Why do employees demand a raise whenever they do a little extra work? Don't blame them for being petty; blame yourself for not clearly defining the job role.

Have you ever had a moment like this?

The e-commerce team has just expanded to a dozen people, and the workload hasn't increased much yet, but people are already lining up to talk to you about a raise.

"Boss, I've been managing the community more this month."

"Boss, that project wasn't originally mine, but I did it for them."

"Boss, I've gone beyond my job responsibilities."

As you nod, you think to yourself: Aren't these all part of the job?

Why do I have to pay extra for every single task?

Many bosses will subconsciously think: Is this employee being too calculating?

Actually not.

Most of the time, the problem isn't with the employees, but with you for not clearly explaining the job description from the beginning.

You only told him "you are in charge of this position," but you never explained four things to him:

• What key metrics does this position actually serve?
• What matters fall within its scope of responsibility?
• To what extent do we need to reach a point where we can be considered to have taken a step forward in our abilities?
• If the targets are actually raised, how will the salaries change accordingly?

这四件事没对齐，员工就会用自己的逻辑补全漏洞：

Doing one more thing means taking on more responsibility; taking on more responsibility naturally means earning more money.

Thus, "working more" and "getting a raise" were welded together as a cause-and-effect relationship.

Every time you agree, the cost of the next negotiation increases; every time you refuse, the employees feel more aggrieved.

How to break?

There is a particularly useful method in job design that is often overlooked:

Don’t just define “specific things”, define “key metrics” first.

Because specific things can change.

Today it's optimizing e-commerce product detail pages, tomorrow it's adjusting sales pitches, and the day after it's analyzing competitors—the responsibilities of this job are always increasing.

You can't list everything in your job description, and if you do, it will expire immediately.

（JD = Job Description，中文就是”职位描述 / 岗位说明书”​——招聘时贴出来的那份”岗位职责与要求”，就常被简称为 JD。）

However, the "key performance indicators" that a position needs to serve are relatively stable.

One example to understand the difference

Let's say the core metric for a certain position is "improving conversion rate".

那么凡是跟转化率相关的事，本质上都属于这个岗位：

• Optimize the details page;
• Adjusting sales scripts is necessary.
• Analyzing competitors' strategies is also important.

As long as all actions are aimed at "increasing conversion rates", there's no need to renegotiate salaries every time a new thing comes up.

Because from the beginning, this was his objective, not an additional task.

If employees work too much and get tired, are they just supposed to do it for nothing?

of course not.

Here is a particularly crucial closed loop:

If an employee truly improves the conversion rate through their own efforts, then their ability has already been proven by the metrics.

At this point, the company can and should adjust his salary accordingly based on the "amount of improvement in the performance indicators".

It wasn't because he "did something extra," but because he "achieved the target."

These two things sound similar, but they are actually completely different.

The former is bargaining, the latter is value realization.

This design has advantages in two ways.

For the employee, it was the first time he had a clear sense of direction: instead of counting "how many more things I did this month", he could think "have the metrics I am responsible for really improved?"

His attention shifted from "what is within one's duty and what is not" to "whether the result is good or bad".

For the boss, you now have a tool to leverage: you can focus on that metric, teach methods, break down actions, conduct debriefings, and help him grow his skills step by step.

You're not just paying a salary; you're investing in someone's growth.

Let's go over this line one last time:

Capabilities are demonstrated through indicators;

Income is increased through performance indicators.

This is the only sound logic for compensation.

When job responsibilities, key performance indicators, and compensation rules are all clearly explained, you will find that—

Employees no longer constantly come to you to talk about money because they want to "do a little more," and you no longer have to repeatedly explain and passively respond before each salary increase.

The topic of conversation has finally come down to the same thing: metrics.