In the present, or history has a government, or business, ever decided the exact pay for workers?

For example the Lurve system, in Fluther, is a mostly agreed system of rewards.

Has that worked for the real world, for pay?

In most of the world currency is an acceptable way for trade, and makes sense. The wage per hour or salary is used world wide, but what about other forms?

For example: Would you like to be paid by the minute and for only the minutes that you work without lollygaging? $9/hour would be $0.25 per minute. I would like to decide when I work and not. That if I wanted a longer break that I could decide when I work. Like Fluther? I can stop when ever I like it. That would be liberating, to have the freedom to say no.

Also to have the freedom to say yes. As much as I want. That’s one of the main reason that I live Fluther so much. I can decide my hour’s… down to the minute. If I could get paid with flexible hours, or minutes, it would be more productive, and enjoyable job.

They can’t do an exact number. Companies can set a pay scale with levels and base bay, but each employee will have variables, such as:
– contribtions to 401K
– withholding tax based on family size and situation
– deductions for insurance, Medicare, social security
– charitable deductions

So the chances of having two workers doing the same job getting the exact same dollar amount in pay are very, very small.

I’ve worked at companies that paid on a salary basis for most positions. That’s the closest I have come. I don’t think what you are describing would work for one simple reason: humans. One company I worked at had an unofficial policy that all people in the group I was in that were hired on or about the same date were all paid the same, including raises. Sounds fair, right? Except not everyone works the same.. One case I remember distinctly involved two guys, one was a real hard and conscientious worker, the other was a bit of a dirtball…did half-assed work, worked slow so he would get assigned less, etc. Yet ever time pay raises came around, they were treated exactly the same…not on merit, but on time. After a while the hard worker really raised a stink. He was doing a lot of good work and was respected and trusted by management but he was being paid the same as the dirtball because they didn’t want to create a wage discrepancy. When he finally asked if he could just slack off and be a dirtball and still get the same money, they finally got the picture.

Everyone always squawks about the wage gap, but they forget that not all jobs are created equal. Someone that is pushing a broom doesn’t have the same level of performance or contribution to the company that someone repairing equipment does. And that repair man doesn’t have the same level of performance or contribution that someone who is overseeing the entire maintenance department does. Nor do any of these groups have the same level of risk. If a broom pusher misses a spot, it is no big deal. If a repair guy makes an error and forgets to put a part back onto a machine then it could cause a huge impact onto the company. If you start paying everyone the same you start having your good, highly skilled performers move to other companies where their efforts would be rewarded. And you would quickly fill the lower level jobs with poor performers.

Just research the oldest profession in the world. Yep!