Why not Let the employee earn what they are worth in a free market? Shouldn't a private business owner have the right to offer any wage they please? After all, employers can not force an employee to work for them so the employer should be able to negotiate any wage they can with the employee. If the employee feels they are worth more they are free to go to any employer they choose and attempt to negotiate a better wage.
Also, once you have been hired somewhere and you can prove your skills are valuable to employers you will have some leverage to negotiate a raise.
Think about this. You could be an excellent worker in an entry level position who deserves a raise, but the guy next to you is a slacker. Now lets say you both make minimum wage and your boss wants to reduce the slackers pay by one dollar and give that money to you, because you deserve more money than the slacker but the company can not afford to increase it's costs. Unfortunately, you the hard worker, will end up losing out and making less than you could because your company is paying more for than slacker than they are worth because they are required to by law.
I would not be surprised if employers are confronted with this situation all the time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with this example to an extent. I am a minimum wage worker who works harder than almost anyone at my job within the same title. I have not been compensated for my effort, yet people continue to be hired at my level of pay if not more. To me this seems unfair. I wish I could come up with a settlement or an agreement for a raise but the company cannot offer raises due to the fact that it is a corporation. Corporate will not allow anyone raises for any reason. We, the workers, have to wait for our thirteen or less cent raise a year, no exceptions. The fact that I cannot see a raise and the other employees who work less hard than me see the exact same pay increase really seems dumb.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the market or business choosing the wages is the fact that it could get out of hand. What I mean is this. I work at Panera Bread and our location was a franchise when I first started out working there. I went in like any new employee should; I worked my ass off. Within my first weeks I overheard somewhat of an argument between employees about their wages. Apparently one of these employees was making $9.50 an hour and they've only been on the job for a year. This person was a sophomore in high school and this job was his first. He barely worked up to expectations. The reason he had such a high wage was because the boss and owner of the franchised store had a personal connection to him. My point is the fact that if the wages were up to the company, who is to stop that company or someone within that company to give out ridiculously high pay increases? Paying under minimum wage for lack of effort is one thing, but overpay is another. How would you feel if you walked into a normal, everyday store or restaurant and knew that the people in there were making more an hour than you just becuase, lets say, everyone working there was a slacker? Adjusting pay for work effort doesn't put into account the work effort comparison around the country. Maybe this person or that person deserves a raised because they are the best worker, a veteran, at that specific location, but compared to another location, that person was just shy of a rookie. Wages need to be set by someone higher than the company or the market because it abolishes discrimination. Minimum wage is sort of a bar to start everyone off at the same level. If there should be no minimum wage, there should at least be a "standard wage" where people start at and, based on performance, that wage is increased or decreased if need be. Discrimination is one of the reasons for minimum wage. Not everyone in the world is going to be professional about their wages. Some people could be racist, sexist, etc. There may not be many people like this, I hope there are none but there are bound to be at least one person. These people could give, in their eyes, the minorities a severely low wage. No matter how well the employees work, they will never make what they should because of discrimination. For this reason, there should be a government controlled minimum wage, ensuring that all the workers are receiving equal rights. People should have the security of knowing they will not be treated unfairly at a job because of discrimination. On the other side of the spectrum, companies should not decide wages due to the fact that, like you stated earlier, the money has to come from somewhere. Someone should not be able to receive raises just because they are liked or appreciated more.