I work at a company of about fifty people at a marketing firm. Through gross negligence of my previous bosses and me stepping up to cover those gaps, I've become the second in command of the company for a couple years now. I actually run the company and the CEO approves business-related things, but all projects and work are my call.
As a result, I've become invaluable, but also a champion for my coworkers that I now represent. Because of conversations I've seen here, I push for a lot. Here's a list:
• Flat 10% raise for everyone to keep up with inflation.
• Encouraged everyone to talk about their salaries with another, as well with me (I don't have direct access to the finances, and I'd rather hear directly from them how much they make, instead of the CEO trying to appease me with “roughly iirc”). That way I know how hard to fight for a raise if they're being under paid.
• Unlimited PTO. This one might be controversial, but I push for people to use their PTO nonstop. Some people have been afraid to take time off in case they get sick, and it became so much of a consensus that unlimited PTO made the most sense. I even covered the negatives of it with all the employees to have everyone aware and to not fall into the trap of not taking time for themselves.
• Cut out any CEO sycophants that tried to exploit workers previously. So far, 4 down and 1 to go. It's very easy, they rarely do work, and others see it and are pissed. I encourage people to report it to HR if they see anyone doing this as they bring me these issues, and to include me in HR reports if they don't feel comfortable with going it alone.
• Promoting people who would be good managers to lead and fight for their teams, not people I personally like. This has led to clear communication and a huge boost in morale.
• More company time off. This means two weeks during the winter holidays and a week in the middle of summer. We even have today off for Juneteenth.
The next thing in my sights is a 4 day work week. I'm having to sell it with 9 hour days, but everyone is on board to put in those extra hours to save four and gave a while extra day to themselves.
I've seen so many stories here of people hating their work or bosses. I'm doing everything I can to make sure that people are respected and come first with the company, and hopefully none of my employees ever have to pay here. If you can't get shitty managers to take you seriously and you can't leave your job for whatever reason, band together with your coworkers and become a leader for them to uproot any corruption. You are the power of the company and you need to leverage every bit of that until you have proper representation.
Edit: mobile grammar fixes.