There is probably a lot of burnout in that type of job compensation. And when everybody gets a pay raise, prices go up and you move into higher tax brackets.
Why? The harsh labor market of the Great Recession is long behind us. We are in a tight labor market, similar to the late 1990s when jobs were plentiful and applicants were scarce. I can remember in those days, quitting a job or being fired, and finding a new job which paid at least as much within a few days.
The only time it makes sense to keep your current job while you look for something better is if the current job is at least satisfactory and/or you expect that it will be difficult to find something at least as good quickly. An employer who is ripping you off–and being disingenuous about it–is not something I would stick with any longer than whatever notice of resignation you feel obligated to provide.
The bottom line is that the employer discussed in the OP is ripping off the worker, and the OP understands this. It is up to him to tell this to his boss bluntly and demand reasonable pay–based upon clock time, not some fantasy “book time”–and if the employer refuses then he should take his talents elsewhere. Life is too short to let yourself be exploited by a greedy employer.
Job and company loyalty are things of the past sad to say. Employees and employers are using the revolving door.
To reduce the labor time from 0.5 to 0.3 seems like a shifty way to control costs however 0.3 is the typical labor time.
A Dodge dealer I worked for 20 years ago paid 0.2 for a warranty oil change and 0.3 for retail.
To pay 0.5 is generous, that is $75 of retail labor, how much can they charge for an oil change?
After six months at my second employer, I figured out that the employer was. very poorly run and started looking for another job. Since I had a job, I figured that I could be picky. After another year I finally found a job worth taking and it turned out to be a great decision. While at the bad job, I had an opportunity to fix a lot of problems because they were so poorly run. The problems cam back of course after I returned control of the system to the manufacturing group.
My first real job was with a very small company, the owner was a few years into starting up and still did not have any traction. He did not have the cash flow to pay me decently. I learned a lot of what not to do from him. That lasted a year. My next job was for a guy who would take any opportunity to chisel something away from us, but I did learn a lot. My last job, 29 years, was for a multi national company that was run very well. Typical Dilbert stuff, but any big outfit will have that.
The first jobs were me ‘paying my dues’ and learning.
Mid to large corporations are more closely watched by consumer groups. They can easily get sued for not following state and federal regulations. Pay may not be as good. More potential for higher pay, but less job security with smaller companies. Obviously not all companies fit in that mold…but a lot do.
I would not quit a bearable job on the chance of getting a better one. That’s backwards. Find a new job, THEN quit the old one. Especially when I’m advising a stranger who may not be able to find a new job as easily as you claim.
5 Likes
Right. I’ve burned a few bridges…but make sure you aren’t ever going to need to cross that river again. I surely wouldn’t advise lighting it on fire while you’re still standing on it.
3 Likes
If a business does not pay their employees a living wage. Then how are these people living? They are living off of the back of someone else their parents and their friends family members maybe the government too. This is an indirect form of subsidy to the business by enabling this low wage to continue. For their benefit.
1 Like
Well it’s the whole economic reality thing. Can anyone determine anymore what a living wage is? Through edict everyone gets paid more, but then of course prices have to increase to cover it, which makes the wage less adequate again. It’s just Econ 101. Some think that businesses have an inexhaustible supply of profits that can be used, but a good percentage of businesses over the last two year had to close and a hefty portion of those had to close for good.
There are just some jobs that will never be paid at a higher rate. I went to the DQ last night. Two kids were manning the store. Neither of them making a living wage, but I’ll guarantee their college money was being increased-of course at the expense of their folks-which is how it should be. As many have found out spending OPM is great until the money runs out. I started at 50 cents an hour, then 85, then 1.65, then 2.40, then 3.50, and then on to a living wage. I never expected to be able to buy a house at 50 cents an hour.
And there’s the problem. They don’t, but we’re conditioned to think they do.
McDonalds had a 27% profit margin on 6 billion in revenue in a single quarter of last year. How much more can we pay their workers if they take, say, a 10% profit margin instead? That’s still a pile of money, and the workers can be paid fairly, and prices don’t have to skyrocket. It’d be a perfect solution except that greed will not allow it to happen.
3 Likes
50 years ago majority of people worked a living wage. 50 years ago the average CEO earned 22 times the average worker. Now it’s 350 times the average worker. 50 years ago ONE person income could earn enough to support a family of 4. For many people in many parts of this country it takes 2 incomes to support a family of 4. A very large portion of inflation is the enormous amount companies going to the top. Companies take this attitude of we still have to make x profit no matter what…AND keep the wages at the top the same or higher.
2 Likes
As an auto shop manager and former auto shop owner, I can say “No.” There are a number of jobs out there that are not worthy of a living wage and should never be paid one.
