If you can get a job with a monthly salary, you can do whatever you want all day.

Most rural workers are paid for a task performed, not a salary. I heard a saying early on, “If you can get a job with a monthly salary, you can do whatever you want all day.” Though this may seem extreme, I was told recently by my museum manager that, “We Tanzanians feel that if we work hard for an hour or two a day we’ve done our job.” About 15 years ago a wealthy Englishman made an old German fort near where I live into a hotel. He was convinced that to pay a salary, and not a daily wage was the most dignified way to pay people. The day after the first payday no one showed up for work, nor the second day. So he went out to find his workers and asked, “Why aren’t you at work?” They replied, “Now that we have money, there are things we need to get done at home.” The hotel pay compensation structure was change to a 50% labor and 50% showing up system.

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