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If a business cannot figure out how to pay workers fairly and still make a profit, I'm sorry, I cannot exactly feel sorry for them. A LOT of posters in this thread sympathize with the executive. I have a problem with that. America is not some Third World backwater. Monthly rent for a flophouse single room occupancy in a blighted neighborhood is what people pay for a YEARS rental in Third World Countries. When people in Jamaica live like a working class person does in Brooklyn, NY they don't pay ANY rent. They barely have to pay for food. Just climb a tree, Bob's your Uncle. When you add up everything else an AMERICAN needs to exist. Not thrive, just exist. That simply isn't going to happen on $15/hr x 27hr/wk.
Why not 40/wk? Because no one paying $15/hr. allows workers to get above 27hr/wk. They have software that hustles workers around the clock and around the week so they never know when they are 'on' so they can't work anywhere else. Then they have to sign crap contracts that say they can't work for a competitor if they quit.
I know, I know, it isn't the City-Data way to understand how the other half lives. That's why I pop in now and then. To remind y'all that there IS another side. Someone said "we need to increase the labor pool". That ship has sailed. Y'all HAD an enviable labor pool. And you killed it. Unless I way miss my guess, rising gas prices will do jack all about the "Great Resignation".
The only thing that had any chance of getting workers back into wage slavery was ... wait for it ... better wages. Not amazing wages, but better. Much better. "Oh, they are amazing right now ... " No they're not. America has normalized compensation levels that haven't kept pace with the COL since 40 or 50 years ago! The working class has been struggling to keep up with 21st Century expenses on 19th Century wages. Something had to give. And it did. And workers needs are so far from what most executive types are prepared to offer that there is no meeting in the middle, or anywhere else.
He always got to pick at home, so we were always at Hard Rock. This was the line in the sand though. I told them to go themselves and I’d dine somewhere else by myself. I won that one lol.
It's sad that the management can't seem to show some humanity and decency to their workers, the part of the company that brings in the money for them.
I have sympathy for those workers because I would not want my employer to see me as
something to exploit for profit.
Management can do better than this.
Define "humanity" and "decency". You are someone that your employer seeks to profit from your labor. Every employee is. The purpose of a business is to make a profit. If not, why start a business at all? You should try it yourself sometime, then you will see labor is an expense just as rent and utilities. In your own personal household, I bet you do the same. You seek to get the best bang for your buck.
Middle management typically plays a short game instead of taking a big-picture view. As in, they don't think beyond the end of the fiscal year when whatever bonus they'll receive depends on how much they've "saved the company." Some small business owners aren't any better. Quite a few of them around here seemed to spend the majority of their time last summer screeching all over social media that "no one wants to work!!!" and blaming whatever conspiracy theory fit their narrative.
I learned how to run a business from someone who played a pretty good long game and didn't have their problem.
Define "humanity" and "decency". You are someone that your employer seeks to profit from your labor. Every employee is. The purpose of a business is to make a profit. If not, why start a business at all? You should try it yourself sometime, then you will see labor is an expense just as rent and utilities. In your own personal household, I bet you do the same. You seek to get the best bang for your buck.
Sure. But just like leasing any old shack just because it's cheaper than others, squeezing everything from employees isn't always the best strategy. Humanity and decency can have actual tangible rewards for business owners. Edit: going the cheapest route just because it's cheapest often costs more in the long run.
Paying **** wages just because you can results in employees jumping ship the first chance they get, and there you are having to hire and train replacements. The major problem businesses are having right now is that those replacements aren't there. Treating employees like crap also increases the chances that they'll do a substandard job (this actually matters in some industries, like mine), and may contribute to employee theft. There's a lot to be said for treating people like they matter.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 04-01-2022 at 06:33 PM..
1) They already get a piece of the pie.
2) The surest way to get a larger piece of the pie is to generate more profit for your employer.
3) There's a surfeit of incentives for those employees to gain skills that add more value to society, thereby commanding a higher total compensation.
They don't get a piece of the pie, they get the crumbs that fall on the floor. Tell me, how much money will Applebees make without cooks and waiters? These low end workers are the reason Applebees makes money. People loading and unloading trucks in a fedex warehouse is the reason Fedex is in business. These lowend jobs are rather critical to the operating of these companies. As for #3, thats BS. Teachers and nurses bring far more value to society than a star athlete, yet it's the star athlete that makes millions.
Sure. But just like leasing any old shack just because it's cheaper than others, squeezing everything from employees isn't always the best strategy. Humanity and decency can have actual tangible rewards for business owners.
If true, then the successful busiensses will be the ones reaping those tangible rewards. No need for critique from the peanut gallery.
They don't get a piece of the pie, they get the crumbs that fall on the floor. Tell me, how much money will Applebees make without cooks and waiters? These low end workers are the reason Applebees makes money. People loading and unloading trucks in a fedex warehouse is the reason Fedex is in business. These lowend jobs are rather critical to the operating of these companies. As for #3, thats BS. Teachers and nurses bring far more value to society than a star athlete, yet it's the star athlete that makes millions.
And you probably wouldn't make it to work if there were no mechanics to fix your car but that doesn't mean you share your salary with your mechanic. Your question is butt stupid because they will never be unable to find cooks and waiters. They are paying the market value for cooks and waiters or else those cooks and waiters already would be working elsewhere. Go ahead and concoct imaginary scenarios that will never happen in this universe if you please.
The sports star makes millions because you and millions of people buy tickets and cable packages to see them perform. When is the last time you paid to watch a teacher teach? You probably whine every time your school taxes go up by $50.
If true, then the successful busiensses will be the ones reaping those tangible rewards. No need for critique from the peanut gallery.
A lot of them actually do reap those tangible rewards, especially in times like these.
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