“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”: meaning, origin and examples
What it means
The phrase If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys means that offering low wages will attract less skilled, less experienced, or incompetent workers. It suggests that inadequate compensation leads to poor quality in employees or services.
Tone Colloquial and cautionary, often used to criticize cost-cutting measures that compromise quality.
Where it comes from
The phrase is believed to have originated in the 20th century, highlighting the idea that low pay will not attract high-quality employees.
Examples
- The company’s high turnover rate reminded the CEO that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
- To improve the quality of their hires, they had to accept that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
- She warned the project manager that cutting the budget might backfire: if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
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