Beneath the Headline | Edition 004
The human impact behind the business story.
The Headline
In September 2026, In-N-Out Burger confirmed that its store managers earn more than $200,000 annually on average.
That's a substantial salary for a restaurant management position. But what caught my attention wasn't simply the compensation. It was the philosophy behind it.
According to In-N-Out's leadership, founders Harry and Esther Snyder believed that taking care of employees was just as important as taking care of customers. Paying higher-than-average wages was one way the company chose to put that commitment into practice.
And the investment extends beyond compensation. According to the company's employment information, every store manager begins as an hourly associate and advances through its internal development system. Store managers reportedly average more than 15 years with the organization.
That's worth recognizing. In-N-Out isn't simply offering a competitive management salary. It's creating a pathway for employees to build long-term careers and potentially reach those positions themselves.
But there's another question I think executives should be asking.
When an organization makes a substantial investment in its leaders, what should the people those leaders manage experience in return?
Beneath the Headline
Organizations invest considerable resources in leadership compensation. They establish competitive salaries, offer bonuses, fund development programs, and create incentives intended to attract and retain capable managers. Those investments can be important. Strong leaders influence business performance, operational consistency, employee development, and the ability to retain talent.
But I think there's a distinction executives sometimes overlook.
Paying leaders well is an investment decision. Leading people well is an outcome that requires accountability.
Consider a manager who earns a substantial salary and consistently delivers strong financial results. Their location meets productivity targets, controls labor costs, and satisfies customer expectations. From an operational perspective, that manager may appear highly effective.
But what if the employees working under that manager tell a different story? What if engagement scores remain low, turnover is consistently high, employees report favoritism, or concerns about management behavior repeatedly surface without resolution?
Those results don't necessarily establish that compensation was the wrong investment. But they should cause executives to question whether they're evaluating leadership effectiveness comprehensively.
Because an organization's return on leadership investment shouldn't be measured exclusively by what the business produces. It should also consider what employees experience while producing those results.
That doesn't mean every employee will like their manager or agree with every decision. Leaders have to establish expectations, address performance, and make difficult choices. But the way they carry out those responsibilities matters.
An organization can invest heavily in leadership and still have employees whose experiences fall short of its stated commitments. The question is whether executives have the visibility and accountability mechanisms to recognize that disconnect and respond to it.
The Human Impact
This is where In-N-Out's story becomes particularly interesting.
The company doesn't simply point to its compensation philosophy. It also has generally favorable employee feedback. On Glassdoor, In-N-Out has received strong overall ratings, with many employees praising compensation, career opportunities, and workplace culture. Reviews on Indeed reflect similar positive experiences.
Employees describe supportive coworkers, opportunities to advance, and managers who invest in their development. Some speak about beginning in entry-level positions and building careers within the organization. Those experiences suggest that, for many employees, the company's commitment to people extends beyond what appears on a compensation statement.
But the reviews aren't universally positive. Some employees describe physically demanding work, inconsistent scheduling, limited hours, favoritism, and management practices that have made their experiences difficult.
Individual reviews aren't proof of widespread organizational problems, just as favorable ratings aren't proof that every employee has an excellent experience. They do, however, illustrate why executives need to examine employee experiences across locations, teams, and individual leaders.
For an hourly associate hoping to advance, In-N-Out's internal promotion system may represent a meaningful opportunity. The company has demonstrated that management positions are attainable through internal development. But whether an employee experiences that opportunity as real can depend on the manager responsible for coaching them, explaining expectations, and supporting their progress.
An employee doesn't experience the organization's commitment to people through the salary their manager receives. They experience it when that manager creates a schedule, responds to a concern, provides feedback, addresses conflict, recognizes performance, or makes a decision about their future.
And while managers don't control every organizational policy or operating condition, they play a significant role in how those decisions affect the people they lead.
A company can decide what it values. Its leaders help determine whether employees experience those values.
Before It Becomes Your Headline
The lesson from In-N-Out isn't that every organization should pay managers $200,000. Compensation strategies must reflect business realities, labor markets, and the responsibilities associated with each position.
The more important consideration is whether organizations have established a meaningful way to evaluate what their leadership investments are producing.
Executives routinely review compensation expenses, incentive structures, operating margins, and productivity. Yet the employee experience associated with individual leaders may receive far less scrutiny, even though it can influence retention, performance, and the organization's ability to develop future talent.
A more complete evaluation connects financial performance with employee experience and leadership effectiveness. That means examining employee trust in managers, voluntary turnover, internal advancement, the quality of coaching, recurring employee concerns, and operational results together rather than treating them as unrelated measures.
It also means looking beyond organization-wide averages. A favorable engagement score can conceal departments where employees consistently report poor management practices. Strong business results can coexist with high turnover or unresolved employee concerns. Neither should be ignored simply because another measure looks promising.
This is where accountability becomes important. When those patterns emerge, executives should expect HR and operational leaders to examine the underlying causes, determine what support or corrective action is needed, and evaluate whether conditions improve. A manager shouldn't be labeled ineffective based on one unfavorable score or a handful of complaints, but persistent patterns deserve attention.
The same principle applies to leadership development. If an organization invests in managers because it expects them to build strong teams and develop future leaders, internal mobility and employee growth should be part of how that investment is evaluated.
Compensation alone cannot establish whether a manager is effective. Neither can financial performance, employee satisfaction, or retention when considered in isolation.
The return on leadership investment becomes clearer when organizations examine business results alongside the experiences of the people responsible for delivering them.
The Closing Thought
I find In-N-Out's approach interesting because it demonstrates that an organization's commitment to people can influence more than its messaging. The company has made identifiable decisions about compensation, internal advancement, and long-term career opportunities. Its generally favorable employee feedback provides encouraging evidence that many employees experience positive aspects of that commitment.
But the broader leadership lesson extends beyond In-N-Out. Every organization makes decisions about what it is willing to spend on its leaders. Those decisions are reflected in compensation reports, incentive plans, development budgets, and financial statements. What may be less visible is whether the people reporting to those leaders are experiencing the value of that investment.
That's a gap executives should be interested in closing. Not because every manager can guarantee a positive employee experience, but because organizations should understand whether the leaders they've invested in are creating the conditions for people to contribute, develop, and be treated fairly while delivering business results. And when the evidence suggests otherwise, leadership accountability should extend beyond the financial performance of the operation.
Investing in leaders is a business decision. Understanding what that investment produces for the people they lead is a leadership responsibility.
You can measure what you're paying your leaders down to the dollar. But can you explain what the people they lead are experiencing in return?
Stay Human,
LaShawn Davis
About the Author
LaShawn Davis is the Founder and CEO of The HR Plug, an employee and labor relations advisory firm, and the creator of The UNPLUG Experience. Drawing on her experience advising organizations and leading employee and labor relations across complex workforces, she writes about the human impact of business decisions, workplace culture, and the leadership responsibility to humanize work.
Reader Correspondence
Beneath the Headline explores the human impact behind business stories, examining how organizational decisions shape the experiences of employees and what leaders can learn from them.
Have a perspective to share, a question about this edition, or a business story you think deserves a closer look? Contact the author at hello@lashawndavis.me.