculate and showcase the value they add to their organization. Brilliant!" -- "Shohreh Ghorbani & Kamran Akbarzadeh Founders & Directors ProjectControlAcademy.com"

"In Leveling the Paying Field, Rick Gillis provides you with all the steps necessary to prove your value to your company and why you deserve not just fair pay--but the proper pay for what you do."-- "Dayna Steele, Host Rock Star Principles"

"Putting numbers to the value of any employee's performance is always a challenge, but Rick has created a simple, powerful formula with immediate applications for transforming how your workplace produces and evaluates value." -- "ROB PENNINGTON, Ph.D. Educational Psychologist DrRobSpeaks.com"

"Rick Gillis may have resolved the issue of pay disparity in the workplace. By embracing the concepts laid out in this book, no matter what you do, you could realistically change your pay and your reality. The legacy of Leveling the Paying Field could be to change the lives of generations yet to come." --KEITH WYCHE, C-Suite Executive, Speaker & Author Good is Not Enough & Corner Office Rules

"Rick Gillis's Leveling the Paying Field introduces a simple formula which reframes that negotiation. 'The Quotient' or QTNT enables both parties to share the same framework in deciding how to calculate compensation. At the very least it is a valuable personal tool; at most it could be a catalyst for cultural change. This is an important book - for job seekers and hiring managers alike." -- "Hung Lee, Curator & Editor RecruitingBrainfood.com"

"Rick's book guides you step by step to help you identify and communicate all the value that you bring to your workspace." -- "Joyel Crawford, MBA, CPCC, PHR Leadership Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Podcast Host Career View"

"What is true in life is true in business: rarely will others see your value until you do. In Leveling the Paying Field, Rick Gillis walks you through the 'simple but not easy' process of discovering your obvious, and hidden, contributions to your organization. You'll learn to calculate and articulate your impact in financial terms, so you have agency in getting the compensation you deserve. Don't wait for the outside world to notice your value and pay you fairly. Use Rick's QTNT technique to develop yourself into a confident, self-aware individual, armed with a succinct, factual value statement of your contributions." -- "CATHERINE L. CROSSLIN, CEO, Instar Performance A Culture & Leadership Consultancy"

From the Publisher

2021-09-20
A guide offers a comprehensive blueprint for equitable pay.

Gillis begins his book by explaining the groundbreaking concept he hopes will revolutionize the world of fair pay in the workplace: the Quotient Personal Value Calculation, or QTNT PVC. This calculation, according to the author, is “so remarkably simple that, as you learn more, you will wonder why this measurement has never been used in business before now.” The QTNT, Gillis claims, is designed to surpass the standard performance appraisals currently used in managerial systems—mainly because it’s objective, whereas despite widespread opinions to the contrary, those other evaluations are deeply subjective. The QTNT seeks to provide an objective estimation of an employee’s contribution to a workforce. It determines that contribution by taking the value of the worker’s performance and dividing it by the employee’s rate of base pay. Gillis has been a hiring guru for many years, and he’s noticed a tendency of workers to grow numb to such considerations, becoming “so accustomed to simply putting in time on the job that they don’t take the time to look around and think about how they can showcase their achievements.” The highlighting of those accomplishments becomes crucial because, the author’s contentions notwithstanding, the subjective element of the QTNT is the part about estimating the value of a worker’s performance. Gillis provides readers with a broad array of ways for supervisors and workers to come to an equitable calculation of how much actual value each employee generates for the company. The long experience the author brings to the subject is obvious on every page; he comes across continuously as workers’ tireless cheerleader. Every employee in the world has commercial value, he insists, and in these brightly written pages, he seeks to help them all make the most of that worth.

An infectiously evenhanded, useful approach to assessing fairer pay.

Kirkus Reviews