Hey! Employers! It's Time for a Pay Raise! Now!

I will admit that it is rare that I will not side with a company over its employees. The bottom line for me is a word I use all the time. Perception. It is simply that most of the time, after I do a fair and common-sense analysis, an "unfair" employer is more often a perception rather than a reality.

I point that out to avoid being accused of double-speak. Or worse, having gone soft on companies.

It is no secret that right now we are living in a world barraged with inflation. In fact, the January report showed it was at a whopping 7.5% in the United States, the highest number since 1982.

But it is, of course, not just a U.S. problem. Inflation is taking hold the world over. Everyone is feeling the pain of shrinking dollars and ballooning costs of living.

It always strikes me that as inflation occurs, companies will make it an absolute point to address it. And of course, that comes in the form of raising prices to make up the difference and keep up with it all.

"We have no choice but to pass along some of these costs to the consumer if we want to stay in business," they all say. And what they say is certainly not wrong. It is the reasonable, sensible thing to do. It has to be done. Nobody likes it. But that doesn't mean it is something that can be avoided.

The rationale does not apply necessarily when the employee says it, however, who also must navigate the waters of inflation and try to stay afloat.

I always find that interesting and perplexing at the same time.

Look, the cost of my food has gone up. The cost of my utilities has gone up. The cost of the gas I have to put in my car to drive to work has gone up. The cost to wash my clothes so I don't stink when I am at work has gone up.

Everything has gone up except one thing. My paycheck. In fact, in times like these, the paycheck is typically the last thing to see any improvement.

But the argument for the employee is exactly the same as the argument that the company is making. "The cost of doing business has increased and therefore we must ask for more for the products we sell."

The employee is simply saying, "The cost of my living has increased and therefore I must ask for more for the services I provide."

I am in a unique position since in my job we are on the front line of these kinds of discussions. I am in sales, and as a sales team we discuss what we have to do to preserve and maintain the bottom line. And within those discussions are all of the elements that are contributing to rationalizing why we must pass along these additional costs of doing business.

As we sit at the table talking about all of these things it all makes perfect sense. Of course this is what we must do.

But turn the tables and use the same argument as an employee to the employer?

"Now, let's not get carried away. You are just going to have to find a way to deal with it."

The question is how? I mean, you as the business can simply raise your prices. What can I do? Especially if I tell you I need more and you tell me to go pound sand? What option am I left but to just eat the difference? And why does that make sense to the employer who is not willing to eat the difference?

When we go to work every day we like to toss around cute little phrases. "We succeed as a team or we fail as a team." Suddenly when I want more for the same reasons you do, I am unjustified in my question?

Why do you get to take steps to ensure you can still butter your bread and leave me deciding whether or not I really need the butter on mine?

The problem I have is when labor is not a part of the cost equation. Sure, the company pays more for all of its raw materials. It pays more for its packaging and marketing and whatever else the business has to pay to get the product to market. But labor is a part of the cost too.

Why is it that labor is the one cost that is dismissed?

I mean, isn't labor one of the most important parts, really? Think about it. You can bring in all the raw materials you want. But you cannot run the business and succeed without the people.

So, when you sit around trying to justify raising prices to keep yourself afloat, Mr. Company, don't forget that the employees need to stay afloat too.

All eyes are on you, companies out there. Employees are not stupid. They are paying attention. And if you don't give them more to help them to navigate these inflationary waters...

They are simply going to slow down and not give you what you want. If the value of the dollar is lessening, then the dollar amount you pay in wages is not worth what it was before either.

You can have no reasonable expectation that the wage that you paid me yesterday is worth the same amount of labor I gave you yesterday. And as an employee I can assure you that you will get what you are paying for.

That's how it works.

In what world does it make sense to make me pay more for your bread and not pay me more to make it, and actually be able to pay for it?

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user geralt. Board Blackboard Business - Free photo on Pixabay