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There are a pair of conservatives who jointly host a talk radio show. Recently they claimed that employer perks are provided to motivate employees toward greater productivity.
Of course, the lowest-wage jobs tend to offer the fewest and least valuable perks - and in most cases, no perks at all.
So what's the deal? These employers don't really care about increasing workplace productivity?
There are a pair of conservatives who jointly host a talk radio show. Recently they claimed that employer perks are provided to motivate employees toward greater productivity.
Of course, the lowest-wage jobs tend to offer the fewest and least valuable perks - and in most cases, no perks at all.
So what's the deal? These employers don't really care about increasing workplace productivity?
Low wage jobs tend to be low skilled jobs, which don't require any additional incentivisation because there is a huge labor pool of individuals capable of performing the required skill.
You also have to consider the margins of the companies who require low skilled labor. Chances are there is minimal differentiation, which means they can't charge a premium if the company exists in a competitive market environment. In this case, marginal costs are equal to or at least very close to price, which means in the long run there are no or minimal profits.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Fast food and retail almost always have high turnover, and the employers don't care. The skills required are very basic, and quickly taught. How hard is it to push the right soda button, or press the key with the picture of the Big Mac on it? There is no need to provide higher pay or perks because when people quit they can hire another right away from their long list of applicants.
What could low wage workers do to be more productive and make their company more profits? If they stock shelves faster or ring up customers quicker, would that bring more customers into the store? Just wondering.
On the other hand, if they are slow at bagging french fries and can't keep up the pace with the customers, they will probably lose their job.
Productivity is gained through improved equipment, automation, systems, and procedures with notable gains requiring capital investment. Employee performance is important to quality and consistency in an organization but not measurable differences in productivity. There is really no correlation between benefits and the traditional measurement of productivity (output per unit of labor).
There are a pair of conservatives who jointly host a talk radio show. Recently they claimed that employer perks are provided to motivate employees toward greater productivity.
Of course, the lowest-wage jobs tend to offer the fewest and least valuable perks - and in most cases, no perks at all.
So what's the deal? These employers don't really care about increasing workplace productivity?
Most of the replies below are accurate. The reason why wages in these jobs don't increase is because the skill level necessary to do the job is fairly low. Although, what is often overlooked are the physical demands that these jobs place on many employees over an extended period of time if they involve lifting, loading, and heavy-duty cleaning.
I think the point that is missed is this: Why do so many people have such poor job skills that this is the best employment that they can find?
If we are going to elevate millions of people out of a working-class position in this economy, we need to do a much better job of providing them with training that will allow them to earn more money.
Its really a pretty disgraceful situation that this country does such a poor job of preparing young people to hold decent paying jobs.
Last edited by markg91359; 10-26-2015 at 08:12 AM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,861 posts, read 81,878,104 times
Reputation: 58307
Quote:
Originally Posted by markg91359
Most of the replies below are accurate. The reason why wages in these jobs don't increase is because the skill level necessary to do the job is fairly low. Although, what is often overlooked are the physical demands that these jobs place on many employees over an extended period of time if they involve lifting, loading, and heavy-duty cleaning.
I think the point that is missed is this: Why do so many people have such poor job skills that this is the best employment that they can find?
If we are going to elevate millions of people out of a working-class position in this economy, we need to do a much better job of providing them with training that will allow them to earn more money.
The trend of passing students whether they have mastered the curriculum or not has resulted in a lot of uneducated high school graduates. If a student has no interest in learning, and is content to just do the bare minimum they are likely to be doomed to minimum wage jobs or crime to survive. As they say "you can lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink."
.......If they stock shelves faster or ring up customers quicker, would that bring more customers into the store? ...........
I don't know about stocking shelves, but if they can ring up customers quicker, it does bring more customers into the store. There are two local stores I won't shop at unless I am desperate because the clerks are slow as molasses in ringing up sales and even one customer with a partial basket in front of me can mean a 10-15 minute wait.
But I don't hesitate to go into Costco even when the parking lot is jammed, because the clerks there will get me through the checkout line in just minutes, even if 3 people with flats piled halfway to the ceiling are ahead of me. The workers there are efficient and move quickly.
But perks don't actually incentivize more productivity. A slug remains a slug, no matter what you pay him. What perks do is to make the job more attractive to the better workers.
Costco pays more, so they get the better workers. If you suddenly raised the pay at Walmart to the same level, those workers would not be any more efficient. They have a pace that they move at, and that is that.
What higher pay at Walmart would do would be to attract better workers and the current ones would end up fired.
There are a pair of conservatives who jointly host a talk radio show. Recently they claimed that employer perks are provided to motivate employees toward greater productivity.
Of course, the lowest-wage jobs tend to offer the fewest and least valuable perks - and in most cases, no perks at all.
So what's the deal? These employers don't really care about increasing workplace productivity?
Has nothing to do with caring
In a capitalist economy, the employer offers what they think is necessary to have the best workers.
In high paying jobs, it takes more than regular salary to get the best workers
It could cost the employer over $10,000 to hire and train a person.
In low paying jobs, the employer can always find somebody to replace any of his workers and train them in one week.
Most of what conservatives preach only works in their "fantasy land"
What higher pay at Walmart would do would be to attract better workers and the current ones would end up fired.
Walmart is one of the highest paying retail chains in the nation, ahead of most of the high end prestige stores.
Retail is not a high paying work place. Walmart at $10 an hour to start is one of the higher paying ones.
Fifty Percent of all working Americans make less than $30,000 per year at $28,151 or less per year. That is half of all Americans earn under $14 per hour. Only a small percentage of Americans are highly paid.
Quote:
What higher pay at Walmart would do would be to attract better workers and the current ones would end up fired.
Pay them above what the lower half of all workers earn as some are demanding, would greatly raise prices in all stores by the time it was over, which would hurt the people that have to survive on their incomes terribly especially the ones in the lower half of average income.
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