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By the time I'd been in the workforce nearly 50 years, employers were accustomed to younger workers doing the bare minimum.
When I began working the rule was, "Perform or get out."
My error was taking on more than I could handle.
When I retired, my replacement did half as much and no one was seemed to care; either the work did't get done, was spread out among several workers, or it took three times as long to finish the job.
In this case though they are increasing costs. If it was a 1:1 replacement I'd agree with you.
Keep in mind your wife was hired for one specific job as well. Duties were added as she became more proficient. So while the company is increasing costs for now, one of these new hires may be another sucker and find themselves in your wife's ending position.
By the time I'd been in the workforce nearly 50 years, employers were accustomed to younger workers doing the bare minimum.
When I began working the rule was, "Perform or get out."
My error was taking on more than I could handle.
When I retired, my replacement did half as much and no one was seemed to care; either the work did't get done, was spread out among several workers, or it took three times as long to finish the job.
seems like you are implying those younger employees were lazy. if the requirement is to flip 10 cheeseburgers for 10 customers then the bare minimum is to cook 10 cheesburgers and they did their job proficiently (i guess it would be nice for them to cook an extra 2 checeburgers in case a few were bad...).
unless by bare minimum you mean less than the minimum then i agree they are lazy and should probably be fired for not performing.
We have been doing this type of thing for months, and it's coming to bite us in the rear end.
We had a "full team" of five people until late summer, at which point one person got fired, then another resigned, so we're drifting from crisis to crisis in part due to a lack of personnel.
When we were fully staffed, we were still expecting an increase in business and to justify hiring one extra person. The requisition was never opened, and several qualified candidates we all liked got away. Meanwhile, because we're pinching pennies, it's still taking forever to get anyone and several candidates have turned down our offers.
My wife has been working for her present company for about two years. Her salary was ~$50k. She was hired for one specific job but over time she took on more, to the point of basically doing three positions with no increase in pay. This advanced her abilities and gave her new technical knowledge. This should have been met with additional pay increases.
After a year she started looking around. No increase in pay except a token COL increase and bonus structure, and the company piling on more and more requiring her to work after coming home every night and weekends, she started applying for other jobs.
About 9 months later she finally got one she accepted. Doing 1/3 the job, work from home, $30k increase in pay.
Her company is now splitting that job she did into two and handing our the additional responsibilities to another employee, loading them up (most likely repeating the process).
Why do companies do this? It will cost them more money to hire on additional employees vs. keep her happy with raises and QOL improvements. She approached them about this about a half dozen times over the spring and summer, with no response. Maybe they thought she wouldn't leave?
This is just one perspective. And hindsight is always 20/20 right?
Let's say they did give her more money. She could have still left, right? So now the company is in the same place, but actually spent more money.
In the end, it's just life. You have many options, and there isn't always a clear cut answer. It's easy to sit on the outside say what should have been done. Monday morning quarterbacking is easy. Being the actual quarterback isn't as much.
Also - I'd see this as a blessing in disguise for your wife. Had they given her an nominal increase, she may never have felt the need to look. And missed out on this better opportunity.
"Amount of work" is a subjective term. Employees are expected to put a full day of work in doing the tasks assigned by management. If you work an 8 hour day and can get the job of two people done in those 8 hours, you're doing your job. The amount of work you get done also doesn't correlate directly with your long term potential with the company.
People are never as irreplaceable as they think. Don't assume that your wife was as valuable as she thought she was, if she was right about how spectacular she was then they would have done more to keep her. It's quite likely that with two employees they have coverage, overlap and cross training. They arguably have capacity to grow in those jobs increasing the value of an investment while your wife may have "maxed out".
In my experience employees that get disgruntled because they perceive they're irreplaceable or are doing "too much" often are disruptive and disrespective to the competence of management (much like your original message).
seems like you are implying those younger employees were lazy. if the requirement is to flip 10 cheeseburgers for 10 customers then the bare minimum is to cook 10 cheesburgers and they did their job proficiently (i guess it would be nice for them to cook an extra 2 checeburgers in case a few were bad...).
unless by bare minimum you mean less than the minimum then i agree they are lazy and should probably be fired for not performing.
This was an office setting of a large corporation I wrote about; I would not call them lazy, perhaps lethargic and having other priorities besides keeping their nose to the grindstone would be a more befitting description.
Many coming into the workforce with their hand out asking what the 'company can do for them'; I asked the head of HR why the corporation caters to them and was informed that if we didn't, then our competitors would and we'd lose good employees (the criteria for a good employee was attitude, team player, socially active, etc.)....one manager said, "Just hire someone with a good attitude, I can train anyone to do anything."
Another example was that if they completed a task, they would then use any extra time to text friends, play on the internet, or just walk around and visit; the idea of asking if anyone needed assistance was completely foreign to them.
My wife has been working for her present company for about two years. Her salary was ~$50k. She was hired for one specific job but over time she took on more, to the point of basically doing three positions with no increase in pay. This advanced her abilities and gave her new technical knowledge. This should have been met with additional pay increases.
That's just the way it is
If they gave raises everytime people think "they are doing a lot of work" they'll go broke
so seems like most companies have policies of not giving big raises unless it's a promotion, which in a way, it's a new job.
Another example was that if they completed a task, they would then use any extra time to text friends, play on the internet, or just walk around and visit; the idea of asking if anyone needed assistance was completely foreign to them.
thanks for explaining. i feel that it would be nice if they did more than the bare minimum, but if they are completing their tasks on time then they are performing. its like jennifer aniston and her 15 pieces of flare.
Employers just don't see it. That's not where their brain goes. Wherever it goes.
In my decades in the workfarce I've very rarely seen actual productivity measurement. I've had the few occasional mentors/bosses but most management blunders through as best they can. Inotherwords, the lazy fat kid with no friends that jumps into management is now a genius IMO.
In project management everyone is spending everyone elses' money, and nobody is watching. If you're a small company you may notice, but as you get larger is somehow gets lost! I notice it, you notice it, but most do not.
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