89. Why strengthen the salary...

After several rounds of revisions, Yu Yan’s salary-adjustment plan finally reached its final form after work on Wednesday. So early Thursday morning, Human Resources organized an internal meeting, and Pang Qi was assigned to present the proposal.

But less than a minute after the presentation began, Yu Yan was already dazzled by the wall of densely packed data filling the screen, with hundreds of figures blurring before her eyes. At once she flew into a furious rage, berating Pang Qi: “Besides piling up data, what else can you do?!” Then she made the decision on the spot to have Li Zichun remake the PowerPoint and deliver the report in her place.

“She’s the one who said she wanted detailed data, and now she’s the one complaining there’s too much of it! If I don’t show the data, how am I supposed to give her the details?” After the meeting, even Pang Qi, who usually kept quiet, could not help but vent.

Beside her, Yang Xiaojun and Zhang Liling tried to comfort her together. “Forget it, forget it. She’s always been like that. No matter what you do, she has to curse you a couple of times. She just can’t feel right unless she’s scolding someone every day.”

“Exactly. She was sent to our department precisely because she couldn’t lead a business team properly. With a boss like that, this company is bound to go under sooner or later.”

“If not for the business ties between Lightstream and Twin Star, I wouldn’t even want to stay here. The pay is low, the work is endless, and the boss is a total idiot!”

“Totally. Anyway, your proposal is done, and the follow-up presentation was given to someone else. It has nothing to do with you anymore, so why keep thinking about it?”

Pang Qi shot Li Zichun’s retreating figure a resentful glare. “She just loves stealing the spotlight!”

At the back of the group, the young Wu Mingkai glanced at Liu Shaopeng with some confusion.

“Brother Peng, shouldn’t we go over and comfort Sister Qiqi?”

Liu Shaopeng waggled his fat finger at him in a flash. “As a grown man, the only people you need to comfort are your wife and your mother. Female coworkers are best left untouched.”

Wu Mingkai nodded in slight bewilderment. “Then... if Manager Yu is having Sister Zichun present, wasn’t the proposal made by Sister Qiqi? How can Sister Zichun explain it clearly? Wouldn’t Manager Yu doing this be... not very proper?”

Liu Shaopeng shook his head. “You think the manager is stupid? Anyone who can make it into management is smarter than you, no matter how dumb they look. Kid, let big brother give you some advice: when it comes to matters between women, men had better not interfere. Don’t even ask.”

...

Early the next morning, the presentation resumed. When Li Zichun’s slides were opened, everyone in the conference room felt a collective sense of relief.

Unlike Pang Qi, she had not piled the slides with data so dense it was impossible to read. On the very first page was only a simple, clear table listing the total increase and percentage changes in fixed salary, performance pay, commission, allowances, and newly added items before and after the adjustment. Clicking further in, she went on to detail the growth in each department, as well as the proportions of salary increases and decreases for employees at different levels across each department.

Not a single item was broken down to the level of an individual employee, yet every figure was covered with precision. Her structure moved from the whole to the part and then back to the whole, so even the complete novices who understood nothing could clearly feel the difference between her level of presentation and Pang Qi’s.

“...Based on the current headcount, after the adjustment the company’s monthly fixed-salary expenditure is expected to increase by 285,472.36, while the flexible-salary portion is expected to decrease by 614,789.24. Monthly payroll costs are therefore projected to fall by 329,316.88.”

At this point, Li Zichun paused briefly, as if waiting for Yu Yan to ask a question, and Yu Yan did exactly as expected, frowning as she voiced her doubt.

“Fixed salary goes up by more than two hundred eighty thousand every month? Why is it so much?”

“...Because the commission rate has been lowered. In order to protect employees, the fixed salary for workers at each level has been raised accordingly in every department...”

“Nonsense.” Yu Yan cut her off rudely. “Of course I know expenses are up because it was raised, but why does it need to be raised?”

“Because if the fixed salary isn’t raised, employees’ pay will shrink drastically, causing a mass exodus.”

Yu Yan shook her head. “Losing some employees is actually a good thing for a company. After the meeting, find out why the fixed salary needs to be raised.”

That one sentence nearly wrecked Li Zichun’s entire line of reasoning. For a moment, she could think of nothing except a curse.

Why must the fixed salary be raised...

Why are you still asking me why the fixed salary needs to be raised? Weren’t the salary-adjustment plans already confirmed by all you managers?

Yu Yan asked again, “You just said the fixed salary is going up. Where exactly is most of the increase?”

Li Zichun pulled herself back from her daze and switched to the next slide.

“Mainly in the design department and the planning department.” She pointed at the salaries of employees at various levels in those two departments on the screen. “Right now, the fixed salary for our design department’s T1 level employees is only 2,350, while the highest T9 level fixed salary is 5,130. After the adjustment, both have increased by 200 to 400.”

“What is the market rate for designers?” Yu Yan asked.

“In our industry, it’s generally around eight to twelve thousand.”

Yu Yan gave a soft “oh.” “That is a bit low. How many people are there with a fixed salary in the two-thousand range you mentioned?”

Without much thought, Li Zichun answered, “Mainly three newly hired interns and two newcomers who haven’t been confirmed yet. Besides them, the lowest level is T2, with eight people. Among those currently employed, the highest level is only one senior designer at T7.”

“What about the commission? What are the highest and lowest amounts?”

“That data is unstable.” Li Zichun glanced at her notebook. “At its highest, commission can reach twelve to fifteen thousand. At its lowest, it’s only two or three hundred. And commission has no direct relation to level. All that can be said is that last year our designers’ average salary was around seven to eight thousand, a little below market rate.”

Yu Yan nodded. “Commission in the tens of thousands is too high. Once you add base pay, it’s already over twenty thousand. It should be lowered.”

Li Zichun: ...

Did you even listen carefully to what I was saying?!

After that, Yu Yan asked a series of very detailed questions. Some would have seemed extremely tricky and meticulous to outsiders, yet Li Zichun answered almost all of them promptly. Watching from the side, Pang Qi’s face was practically turning green.

Sitting in the back row of the conference room, Chen Ruowen’s eyes shone.

Li Zichun was actually only a department assistant running errands? Lightstream really had no eye for talent. Someone like this should be poached to be her assistant instead!

But even though Manager Yu had a strange temper, she didn’t seem stupid. Why had she never made good use of Li Zichun? Was there some hidden reason?

When the presentation ended, people both onstage and below unconsciously let out a breath. Yu Yan also nodded.

“Very good. From now on, whenever you report to me, it must be at today’s level. You need to understand the data thoroughly, not just dump it all out in a pile to muddle me. Li Zichun, go figure out why the fixed salary needs to be raised. That’s all for today’s meeting.”

Why the fixed salary needed to be raised...

Li Zichun only wanted to overturn the conference table...