Company Raises It's Minimum Wage to $70,000 and All Hell Breaks Loose

Sterling_sl said:

There's also small retail stores as well. They're often run by the ownership a lot of the time as well.

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I've personally never seen a retail small business like that that paid minimum wage unless you count (unpaid) family working there.

Palum_sl said:

There's a LOT more between minimum wage and $15, though.

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The $15 thing is a ludicrous thing very few people suggest (besides some localities) - $9-11/hr range seems the common mantra.

Except for all the cities and the large movements calling for that as well. I don't think you can use the word ludicrous when it's already law in some areas.

Palum_sl said:

Except for all the cities and the large movements calling for that as well. I don't think you can use the word ludicrous when it's already law in some areas.

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Most of the large cities are generally where it seems like it would make sense. I lived in NYC for a few months (in a proper apartment, sharing rent two-ways) thinking it would be fun to do while I was earning $55kish and the cost of living was painful as hell at $55k - I couldn't even begin to imagine making ends meet there on minimum wage making $15k or so - in my shitty apartment (peeling paint/etc) splitting it with another person, I was paying close to $1.3k/mo after utilities, in the mid 90's - so likely a bit of inflation since.

And people make places like LA sound just as bad!

So I wouldn't really call the few places that are justified in having that high doing it as an example of the majority of the nation. When you're talking about laws the effect maybe 1% of the landmass and maybe 5% of the population it's hardly a constant.

Heck, wasn't Obama's suggestion $10? I'd consider the President a pretty mainstream example.

Right, he mandated just north of $10 to anyone employed by the Government.

Mist_sl said:

Just make it so companies with 25 employees or less and under a certain amount of annual revenue, don't have to comply with the minimum wage, keep the minimum wage $10 for them, but offer massive tax breaks if they do comply.

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Got all that living in mom's hasement? Do you have any real life experiences other than selling mtg cards and whatever else you have read on the internet? You're quick with a solution that isn't based on real world life experiences AT ALL but I read it on the internet.

Borzak_sl said:

Got all that living in mom's hasement? Do you have any real life experiences other than selling mtg cards and whatever else you have read on the internet? You're quick with a solution that isn't based on real world life experiences AT ALL but I read it on the internet.

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It's an idea some big names have presented before - I know I've seen the concept floated in normal media. I believe the intent is to lower the burden on true "small employers" that some people say would be harmed by such.

Mist_sl said:

Just make it so companies with 25 employees or less and under a certain amount of annual revenue, don't have to comply with the minimum wage, keep the minimum wage $10 for them, but offer massive tax breaks if they do comply.

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Why not just have the government pay those working in that position the difference directly instead of offering tax breaks?

Palum_sl said:

Why not just have the government pay those working in that position the difference directly instead of offering tax breaks?

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As someone looking to open a small business (although likely very low staffed besides me and the wife) - an idea like that sounds super appealing just doing some basic math in my head. Reducing risk for startups would be amazing, maybe taper over say 10 years to prevent companies from using it as a long term solution though?

But using something like that as a protection from small businesses from getting zinged too bad by a wage increase.

Palum_sl said:

Why not just have the government pay those working in that position the difference directly instead of offering tax breaks?

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How about we just pay people what they are worth?
This world is not fair nor will it ever be? Humans by our very nature are assholes.

If you paid them what they were worth they would likely make less than minimum wage. Minimum wage is based on how long it takes you to find someone else to flip burgers. In a lot of places not long, especially if there were no legal minimum wage.

Vinen_sl said:

How about we just pay people what they are worth?
This world is not fair nor will it ever be? Humans by our very nature are assholes.

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Let me ask you a question, return yourself to age 16-18 or whenever you were working a random, entry level job. Would you be willing to work at a company that had a HCI/pedometer/tracker version of those ODB II 'driving habits' things insurance companies use for discounts? It would analyze your movements, actions, energy spent during a day at work and use RFID tags in the store for locations and products to see what you did - then you'd take aggregates over a month compared to production. For instance, if you were working retail, the computer would figure out you stocked X amount, helped Y customers over Z hours and you'd actually get paid what work you did during the day vs. just a flat hourly?

Palum_sl said:

Let me ask you a question, return yourself to age 16-18 or whenever you were working a random, entry level job. Would you be willing to work at a company that had a HCI/pedometer/tracker version of those ODB II 'driving habits' things insurance companies use for discounts? It would analyze your movements, actions, energy spent during a day at work and use RFID tags in the store for locations and products to see what you did - then you'd take aggregates over a month compared to production. For instance, if you were working retail, the computer would figure out you stocked X amount, helped Y customers over Z hours and you'd actually get paid what work you did during the day vs. just a flat hourly?

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Some companies already do this via their HR department. Honestly being a human version of that was basically 2/3 of most of my days - talking to various departments, keeping an eye on productivity levels, etc.

Some places already do that in some aspects. That stock job I talked about would have tracked my work through the device used to scan stuff.

Palum_sl said:

Let me ask you a question, return yourself to age 16-18 or whenever you were working a random, entry level job. Would you be willing to work at a company that had a HCI/pedometer/tracker version of those ODB II 'driving habits' things insurance companies use for discounts? It would analyze your movements, actions, energy spent during a day at work and use RFID tags in the store for locations and products to see what you did - then you'd take aggregates over a month compared to production. For instance, if you were working retail, the computer would figure out you stocked X amount, helped Y customers over Z hours and you'd actually get paid what work you did during the day vs. just a flat hourly?

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Sure. The drug store I worked at already knew I was their fastest most accurate cashier. They'd get to watch me standing for 6 hours clearing out lines 2x-3x faster then the next person.

(Accurate meaning my drawer was as expected)

Borzak_sl said:

If you paid them what they were worth they would likely make less than minimum wage. Minimum wage is based on how long it takes you to find someone else to flip burgers. In a lot of places not long, especially if there were no legal minimum wage.

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I almost 100% agree with you except for one thing. Companies are pretty bad at assessing the value of a good employee. If you have a quality burger flipper he's worth at minimum 1.5x the worth of your expendable variety.

And again, I point toward bullshit employee evaluations and "unspoken limitations" on them as part of the problem. Guy I used to know worked lead QA for one of our problem releases. In the span of a year he managed to reduce rollbacks by at least half, testing time by 2/3s, did a shit-ton of optimization and successfully transitioned us off the shitty Indian QA we were using. For all that he got a 3 on his eval. Because reasons. He left a month later.

I mean there is also the fact that a burger flipper getting paid more than what he's worth is not nearly as big a drain on the system as a CEO or portfolio manager getting paid more than he's worth.

The Ancient_sl said:

I mean there is also the fact that a burger flipper getting paid more than what he's worth is not nearly as big a drain on the system as a CEO or portfolio manager getting paid more than he's worth.

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What makes you say this? When you add up all the "burger flippers" making "more than they are worth" it probably comes out pretty close.

I don't really follow this whole more than you're worth idea. Look at what happens when you pay people the current minimum wage... they are forced into social assistance programs like Medicaid and the like. They are working and contributing (in many cases the best they can) but still can't make enough money to exist. Whether we spend a little more on our trips to McDonald's or we pay more in taxes to subsidize their healthcare and the like we are paying for them either way. But in the scenario where they earn a living wage at their job they get to feel a little more self worth and don't just get lumped into that broad category so many people here throw them into. The category where every single person who is on these social programs is a deadbeat who just takes advantage of the system instead of being on them out of necessity because $7.25/hr isn't enough to survive in America.