I'm a manager of a store that's apart of a fairly-large local food chain. We're right outside the capital and we're the first ones to hit the area, most are in college towns. I was brought in before opening and was told we had high expectations. My pay is, honestly, not bad at least compared to similar jobs. We've been successful, one of the best in the company.
But the base pay for the crew is embarrassing. We aren't even competitive with the restaurants around us. I've had a turnstile of employees come through. I work hard, and genuinely care about my crew. I will do anything to make sure they're happy. But I don't set the pay rates. I've shown the higher ups the starting wages in the area, but they didn't care. After a major loss of crew at the end of the summer, we finally got them to agree to $10s an hour…
and then I get a guy come in. 20 years experience. He has the food safety qualifications, he has the right attitude. And I give 40 year old man $11 an hour, still a disgusting amount but I thought it was the best I could get away with. NOPE! They're pissed at me. I have my bosses-bosses-boss mad at me for giving a guy an extra dollar, the owner has heard about it. They're even talking about going back down to 9.00 an hour… and did I mention we have a lower labor percentage than almost every other store?
My crew is already short staffed. The good crew I have our mostly loyal people who take less but stay for us. But I'm getting done. I can't do my job, because the people above won't let me.