The Morale and Treatment of Low Wage Workers

The manner in which low wage workers are treated by management is a complex and often unfair situation. The low wage workers, let's call them serf's for now, are often those that physically work the hardest and are assigned the most menial of tasks. In fact, in a lot of establishments that pay minimum wage, one can see quite a similarity between these low wage workers and serfs of times past. In ancient days, serfs were bound to the land, owned by the lords who controlled the land, essentially they were slaves. While slavery is not in practice these days, these low wage workers almost have no choice as well. For whatever reason, they would not be at the low paying, back breaking jobs they are at unless they had to be, enduring demeaning treatment from management, aches and pains all over from physically draining jobs, all for a low pay. Having do endure these circumstances, the least management could do is treat them as people, and change the strict, stifling methods of controlling the workplace. While one doesn't expect management to hold the employee's hands, they need to be treated with decency, not made to feel like scum. The ridiculous and over the top policies, "time theft" crackdowns, and drug testing only serve to lower these employees morale, a problem which can easily be rectified with a few simple steps.

Firstly, supervisors and managers need to treat their "serfs" as human beings. What a person does is not a definition of who that individual is and as such, all employees need to be treated with respect. It is unacceptable when management begins to "dog" their employees, criticizing every task there are assigned with unconstructive, pessimistic words, or forcing them to continue work when an important injury or medical problem may be temporarily holding them back. Take Ehrenreich's experience at the maids service; when a fellow employee was seriously injured on the job, the manager should have shown a little care, sympathy, or concern. Instead, the employee was harshly told to work through the pain and perform as usual, even though she was obviously not up to par.

Another example can be taken from Christina Commons' experience in the fast food industry. Christina, a supervisor at a fast food store for nearly six years, (one of those who did not join the "dark side"), could recall many instances which demeaned her employees, all at the hands of the general store manager. In one incident, when a register was found to be twenty dollars short, the manager lined all those on the shift up, demanding they empty their pockets. Not surprisingly, two of his employees, (ones that had been there for years), quit on the spot unable to take the new manager's methods. Surely this problem could have been handled differently, without treating the employees like common criminals.

One could argue that it is the management's job to criticize employees, weed out the "bad seeds" and keep the company running smoothly and efficiently. However, this can be accomplished with a different technique than is currently being employed in most minimum wage establishments today. For starters, when managers encounter a problem in the workplace, and feel compelled to speak to the employee(s), they do not need to accuse and corner the employee(s). The predicament should be treated with a mature approach, talked out amongst the adults and solved with the collaboration of both parties.

Another simple method of cutting down negative energy and bad morale in the workplace is to offer the employees a bit of praise or recognition for a job well done. A compliment or comment or even a pat on the back would go a long way to the "serfs" doing all of the "grunt work". Like I stated before, while no one expects management to baby the employees, if praise or a kind word was given every once in a while it would motivate the workers. Job performance would increase, employees would be happier, and as both Ehrenreich and Commons will tell you, nearly all employees in this environment are seeking approval. Whether they realize they are engaging in these approval seeking actions or not is irrelevant, merely the fact that managers can boost morale with a kind word is the main point.

As Truman Bewley tells us in his article involving work motivation, morale is an important factor to consider in the workplace. When morale is high in a workplace, employees will sense a common purpose, work harder, productivity will increase, labor turnovers will decrease, finding and hiring quality employees would not be as hard, and employees would feel more comfortable and pleased to follow company objectives. Another fact to note is that it is a proven statistic that employees will deal better with customers when they are satisfied with their treatment, work environment and wages. Good morale is not something that can be wished into existence however, it is built between positive interactions between supervisor's and subordinates, prospects for economic security and progress within the company and by recognition and reward of contributions to the company. (Truman Bewley) On the other hand, it only takes a small incident to blow good morale. Any unfair or unjust treatment by management to an employee can shatter all that has been worked on, and is not easily regained.

As you can see, there is a serious problem in America's workplaces today, the treatment and morale amongst low wage workers. In a country that is supposedly so rich with opportunities, not only are we paying our hardworking citizens a low wage, their treatment is little better than serfs. Consider the following quote from Bernie Sander's article. "Falling behind in boom times":

"The truth of the matter is that in the ''booming economy'' of this, the richest country on earth, 30 percent of American workers earn poverty or near-poverty wages because the minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation and we have lost millions of decent-paying manufacturing jobs. Low-wage American workers are now the lowest-paid in the industrialized world. In this nation of ''family values,'' more than 20 percent of our children live in poverty."

The biggest step management could take would be to implement a living wage, so our people were not faced with problems such as those indicated above, our children living in poverty. Nevertheless, it seems as though this controversial issue will be up for debate for some time now, and management needs to take the small steps mentioned in this paper to make these low wage workers feel like people. We need the "serfs" or else the world as we know it would not function, as there would be no one to carry out with the menial tasks that often are the ones that keep a company running. Management needs to speak to their employees as if they were humans, work out problems in a cordial if not friendly manner, offer some recognition, praise or rewards for a job well done, and consider workplace morale in every move and policy they implement. If those higher up on the ladder, above the "serfs", would follow these straightforward and nearly effortless steps, a lot of people in this country would be much happier, and a major problem in America today would be well on it's way to being solved.

Interview with Christina Commons

Karen: Thank you for meeting with me today, I have a few questions to ask you about your experience in the fast food industry. I understand you were a member of management?

Christina: Yes I was a supervisor at a fast food restaurant for nearly six years, though in the end I had to leave, the general manager was making the employees lives miserable.

Karen: What do you mean by that?

Christina: At one time, when money seemed to be disappearing quite often, the general manager counted the money in the tills, discovering the register was over twenty dollars short. He was furious, and sure that the money was somewhere around there, that one of his employees had nicked it. He lined all those on the shift up and had them empty their pockets, asking each one of them where the money was, very calmly. After he calmed down, he did say he was sorry but the damage was done. Two employees quit that night.

Karen: Yikes. So I take it all was not fun and roses at this job?

Christina: No it wasn't, too much joking was going on, with the boys seeming to cross the line more and more, and management was being directed to be tougher with the employees and lets all face it, all of them want a little concern and praise when they are working their asses off. I think they deserve it, more than anyone else in that store, for the workers are what keep it going, the managers could not run the store without them.

Karen: Thanks so much for answering my questions, if I have anymore I will give you a call, though I am pretty sure this will do it. I wish you luck and hope you never have to work in fast food again.

Works Cited

Work Motivation

Falling behind in boom times
Low-wage American workers now lowest-paid in industrialized world
By Bernie Sanders, 2/12/2000
http://home.earthlink.net/~local1613/boom.html

Interview with Christina Commons, fast food supervisor for 6 years.

Convergences By Robert AtwanTruman BewleyJanuary 1999
http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d12a/d1209.pdf