Real-Life Math -- Solution
The final decision on who gets how much of a raise depends on your understanding, as a manager, of the efforts of your staff.
Here's one way you could allocate the merit increases, using as much of your $12,000 budget as possible.
Employee No. 1 gets a 10 percent increase -- $2,800
Employee No. 2 gets a 9 percent increase -- 2,700
Employee No. 3 gets a 6 percent increase -- 1,440
Employee No. 4 gets a 6 percent increase -- 1,770
Employee No. 5 gets a 4 percent increase -- 1,180
Employee No. 6 gets a 4 percent increase -- 960
Employee No. 7 gets a 3 percent increase -- 930
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Total -- $11,780
Everyone uses math skills in at least some aspect of life. Banking customer services managers certainly don't make for an exception.
"Despite the use of very sophisticated computers, you still need basic math skills to check your work," says B.J. Taylor, the manager of customer sales and services at a trust company.