I’m two months in as a low level manager at the NYC location at small chain of recreational sports gyms. I lead a team of part-time employees, and while I have hiring/firing power, I’m not allowed to adjust pay (although I can suggest it to the C-suite positions for consideration). Our PT staff are paid $16/hour and usually get 3-20 hours a week based on their limited availability. My staff calls out a lot, and I know a huge contributing factor is the low pay. $16/hr in NYC is literally nothing, especially when you’re considering travel time and MTA fare. I’ve asked the CEO if we could up the pay by a dollar at least, which he denied due to “budget restraints.”
Any ideas in what I could do? I make a very small commission off of any revenue over budget my program makes, and I’ve suggested to give that to my staff, which the higher ups have still been hesitant to agree to even discuss (I don’t understand why because it’s MY money I’d like to give to my staff). I don’t want my staff getting ripped off, it wasn’t that long ago that I was in their position in other companies, I know how rough it is getting shit pay in the city!