Now I’m not talking about an automotive technician who comes to work to keep food on the table and takes a low paying job just to keep the wolves at bay. I had a “friend”, a fellow shop owner, who once bragged to me “Hey, I’m paying this guy $12/hr and billing him out at $95. I’m doing great.” That’s wrong on so many levels it requires a different discussion.
I’m talking about the kid who sweeps the floor, empties the garbage, parks cars, and cleans the bathroom. Certainly an important job, but not a living wage/career position. It’s something you do while you’re on your way to something else.
This used to be a split position, meaning 2 people shared one job. We had a morning guy, came in at 7:30 and worked until 1, then went to the local voc school in the afternoons. At 2:30 a high school kid would come in and work until 5:30. Or something like that. Several years ago we filled it with one young man. He worked well, was reliable, and received pay increases along the way, but eventually realized he was unable to live on the $17/hr he was making. He asked for a pay increase and we denied it, and that was one more thing that finally made him realize that if he wanted to go further in life he needed to do more than be a shop gopher.
If people want a living wage they need to choose jobs that pay a living wage, not work the counter at McDonalds or sweep the floors at a garage.
3 Likes
Other than certain part-time jobs which are geared toward retirees or high school students, every job should pay enough to allow employees to live with dignity. That is just common sense. Companies want the worker to show up on-time, sober, and looking/smelling good, but then they don’t want to pay enough to allow said employee to afford even the most basic studio apartment? People should not be forced to live out of their car and shower at a gym or homeless shelter just so an employer can make more money. People deserve a living wage, period.
Isn’t that what I was talking about, an auto shop helper or a McDonalds counter worker? I suppose we should stop singling out McDonalds, how about all fast-food places.
People deserve the wage their abilities and chosen position pays. If you need $25/hour to live, don’t have a job that pays $17. Of course it’s not that simple, but that $17 job is what you do while you’re on your way to the $25 job. To park yourself in the $17 job and then complain it’s not enough puts the burden of survival on everyone else around you, and that burden is yours to carry.
And this is nothing new, there have always been people who worked harder than others, but it seems like the labor force today (in my experience) isn’t motivated to work that extra amount to be better than the next guy. In my above mentioned example, the $17 job came with guaranteed overtime if he wanted it. He was free to work 7:30 to 5:30, but he rarely did so. At $17, every hour of OT was $25. That’s $125/week, $500/month he gave up, all the while complaining about needing more money. He had dreams of opening up his own shop one day, but never went to any company-paid training, rarely took the opportunity to learn new skills, etc. I offered to enroll him in a basic auto tech course on the company’s dime, he refused saying it would be too much time. He’s just stuck, 27 years old and will never better himself unless he is forced to.
No minds will be changed thinking there is an unlimited amount of money available if it would just be shared with everyone. There is a name for that.
The other issue with this though is called wage compression on up the line. If you raise the lower pay scales, the upper scales become more compressed which makes more valuable staff very unhappy. So what happens is the entire pay scale needs to be increased, not just the bottom level. People making the $25 aren’t going to be happy when the bottom rate is raised to $25.
Bringing it back to reality we’re looking at a guy fresh out of school, minimal real world experience, in an entry level job.
Some of the best advice I ever received was, “When we’re hiring for an entry level position we don’t really care about what school you attended and hardly care about your major because we’re going to have to retrain you anyway. The only significance of a degree/certification is that it shows that you’re trainable and are capable of sticking around long enough to complete your training.”
Based on this I’m not sure I’d be advising the OP to quit or start “job jumping” if it’s just over a couple of bucks an hour. .
I think Eric has left the building . But I will throw my thought in anyway. I think he should stay where he is for a little while longer. He has a thread here asking if Toyota will fix his broken spring on an out of warranty vehicle. Why did he not consult the shop owner or the other mechanics who could have guided him to the web recall site or told him to contact a local dealer or the contact number in the owners manual .
And what of the people who can’t qualify for anything better than working the counter at McDonalds or working the floor at Best Buy because they can’t afford to go to college or trade school?
Their life is not valueless because they grew up poor. And where do you draw the line? I’ve seen very similar sentiments expressed about people who have a Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts versus those who have a Bachelor’s in engineering or computer science. It’s been used to justify not paying school teachers a living wage, because if they had wanted a decent wage they should have chosen a career that pays a decent wage, right?
I’m in the camp that if you’re employed full time (and that means full time hours, not part timers who are told to work full time hours) you should get in exchange for selling a significant chunk of your life away, enough money to live without seeking government assistance. That doesn’t really seem all that far fetched, if for no other reason than that those who rail against taxes should be happy that their taxes aren’t higher than necessary because they’re being forced to supplement the wages of people in bad jobs.
1 Like