How to avoid getting paid peanuts

Singapore - If an employee does not want to be paid peanuts, then he or she must learn to portray a positive attitude at work, or get sidelined.

Without a positive approach towards work, employees would find it hard to gain that pay raise or promotion they are hankering after, which might result in them getting left behind. Christian Chua, trainer on changing mindsets in the workplace, says if employees adopt a negative attitude at work because they think they are underpaid, then they would never give their best. "Being dissatisfied with your salary will cause your attitude to be indifferent. If you work like a monkey, then you deserve the peanuts thrown at you. It is a cycle."

Instead, Chua advises employees who want a pay raise or promotion to perform as if they were paid an attractive salary even though they are only getting a minimum wage. "When your employer sees you working with professionalism, he will soon have to pay you a professional's salary to ensure that you continue providing your services to his company."

Otherwise, he adds, a competitor would simply poach the talent away by offering a better wage package.

Citing the success of his printing company, Chua says his positive mindset helped boost profits dramatically. "When you are liked, customers become friends, the businesses they transact goes beyond the usual dollars and cents bottom-line. The great attitude I had in my business made customers happy and they enjoyed dealing with us."

Chua adds that his great attitude even turned competitors into friends and partnerships were forged. "When I began to enjoy what I was doing, I realised that the work didn't seem like work anymore."