Let’s have a real CEO moment, because this one matters more than almost anything else in your business.
If you’re still underpaying your employees as a way to “save money,” I say this with love and hard truth: you’re not saving anything and you’re causing more turmoil than you think you are. You’re leaking time, energy, morale, and profit in ways you don’t see yet or haven’t learned to value yet.
Paying people as little as possible while expecting million-dollar performance isn’t strategy. It’s a leadership gap.
The Hidden Cost of Underpaying Your Team
Low wages don’t build loyalty. They build quiet resentment, fast turnover, and mistrust. When your team feels underpaid, they start emotionally disengaging. They stop innovating. They stop caring. Because what you’re signaling is: “Cut your lifestyle for my dream.”
And nobody signs up for that long-term.
The more you try to stretch your team without rewarding them, the more you create a culture of burnout instead of belief. You won’t just lose great employees, you’ll lose the respect of the ones who stay.
Competitive Pay Builds Empowerment
Competitive wages aren’t about overpaying. They’re about respecting the value, education, and lived experience someone brings to your team. It’s about saying: “You matter here.” And when people feel that? They rise, they innovate, and the level up all the others around them.
They show up with more energy, more creativity, and more ownership. They serve your clients better, they take care of each other better, and they truly care about the vision you are creating. They take initiative because they’re not stuck in survival mode. Paying market rate shifts your culture from scarcity to abundance and that ripple effect touches every client interaction, every internal meeting, and every future hire.
The employees who are supported won’t be in the back channels bad-mouthing leadership or applying elsewhere during lunch breaks. They’ll be building alongside you, proud of the role they play in something that respects them back.
Why It Impacts Your Bottom Line
A well-paid team gives you higher productivity, fewer mistakes, and stronger client relationships. It cuts the cost of hiring, onboarding, and retraining new staff. It increases your retention, which means fewer disruptions and more strategic growth.
And yes, one person may take advantage (and it is SO painful when they do) but most won’t. Your job isn’t to avoid the worst-case scenario. It’s to build for the best-case outcome.
When your team feels seen, supported, and compensated with fairness, your business moves with more stability and speed. And that pays dividends beyond the dollars.
The Culture Cost of Lowballing
You cannot build an empire on the backs of underpaid, underappreciated people. You just can’t. Every time you offer below-market wages and hope someone takes it, you’re reinforcing a culture of limitation. A culture of “make do,” of “survive on less,” of “don’t ask for more.”
And if that’s the energy inside your company, how can you expect to empower your clients? How can you coach others to scale when your own team is stuck stretching every dollar?
Your culture is either built on empowerment or exploitation. Choose wisely.
Final Thoughts from Your Favorite Accountant 🧡
Hiring and paying people well is leadership. It’s emotional, it’s strategic, and it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make as a CEO.
If you’re ready to build a payroll plan that supports your people and protects your profit, I’m here.
✅ Hire My CFO for done-for-you bookkeeping so you can finally build cash reserves and pay your team with confidence
👩💻 Join my Path to Profit Masterclasses to learn how to hire, budget, and lead with clarity at 7 and 8 figures
📚 Prefer to DIY? Grab my book + workbook on Amazon and learn how to build STOP accounts, forecast payroll, and budget like a CEO
👉 Because at the end of the day, cash flow isn’t luck, it’s strategy.
