Hello, everyone
Long time lurker, first time poster here…
I'm a store manager at a corporate convenience store in northern Maine, USA.
I've been the store manager since just before the pandemic started (February 2020) and some of my employees have been here for years (7-26 years). I have a small team of five people and when you work with them every day it's hard not to grow to care for them.
I have two employees who I'll call Alexis and Brandon who have both been with the company for a very long time. Alexis for over 25 years and Brandon for almost 10 years. We have a step pay system that was implemented shortly after I started where basically from a new hire you get a raise at 90 days, 1 year, and then every 800 hours you work.
For new hires starting at minimum wage with the step pay quickly surpassed what Alexis and Brandon were making and they knew it, anyone could by doing the math.
I was upset for them, with them being around so long they're assets to me because they're amazing with the customers and know them well and they're happy to help me in extra ways if I need it. So I go to my market manager and tell her that it's only fair that Alexis and Brandon are compensated fairly, especially for the quality of work they provide for me and with us having a somewhat high turnover. She basically brushes me off and tells me to wait until the end of the quarter and we'll talk about it.
I wasnt about to let this go to every time she would come around with the regional director or any other higher ups and they would complement the store I would tell them I couldn't maintain these standards without Alexis and Brandon.
It was April and the quarter had just ended and I asked the market manager once again about Alexis and Brandon's pay increase and she basically told me that if I passed up on my yearly wage increase (I'm salaried) then they would increase both of their wages by about $2.00, which put them well above employees just starting out. I agreed to this and they got their wages increased. That was almost a year ago and despite both of them working well over 800 hours they haven't received a single increased. To say I'm not thrilled is an understatement.
I'm thinking about walking because I'm tired of being brushed off by upper management but I don't want my team to be screwed over by someone they would feel my place with..
Sorry for the long post, I just had to get it out.