So we had a meeting yesterday with HR and it was essentially just talking about any issues or concerns we have, as well as some suggestions for the company to improve it as a place to work. This is a relatively small company and I genuinely do think the owner, some in upper management, and HR want this place to improve for the workers. They're struggling to hire and are short staffed (we have been for at least a year now), so I believe them when they say they want to implement changes to make this more appealing. They've also listened before and have implemented several nice changes and I have only been here for about 20 months.
Backstory over. Two of the things that came up were wage, and shift differential (I work 3rd shift so shift diff is important to this group.) Our current differential is $0.85, which is not even 3% of our wage. Every person who kept bringing it just kept saying such weak improvements like bumping it to $1. I talked to a guy after and I said I was looking more for basically doubling it, or at least close to it, and wondered why these guys would ask for such an unbelievably small bump. He said “well they're just gonna take it from something else anyway, like our bonus. So bumping it up more sounds nice, but it'll even out anyway.” I pushed back immediately, because that's an argument that could be applied to ANY pay or benefit increase. He's not the only person who seems to think this way either.
The other thing was people really want some kind of seniority pay scale here. Basically you start here as a “production worker” and become an “operator” when a position opens up (1 month to maybe 1 year usually) you get like a $3.50/hr bump. Then 1 year after you get that you get another $2.50 and that's the top. So a lot of guys here have been here 20+ years and want there to be some difference between them and brand new people, which is understandable, BUT these guys are just so weak they suggested “maybe 10 cents every few years.” Or “maybe 50 cents after 10 years.” If you're going to ask for something like that, and they're listening, ask for a substantial increase.
I've been talking to people and telling them they're essentially asking for scraps. I mean they're suggesting people here for 30 years get an extra $1-$1.50?..
I've had a guy tell me when it was floating they were considering giving everyone 1 extra week of PTO that he didn't want that because “that money has to come from somewhere.”
I'm rambling but God people like that piss me off. You're gonna argue against increases in benefits or pay because you're worried something else MIGHT decrease? Don't let people say dumb shit like that and let it go, push back. Because it's absolutely toxic and makes actually improving shit more difficult. If they're considering increasing our PTO I'm going to say yes. If they're considering increasing our pay, I'm gonna suggest a very substantial bump, and worst case they get as close as they can. If you say 10 cents, they're going to laugh and give 10 cents. Anyone ever does anything like that at your workplace, push back on it (respectfully as possible don't get yourself fired).