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I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

theguardian.com

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Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#61

Post by justaguyhere »

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #54
justaguyhere wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nice gesture from this CEO/company. I wish more companies tried this. That said, we shouldn't depend on the largesse/good nature/etc of a few rich individuals - if there is sensible minimum wage, sensible labor laws (and enforcement of these laws), sensible housing laws etc, we probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

Putting so many laws into place about how much you have to pay workers / etc. makes it harder for small companies to even start. To me, seeing a company pay its workers more voluntarily is the best option, and also one I wish more companies would go with.

Have you noticed the behavior of markets, especially big companies? The only things they seem to be doing voluntarily are those that help increase their profits. CEOs are getting paid tens of millions of dollars while laying off thousands of people and closing factories. Companies do every dirty little trick to avoid paying for healthcare/pension. And so on.

We have already tried the "markets will fix things, markets will regulate themselves" blah blah strategy - it doesn't seem to work. When was the last time a big company voluntarily cleaned up its own oil spill or other environmental disasters?

There has to be minimum wage laws (and environmental laws etc etc) and they have to be sensible. It boggles my mind that you'd argue against this. If you want to encourage small businesses to start, there are other ways to help them - interest free loans, tax free zones etc

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#62

Post by jeswin »

HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #54
justaguyhere wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nice gesture from this CEO/company. I wish more companies tried this. That said, we shouldn't depend on the largesse/good nature/etc of a few rich individuals - if there is sensible minimum wage, sensible labor laws (and enforcement of these laws), sensible housing laws etc, we probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

Putting so many laws into place about how much you have to pay workers / etc. makes it harder for small companies to even start. To me, seeing a company pay its workers more voluntarily is the best option, and also one I wish more companies would go with.

I guess the important point he's making is regarding sensible minimum wages. If a company, whether startup or not, can't pay a reasonable minimum wage then it shouldn't be trying to hire.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#63

Post by maxxxxx »

turk73 wrote: post #55
vishnugupta wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you are likely already so rich that the money is only going for luxury things while for someone making $7.25 it's quite literally the difference between living in a car or not This is a great insight which unfortunately doesn't get much attention in the inequality debate. I'm now rich enough to be in the top 0.5% of the world. The marginal utility/value of money is so low for me that I've begun valuing my time and…

I'm not quite where you are wealth-wise but definitely I have had that moment several times recently where I am re-evaluating hiring out work I would have just done myself in the past. I didn't have some big windfall, but pretty much earned and saved my way to wealth. Now it is hard to not do things like fix my own cars as well as bring my own lunch. I do them out of habit now. That's the discipline. Anyways, you don…

“t makes no sense to me why the CEO and higher ups of the company I work at still work there. ”

My theory is that they simply like their work and get satisfaction from it. They get paid a lot but they also work a lot and I can’t imagine anybody doing this to themselves if they didn’t genuinely like it.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#64

Post by wil421 »

atonse wrote: post #59
HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting so many laws into place about how much you have to pay workers / etc. makes it harder for small companies to even start. To me, seeing a company pay its workers more voluntarily is the best option, and also one I wish more companies would go with.

Not at all. Many laws only apply to companies with certain amounts of employees. It is entirely possible to put in laws that are reasonable for larger companies to follow, but not hurt small business growth.

This is correct. My roommate worked for a landscaping company that had 5 employees. They did not have to pay overtime.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#65

Post by WrathOfJay »

I think it's great that this company did this, but this article is a puff piece. There's no real data here. He just states that the `business tripled`. What does that actually mean? Did it triple in revenue? How did increasing the entry-level pay result in that? And how did your non-entry level employees handle the lowest wrung earning far closer to their own pay? How many executives decided that the freeze wasn't in their own best interest and left? You can't just sacrifice and redistribute and expect it to be all roses. The details matter, especially if you're trying to convince resistant minds that it's a good thing.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#66

Post by ReptileMan »

justaguyhere wrote: post #61
HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting so many laws into place about how much you have to pay workers / etc. makes it harder for small companies to even start. To me, seeing a company pay its workers more voluntarily is the best option, and also one I wish more companies would go with.

Have you noticed the behavior of markets, especially big companies? The only things they seem to be doing voluntarily are those that help increase their profits. CEOs are getting paid tens of millions of dollars while laying off thousands of people and closing factories. Companies do every dirty little trick to avoid paying for healthcare/pension. And so on. We have already tried the "markets will fix things, markets…

Well... bump the fiduciary duty to shareholders couple of stairs down the priority ladder and they may change.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#67

Post by dhx »

> My HR staff suggested that we re-think our recruiting and training – which made sense – but I thought that we could do more. I thought we needed to reconsider how we supported and paid our team.

Sounds like a situation right out of Yes, Minister. HR staff not being forthcoming with the obvious answer of increasing pay to lower attrition rates from 30-40% due to the attitude of the board/CEO and anticipation of their negative response.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#68

Post by lardo »

wil421 wrote: post #64
atonse wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. Many laws only apply to companies with certain amounts of employees. It is entirely possible to put in laws that are reasonable for larger companies to follow, but not hurt small business growth.

This is correct. My roommate worked for a landscaping company that had 5 employees. They did not have to pay overtime.

There are often overtime exceptions for seasonal work. If x% of your revenue is earned in y months you don't need to pay overtime. Landscaping likely qualifies as seasonal.

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#69

Post by [deleted] »

wil421 wrote: post #64
atonse wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. Many laws only apply to companies with certain amounts of employees. It is entirely possible to put in laws that are reasonable for larger companies to follow, but not hurt small business growth.

This is correct. My roommate worked for a landscaping company that had 5 employees. They did not have to pay overtime.

[deleted]

Re: I froze the salaries of my executive team to benefit other workers

#70

Post by hedvig »

maxxxxx wrote: post #63
turk73 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not quite where you are wealth-wise but definitely I have had that moment several times recently where I am re-evaluating hiring out work I would have just done myself in the past. I didn't have some big windfall, but pretty much earned and saved my way to wealth. Now it is hard to not do things like fix my own cars as well as bring my own lunch. I do them out of habit now. That's the discipline. Anyways, you don…

“t makes no sense to me why the CEO and higher ups of the company I work at still work there. ” My theory is that they simply like their work and get satisfaction from it. They get paid a lot but they also work a lot and I can’t imagine anybody doing this to themselves if they didn’t genuinely like it.

Because work is identity. At least in certain cultures, for better or worse.
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