There are different frames for work compensation: as recompense for harm or reward for value creation.

Which framing you choose will change the path of your career, so be deliberate in the choosing.

People often seem to forget the root of compensation is compensate: a force exerted in order to counterbalance an opposing force. Think of it like a balance scale; something is loaded on one side, so we compensate by loading the other.

But what exactly is it that we’re loading?

There are generally two frames that occur in a variety of contexts. The negative frame suggests that what is loaded is injury, compensating by recompense. For example, work creates harm by costing me effort and my paycheck is restorative justice for that harm. This justice view often creates a wage-style system with tightly-defined borders; I give you 8 hours, you give me $200.

The positive frame, in contrast, suggests that is loaded is value, which is then compensated by shifting value. For example, work is a value-producing activity performed in sync with others and my paycheck is my share of that collective value. This value view often creates a variable-style system with aligned incentives.

Neither frame is right or wrong, they’re just different. But how you choose to engage with them will dramatically change the work choices you make.

For example, I have tended toward the value frame and while it is tempting to think of that as a reflection simply of white collar work, I’ve also had some very mundane jobs: IT repair, bouncer, retail, farm work. And I know plenty of white collar workers with a justice frame, who treat their job as something inflicted upon them.

Because I’ve chosen the value frame, I tend to only accept direct payment where I am certain I am creating value. I don’t charge for speaking or advising, for example, because both activities have potential, rather than realized, value; my advice may or may not be good and so the value it creates is highly variable. To capture the potential value, I often joke with founders that if they sell for billions, they can buy me a boat.

If I instead chose the justice frame, then I would likely charge for far more activities. If I fly around the world to speak at your event, you owe me for that effort; if it took me an hour to advise you, you owe me for that lost time.

Because I have chosen a way of viewing my work, it is difficult to write about both sides empathically; no doubt others may better express why they see their paycheck as a form of restorative justice.

But what is important is that like all frames, these can be shifted. Every workday is an opportunity to choose a different frame for your compensation, with both direct and indirect consequences for that choice. So be deliberate and do not let the frame be imposed upon you; you can decide how you want to view the relationship between the two sides of the scale.