Q & A Table of Contents
My Pay As Manager Is Barely Above The Delivery Boy’s
From: Karen, Cookeville, Tennessee
Question: I am a store manager for a furniture company, I make
$9.00 an hour, no commission, no health benefits, and no 401k
retirement plan offered. My boss promised me a raise over a
year ago. I have made improvements to the company since I've
been there, and I have over 15 years experience.
My boss hired a 14 year old boy to work weekends just loading
and assembling furniture, sweeping etc. He pays this boy in
cash, he asked me to pay him the other day and the boy makes
$8.00 an hour! I was shocked!
Needless to say I made an appointment to meet with my boss. I
told him I wanted a raise. I also brought up the pay of the 14
year old boy, the boss got mad that I said that but then he
gave me a dollar raise on the hour plus 5% commission on
anything over $12,000.00 that I sell.
I feel bad for mentioning that about the boy but I really
thought I was in the forefront of the boss’s mind. He would
say stuff to make me think he was going to give me a raise just
to pacify me. He was not thinking about my experience. What
do you think about all this.
Response: It sounds as if your boss has a variety of
peculiarities in the way he does business; I wonder how his tax
advisor feels about cash payments to the boy.
Can you demonstrate how your efforts have increased the store’s
profitability, reduced expenses, or yielded other tangible
benefits that have flowed to your boss?
Before undertaking any further actions, you need to investigate
your BATNA, the best alternative to the situation in which you
find yourself.
Can you find a job with better pay and working conditions
within a reasonable distance from your existing job — or home?
What state and federal laws apply to your situation?
Since yours is a management position, you likely have less
protection than an hourly worker.
You should also have some clear goals in mind regarding what
changes you would like in your work situation. You may have a
long list of ‘wants’; these should be prioritized so you know
in advance which are more important and which you can concede
in your discussions with your boss.
Once you have a clearer picture of your value to the business —
as well as your alternatives if you leave your current job —
then you should take a look at what interests your boss has in
responding to your concerns. If he knows that you are stuck —
that your alternatives are even worse than the current
situation, he still has to understand that your effort and
loyalty and respect for him will be impacted by how he responds
to you. So think about his ego, his concerns about money, his
reputation among customers and other local businesspeople, and
his concern about the effective operation of the store might be
driving his current and future decisions about your enthusiasm
and job satisfaction.
With these thoughts in mind, approach him with questions to
find out whether your assumptions are accurate. Try to figure
out what issues are hot buttons and which are really not
important to him. Use the initial stages of negotiation as a
process for gathering information rather than as a forum for
presenting your own ideas. Then, take a time out to figure out
what you have learned and what words and phrases you need to
use to get your boss to ‘buy in’ to the changes you wish to
propose.
It is a tough process if you approach it as selling yourself —
but if you are selling your boss things that will improve his
life or respond to his interests, things should move more
smoothly and favorably for you.
Good luck,
Steve
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