I remember as a young man sitting in a job interview with several
senior managers.  The company was looking for a consultant to function
for a period of time as production manager.   It was about my third
interview, and I had already talked to most of the people in the room. 
The one person I hadn’t talked to began to quiz me.  “Do you change
your own oil?” he asked.  “No,” I replied, “I go to jiffy lube.”

“Well then, do you change your own brakes when they need to be
replaced?” he continued.  “No,” I replied.  “I usually go to midas.”  I
couldn’t for the life of me see where he was going, so I asked. 
“Obviously you have something you’re driving at, what is it?”   He
looked me straight in the eye for a couple of minutes and said, “We
have problems on the shop floor from time to time.  Our machines are
old, and sometimes they break down.  I’m trying to determine if you’re
going to jump in and help get these machines fixed when they break
down.”

I was shocked.  Did he really want the production manager down on
the floor fixing machines?  “Don’t you have a mechanic whose job it is
to fix the machines?” I asked.  “Oh, yes.  Of course,” he replied. 
“How much does he make?” I asked.  “About $15 an hour,” he said.  “Why?”

“Well, let me see if I can answer your question,” I replied,
measuring my words carefully.  “Here’s how I see it.  If you’re paying
me $100 per hour, and I’m down on the shop floor doing $15 per hour
work, it seems to me I’m cheating you out of $85 per hour.  You
wouldn’t want me to do that would you?”  Then before he could reply, I
added, “You aren’t down there fixing machines, are you?”

Of course that was the end of the questions from that manager.

But the point is well taken.  How many employees spend their entire
day doing things someone else (someone who makes substantially less)
should do?  When your employees busy themselves doing work that someone
who makes less could do, they are — in effect — cheating the company
out of the difference between what they make and what the work they are
doing is worth.

Take time today to examine every task your employees do.  Is each of
those tasks something only they can do?  Is it work that justifies what
they are being paid to do?   If so, great.  If not, you need to make an
adjustment.  I’ve been in businesses that had hired expensive (roughly
$75 per hour) managers, but had them spend their entire day on $20 per
hour tasks.  They could have been money ahead to hire two or even three
$20 per hour people in their places.

Don’t let your employees unwittingly cheat you.  Make sure the work
they do is commensurate with what they’re being paid.  And make sure
you are worth what you’re being paid.  There is little you can do that
will have a bigger impact on your job security.