I work for a small independent retail business (means they can get away with a lot under the “Companies with less than 15 employees” labor law exceptions) in a major US city and I essentially run the social media for pennies on the dollar on top of my regular retail shift lead duties. I was denied a raise I was promised (verbally, a mistake I will not make again) back in July when I began social media training. Two weeks ago, my manager (the owner of the business makes her play telephone because he knows staff won’t blame her, as the messenger) informed me that I wouldn’t be getting a raise because A) I had gotten one in August when I took over social media (though I do not consider an increase of pay to reflect increase of responsibility to be the same thing as a raise) and B) I have not been here for a year (I started in March of last year). This has been a point of contention for others, one of my coworkers who had been here for 4 years put in her two weeks last week when she finally had enough.
Today, my manager informs me that the owner has opted in for a company-matching 401k. We do not have a health plan, a transit reimbursement perk, or any other sort of benefits besides an employee discount and one free item (under $60) a month. It is so clearly a ploy to be able to say “our employees have benefits” while also making opting in to receive the benefits is actually a trap to stay here longer, where we’re underpaid as it is. It makes me want to scream.
Don’t work for a small business folks, they’re often just as bad as the rest.