I've been a cashier at two major, large grocery store chains: a large national one (I'll call this one 'A'), and a more geographically-specific one that prides itself on good service (I'll call this one 'B'). The common denominator between the two: shit wages.
I was at Wal-Mart today for the first time in several weeks. Again managed to find myself in a lineup with a particularly and painfully slow cashier. I wasn't the only one who noticed, either: the couple who soon joined the line behind me started grumbling at how slowly the cashier was working. The guy made a comment about how if they were at 'B', the cashiers would be doing a better job, because they made more.
I couldn't help but pipe up with my two cents (I've made it a habit of talking with people in my lineups at Wal-Mart - it's a decent and often entertaining way to pass the painfully-slow time): I let him know that, in fact, despite popular opinion about the local grocery store chain about how they treat/pay their employees, they paid the exact same at-or-near-minimum-wage that Wal-Mart, too, likely paid their employees. I told him I knew this because I had been at cashier at 'B'.
The guy seems stunned that I had piped in. What I had suggested to him was outside-of-his-box. He retorted: "But, the employees there are so much more helpful, polite, and efficient ... cashiers will work harder if they get a $12 minimum wage rather than an $8 minimum wage." .. ugh, he didn't seem to get it: 'B' DOESN'T pay their employees more than minimum wage to start; I was held at the same wage for a full 1000 hours before being eligible for even a mere 50-cent raise (though I quit well before that 1000 hours), and the maximum salary I could have earned there was $11.25/hour. In other words: a shit wage, and definitely the exact same shit-wage as the starting cashier-wage at big, evil Wal-Mart. The only reason cashiers act better at 'B' is because of the overall better morale and atmosphere of the place, and the cooperative, social relationship between the front-end staff. Money hardly had anything to do with their increased production. Low-paid workers will perform better if companies engage in and enact team-building and morale-boosting activities and policies, and if the employees act like friends - or, better yet, if they really are friends, which was the case with many of the cashiers at my location of 'B'.
After I finally went through checkout, whilst walking to my car and driving home, I had another thought: no, raising the minimum wage significantly wouldn't help the morale or the work-speed of the cashiers of any store one bit. If the minimum wage went up, sure, low paid workers would rejoice - but for how long? A Month? 3 Months? Six? Pretty soon minimum-wage workers would again resent their employers for paying them the minimum they are allowed to- something I've begrudged many-o-time about my employers - with the exception of my current one, which doesn't have me do any cashiering - thankfully, and pays me more than twice my wage at 'B'.
If there was any monetary scheme that would make an employee more happy with their wage, and as a result would make them feel more enticed naturally to work harder, it would be to pay an employee, let's say in a service job, more than the minimum or standard - and more than just nominally more. My line-mate i had a conversation with today seemed to think that raising the minimum wage from $8 to $12 would boost morale and therefore the speed of checkout lines. Nay, but keeping the minimum wage the same and the employer proactively raising their starting wages to $12/hour would likely yield better results, even though money isn't really the key here at all.
Oh, and I wouldn't go back to 'A' or 'B', even if they did raise their starting wage to $12, or even much more.
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