moral question

  • Thread starter Thread starter louie12
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

louie12

Guest
i have a business with my brothers and family,we employ about 20 people. some of my employees, have been with me for 12,18,22 years.my business has droped about 35% ,but we still making the payment and making a descent living.it seems like some of the employees who had been with me for a long time,are not working as hard as they used too and they trying to take things a little easy and since they have been with me for a long time they get paid mor than than the guys who had been with me for 2,3 and 4 years,and some of those guys who had been with me 3 and 4 years,work harder.the question is,since business is not like it used to be,i am not giving any more raises is it fair for the guys who had been with me for less years and get paid less than the guys who had been with me for years and do not work as hard.

thankyou
 
Unless there is a contractual agreement that they will get raises, you are not under obligation to give them.
 
If people are lazy or incompetent don’t pay them more just because they have been with your company longer.

Likewise; if people are hardworking and competend don’t penalise them because of their lack of experience with you.

I’d reverse the pay for the slackers; and either give it to the hard workers; or invest it in business growth and diversification.
 
I used to work somewhere that would not allow employees to discuss their salary with each other. The reason for this was that they did not want to have to justify why some new people were making almost the same or equal to people that were there for a long time. There are always different standards applied for each person’s experience by the boss and it is not always as clear cut as what date someone was hired.

It was grounds for termination if they found out you discussed your salary. You knew that coming in.

I used to think of the parable of the vine grower that paid people to come pick his grapes. The ones that got hired later in the day got paid the same as the ones that were hired earlier. When those hired first asked why this was fair, the vine grower asked if they were envious because he was generous. It is his right to do what he pleased. Of course, some people will disagree with this.
 
louie12 said:
i have a business with my brothers and family,we employ about 20 people. some of my employees, have been with me for 12,18,22 years.my business has droped about 35% ,but we still making the payment and making a descent living.it seems like some of the employees who had been with me for a long time,are not working as hard as they used too and they trying to take things a little easy and since they have been with me for a long time they get paid mor than than the guys who had been with me for 2,3 and 4 years,and some of those guys who had been with me 3 and 4 years,work harder.the question is,since business is not like it used to be,i am not giving any more raises is it fair for the guys who had been with me for less years and get paid less than the guys who had been with me for years and do not work as hard.

thankyou
Click to expand...
The key phrase for me is “it seems.” For a perception to be valid, it should be measured. Do you have performance standards for all positions? Bonuses for exceeding standards?

With a 35% drop in business, is a slow down reasonable?

Have you explained why pay raises have been stopped?

Have you asked all employees for suggestions on how to improve performance? Generally, those doing the actual job see ways to do it more effectively and efficiently. Asking gets their buy in and usually motivates better performance.

Many companies have a salary schedule with small automatic increases for length of service. Experience does matter. Often experienced workers perform well with less effort.

Good younger workers tend to work harder early in their careers because they are eager to learn and want to establish themselves. Older, experienced workers do tend to hit a plateau and their productivity levels off or retards a bit, but not enough to be a serious concern. There is an acceptable range of performance, some will be better than others but all should remain in the range. If performance falls and remains below acceptable range, then after private counselling, a demotion would be justified.

As a business owner you have the passion for your business that keeps you motivated. For experienced workers their passion often devolves in boring routine. What will motivate them to improve their personal productivity?

I have not answered your fairness question. I hope the above comments help you to evaluate the larger possibilities that then will lead to the fairness question and what to do.
 
I would hold an employee meeting and without singling the older employees out simply state that you have noticed on many occasions that folks do not seem to be as interested in their jobs , and you notice more breaks being taken …
Then go over whatever rules you already have in place for breaks and tell everyone plainly that you can not afford in these times to "carry " anyone .
You might also ask around quietly if there is a morale problem ? Sometimes one person cops an attitude of " I can do as I please since I have been here so long " and the rest just follow along because … well …gee ! "Frank is getting away with it ! "
If they have been slacking off for a bit , its a bit unfair to just can them outright without a warning .
I did this with my 5 employees and discovered it was my top girl ( also my closest friend … ) who was the slacker leader and morale destroyer . sigh … yet another reason to not hire friends !! It worked well for me . Good luck to you !
 
Deb_H said:
I would hold an employee meeting and without singling the older employees out simply state that you have noticed on many occasions that folks do not seem to be as interested in their jobs , and you notice more breaks being taken …
Then go over whatever rules you already have in place for breaks and tell everyone plainly that you can not afford in these times to "carry " anyone .
You might also ask around quietly if there is a morale problem ? Sometimes one person cops an attitude of " I can do as I please since I have been here so long " and the rest just follow along because … well …gee ! "Frank is getting away with it ! "
If they have been slacking off for a bit , its a bit unfair to just can them outright without a warning .
** I did this with my 5 employees and discovered it was my top girl ( also my closest friend … ) who was the slacker leader and morale destroyer .** sigh … yet another reason to not hire friends !! It worked well for me . Good luck to you !
Click to expand...
Forgive me.

Is this the Morale theology sub-forum?

😃

Couldn’t resist.
 
Telling people as a group that some anonymous members of their number have been slacking will simply put the frighteners on all of them, including the hard workers who, in these straightened times, are probably somewhat worried about their futures (we all are). It would be unreasonable for you to frighten the people who don’t deserve to be frightened and will probably kill morale stone dead.

Don’t tar everyone with the same brush. If you do, you might find that people resign and go elsewhere, and not necessarily the ones you would be happy to see go since those people will hang on to their ‘cushy’ jobs as long as they can, especially if they know (or think they know) they’re going to get a duff reference.

Instead, evaluate people individually. Appraise them sensibly and reward, if you can afford it, the better employees appropriately. Incentivise people to work harder, don’t disincentivise people who were perfectly ok in the first place. That way you will lose everyone’s respect, and once that goes, the business won’t be far behind it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top