Employment
A Zero Wage Increase Again?
Montclair State University
Summary The owner of large furniture and building center, Mark Coglin was trying to figure out how to manage the next upcoming wage review process. For two consecutive years, his store’s staff has had to settle with a zero wage increase. Mark knows that if his staff were to settle for a third year without a raise, moral issues amongst his employee’s would arise leading to an exponential growth of problems; aside from the ones he already faces from a day to day basis. It was impossible to pump savings from upcoming process improvement initiatives into wage increases; however Mark had limited motivation to channel hard-won funds to underperforming employees. With the zero wage increase it was becoming difficult to motivate employees to show up to work, yet be productive while on the job. Mark is facing many issues such as an increase in absenteeism and lack of productivity amongst his staff. On the other hand, Mark was eager to reward the people who worked hard around his store. But to come up with a plan that rewarded only some employees could result in an angry backlash. He had to decide if he wanted to divert the savings into compensation and if so, he needed an effective distribution plan. Mark was aware that some of his employees were putting forth an extra effort on the job, while others simply were not. Could this have been an issue caused by the zero wage increase which leads to the lack of acknowledgement by management in their employees; which in turn lead to a decrease in employee’s morale? Employee’s like Dougie are calling out “sick” when they are obviously not, as the manager explained “[employees] come in on the Tuesday talking about the great road trip they had.” Mark believes that the company would save money if about 15 percent of his employee’s; those who were unreliable, dishonest, and incompetent or always in the middle of the latest work drama like Dougie would just leave. At the
Montclair State University
Summary The owner of large furniture and building center, Mark Coglin was trying to figure out how to manage the next upcoming wage review process. For two consecutive years, his store’s staff has had to settle with a zero wage increase. Mark knows that if his staff were to settle for a third year without a raise, moral issues amongst his employee’s would arise leading to an exponential growth of problems; aside from the ones he already faces from a day to day basis. It was impossible to pump savings from upcoming process improvement initiatives into wage increases; however Mark had limited motivation to channel hard-won funds to underperforming employees. With the zero wage increase it was becoming difficult to motivate employees to show up to work, yet be productive while on the job. Mark is facing many issues such as an increase in absenteeism and lack of productivity amongst his staff. On the other hand, Mark was eager to reward the people who worked hard around his store. But to come up with a plan that rewarded only some employees could result in an angry backlash. He had to decide if he wanted to divert the savings into compensation and if so, he needed an effective distribution plan. Mark was aware that some of his employees were putting forth an extra effort on the job, while others simply were not. Could this have been an issue caused by the zero wage increase which leads to the lack of acknowledgement by management in their employees; which in turn lead to a decrease in employee’s morale? Employee’s like Dougie are calling out “sick” when they are obviously not, as the manager explained “[employees] come in on the Tuesday talking about the great road trip they had.” Mark believes that the company would save money if about 15 percent of his employee’s; those who were unreliable, dishonest, and incompetent or always in the middle of the latest work drama like Dougie would just leave. At the
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