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IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

fortune.com

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Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#21

Post by superfrank »

petra wrote: post #17
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

When i worked in a small business,a factory, the boss, having a hard time getting people to work for hime(due to salary, benefits and work environment) explained it by "people just don't want to work". Why? Extroverts usually blame the world, introverts look for the reason in themselvs. Many managers are extroverts.

> Extroverts usually blame the world, introverts look for the reason in themselvs

That's a really odd conclusion to come to IMO. I feel like it's more about the amount of self awareness and not extroversion vs introversion.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#22

Post by from-nibly »

malfist wrote: post #20
jp57 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subsidizing childcare is also "more money", but only for some workers. If the others don't notice or don't care that they're getting paid less for the same work that's great for the company. I am in favor of flexible work arrangements, and I have no idea if those have costs to the company, or how much more you'd need to pay the workers to accept the less flexible arrangements.

Look, I'm a DINK, don't have kids, never plan to have kids, don't even like kids. But child care is important to both the parents and society. Not subsidizing child care often means one parent has to leave the workforce, and that's almost always worse off for everyone than if they were able to afford child care and can contribute

Right, because raising kids isn't contributing to society.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#23

Post by snarf21 »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

ELT are geniuses and deserve their $400K bonus package. Regular workers are replaceable cogs that can be found anywhere and have no skills. It is a perspective issue.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#24

Post by wizzwizz4 »

blargey wrote: post #18
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they want to be a pretend charity they have to pretend to act like one.

Merely acknowledging potential benefits from non-race-to-the-bottom salaries is "pretend charity" now?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:IKEA_ownership_chart

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#25

Post by mega-flop »

petra wrote: post #17
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

When i worked in a small business,a factory, the boss, having a hard time getting people to work for hime(due to salary, benefits and work environment) explained it by "people just don't want to work". Why? Extroverts usually blame the world, introverts look for the reason in themselvs. Many managers are extroverts.

I think in psychology this is a concept called locus of control (internal vs external). Not necessarily linked to the introvert/extrovert framework.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#26

Post by physhster »

bhickey wrote: post #13
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

This isn't a lack of understanding. It's the principal-agent problem. Non-founder executives are usually rewarded for short term results. They'll deliver on this even if it means laying off the entire Python language team in the midst of an AI boom. The market is bad at distinguishing these growth hacks for sustainable business, so they'll see 4% quarterly growth and pile on under the assumption that the hockey stick…

I see what you did there.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#27

Post by tsunamifury »

jfim wrote: post #12
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

Because the dollars are easy to measure, but the employee happiness and other fuzzier metrics aren't. Just like we've known for a while that getting software developers their own offices increases productivity (but costs money/doesn't look trendy), or that getting rid of senior aeronautical engineers might lower quality over time (but saves money).

Many many executives do not believe happiness improves productivity and in fact many believe it reduces it.

Specifically midwesterner’s who think pain is honor and grit vs a waste of energy and distraction.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#28

Post by makeitdouble »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

A parallel take to the sister comments: the concept that employees have information and can easily move away from the job is still newish and the prevailing management theories are from decades to centuries ago. Of course it's not only the employer, a significant number of people still see a job as something they're supposed to stay in despite the competitive market.

Employers still keep some assumption that the employee doesn't have a choice or won't execute on it, and there's enough employees working under that model that the assumption doesn't look so wrong at a distance.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#29

Post by 39896880 »

from-nibly wrote: post #22
malfist wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, I'm a DINK, don't have kids, never plan to have kids, don't even like kids. But child care is important to both the parents and society. Not subsidizing child care often means one parent has to leave the workforce, and that's almost always worse off for everyone than if they were able to afford child care and can contribute

Right, because raising kids isn't contributing to society.

Contributing to the household income. It takes 2 incomes to live anywhere but BFE in the US.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#30

Post by patrick451 »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #11

Can someone explain to me why corporate management seems unable to grasp the concept of properly paying and providing benefits for their employees to increase retention and have more successful hiring? Like...is it actual incompetence? Or do they know it's the answer, but just don't want to do it? I just can't grasp why a manager would refuse to provide proper pay and benefits and then get a Surprised Pikachu face wh…

Corporate management's job is to make the company more money. It's not obvious that worker happiness is actually necessary or even positively correlated with profit. Just look at Amazon.
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