One American CEO is making what most only dream about a reality, having a minimum wage put in place in the workplace.

Gravity CEO, Dan Price, who implemented a minimum salary

While reading Helen Liu’s blog post, I learned about the Seattle based company that has put this to the test. The idea comes from the company’s CEO who was making a seven figure salary and decided to cut his own salary to $70,000 a year and divide the rest among his employees. The idea behind this was that it would cover basic physiological needs, as outlined in the hierarchy of needs in chapter 5. Thus allowing for employees to worry less about financial struggles, therefore reducing stress. Workers who are more stressed showed a higher number of absences, lower engagement in the workplace, and multiple other negative characteristics according to this article written by Forbes.

Continuing off of my previous blog post, this piece furthers the idea of the importance of employee wellness in the workplace. In the article the company almost doubled their profits in 2015, and had a drop in their turnover rate from -4.8% to -18.8%. These are both major improvements and proof that employee health is company wealth.

Implementing a standardized income in the workplace could be a further addition to the standards put in place during the industrial revolution, as discussed in chapter 1. A fair distribution of wealth also helps to combat inequality and wage gaps within society, ensuring that an elite 1% do not control majority of the wealth.

References

Article

Cohen, Patricia. “One Company’s New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year.” The New York Times. N.p., 13 Apr. 2015. Web.

Liu, Helen. A Company with the $70K Minimum Wage. Helen Liu’s Blog. https://blogs.ubc.ca/helenl/2017/02/05/a-company-with-the-70k-minimum-wage/ . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Pictures

Turner, Nathanael. Dan Price. Bloomberg Businessweek. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-gravity-ceo-dan-price/ . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

n.a. Money-tumblr-mqqj96ax.jpg. Degrassi Wiki. http://degrassi.wikia.com/wiki/File:Money-tumblr-mqqj96ax.jpg . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Historically employees without specifically trained for a job are thought to “make up” for their lack of education in long hours. These long hours can be gruelling, exhausting, and have a long-term lasting effect on employees.

In Chapter 1 we discussed the importance and benefits from the standardization of work environments and the effect this had on employees. For example the brightness of lights in the factory increased employee productivity at the Hawthorne plant. However often the standards of employee wellness is forgotten and made to cover the bare minimum. Amanda Richardson explains how ignoring employee wellness can cost companies more in the long run. Highlighting the fact that unhealthy employees cost more to companies that provide health benefits to its employees. Workers that are overworked and unhealthy only become more and more unhealthy over time. So when they are in their fifties the company will end up having to pay high amounts in health care fees to those same employees. Richardson states that spending more on employee wellness now, saves companies more later.

http://www.yogaforhope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/yoga-tips.jpg

The article does a good job of articulating the usefulness and importance of the standardization of employee wellness programs. Typically thought of as a waste of money, they are good tools to promote a healthy work environment that employees do not hate to be a part of. I like the idea of including more benefits for employees in the workplace as it boosts moral and makes employees proud of the company that they work for.

References

Richardson, Amanda. The Huffington Post Impact. The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-richardson/why-ignoring-employee-wel_b_9257708.html . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Yoga For Hope. Women Doing Yoga. yoga-tips.jpg . Date Accessed: Feb. 5, 2017.

Do people every actually feel over-rewarded? Or do we continue to justify the rewards and privileges that we get?

According to the equity theory, as discussed in class, people have three perceptions on obtaining rewards for their behaviour. When one person works less than the other that person feels under-rewarded, when one person works more than the other they feel over-rewarded, and when they work the same amount they feel it is equal. According to the theory this need for equality is a motivator for workers.

http://hamidslimi.com/out-of-balance/

However, do people ever actually feel like they have been over-rewarded? Typically when working in a group, the person who does the most work feels that they deserve a larger portion of the reward than others. Be that in the form of monetary payment, or a higher mark on an assignment. People are able to recognize their efforts and often feel that they are entitled to having more than those who work less.

We see this all the time those who have more than enough money don’t fight for equality, those who need it do. So the main issue with the equity theory is that it assumes that all people want equality, which don’t get me wrong is what we should work towards. But some those who profit more will typically stay quiet and maintain the imbalance because they benefit more from it.

References

Picture

Slimi, Hamid. Out of Balance. . hamidslimi.com/out-of-balance/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.