Rise Above Minimum Wage

The national minimum wage increase on Thursday, July 24 raises the minimum wage requirements from $5.85 an hour to $6.55 an hour for every business on the continent. The rumblings have already begun from restaurant owners far and wide -- as they probably should, considering all the other increases that culinarians are facing on a daily basis.  Raising the minimum wage does nothing for anyone, with the exception of those actually working for minimum wage. Yet it does make the owner suffer, especially if they are financially strapped, squeezing out a living from every possible register in the restaurant.

The question arises, Why does anyone pay minimum wage to an employee for more than a couple of months in the first place? Minimum wage has some very bad connotations. The fact that the word minimum is incorporated into the term leads one to believe that it is the minimum one can get if they deliver an adequate hour of work. Yet, it seems that every employer would want someone to work above their minimum talent level, therefore deserving more than minimum wage. One way to accomplish this goal is to offer a raise shortly after the individual is hired.

Now this is easy for me to say as I have not had to pay minimum wage for some time. Yet, when I was put into the situation of paying "the minimum," I only offered that to my waiters. Every other person on my payroll made a fair and equitable hourly age, depending on where they worked and lived. The waiters of course were getting tips every shift that frequently placed the in the $30.00 an hour rate.

Strange -- I never thought I should give the waiters a more generous hourly wage. If I had, I may have gotten a little better performance from my waiters.

It only makes sense that if you offer someone a pay scale above minimum, they will most likely work above minimum. Try it. The results may surprise you.