CEO's Scared of "Over-Employed" Employees!

Some employers feel threatened by employee independence because it limits the authority they have over that person. The Air Force, for instance, requires authorization for its members to have second jobs with a list of requirements--and that's fine because "mission first". When I worked for Sears at the same time, I got a lot of nasty looks because I was talking about our direct compensation for outstanding performance: we had a good week and everybody got $30 in their checks for it. The captain told me never to talk about that again because "it creates unrealistic expectations in your cow-orkers" about performance and reward. And I knew what she was talking about, since typically a man in uniform will do 2-3X the work of a woman but they'll both get the same reward--a scrap of ribbon costing a few pennies but for which we're expected to do unlimited overtime to receive.

They don't want workers to have a basis for comparison.