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Is a $0.50 (fifty cents) per hour raise insulting? It's in line with a 3% c.o.l.a.

 

 

I'm a small business owner with a cash flow problem. I want to reward my employee on her anniversary for a job well done but don't have a lot of money to spare. I do give bonuses every once in a while when cash flow is better.

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I think that is reasonable in some occupations or business's. In my area and trade anything under a buck is a slap and a raise is expected every several months. Minimum twice a year. Really good Equipment Service Techs quite often come with the mind set that they are surgeons.

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InvisiBlonde

What sort of work does this employee do?

 

Like, manual / unskilled labour, or what?

 

Also, how much does s/he make now, before the raise? (Sorry; I am Algebra-Impaired!)

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If 3% that's pretty much industry standard.

 

But you can also do other things like give them a day off / let them leave early.

 

Not everyone is motivated by money - see what motivates them and give them that as well.

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Is a $0.50 (fifty cents) per hour raise insulting? It's in line with a 3% c.o.l.a.

 

 

I'm a small business owner with a cash flow problem. I want to reward my employee on her anniversary for a job well done but don't have a lot of money to spare. I do give bonuses every once in a while when cash flow is better.

 

So it seems she makes somewhere around $17 an hour. If that is right, then .50 is acceptable. 5% would be a more typical if you can swing it.

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Is a $0.50 (fifty cents) per hour raise insulting? It's in line with a 3% c.o.l.a.

 

 

I'm a small business owner with a cash flow problem. I want to reward my employee on her anniversary for a job well done but don't have a lot of money to spare. I do give bonuses every once in a while when cash flow is better.

 

I got .25 cents in the first 30 days..

I got .25 cents in the first 90 days

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Michelle ma Belle

I'm not sure what the economy is like in the US but in Canada, anyone getting any kind of raise is something worth celebrating these days.

 

I haven't received a raise in over 3 years because the economy and lack of funds to support company raises.

 

I think your proposed amount is more than acceptable.

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I tend to align with the motivation and reward angle. If your employee(s) are motivated by line item periodic wage increases, go with that. If bonuses, that. Performance pay, that. Time off, that.

 

In my industry if I was noting a standout, it wasn't uncommon to walk up to them on a Friday morning, share with them that their services weren't needed that day and to go spend some time with their kids, then hand them a c-note on the way out. Of course, they'd get their regular paycheck like they were there. No explanation, no attaboy and describing their accomplishments and outlining their future expectations, rather just saying 'thank you' in a way that impacted them. If their equipment needed running, well I was competent so I did it. An early lesson in business was there was no job in the building that the boss wasn't willing and trained to do. Men in my industry (practically no women) work very physical jobs and are sometimes away from their families for extended periods of time. Your industry is unique to you so find out what speaks to your employees and learn that language well. Retaining motivated and productive employees is critical to cash flow. Every moment you waste on churn impacts the bottom line. My motto was always turn, don't churn. Turn means refreshing the labor force periodically with new apprentices. Churn means rapid hiring and firing with poor retention.

 

Will this employee respond to a .50/hr raise? TBH, back when I was an employee, ages ago, it would've meant practically nothing to me and wages were a lot lower then versus now. My last raise went from 8/hr to 10/hr and that was over 30 years ago. I'd have probably groused about how much Uncle Sam was grabbing of it, and did :D

 

Adding a week of paid vacation on my anniversary, OTOH, so I could spend more time going racing, was worth far more, even if Uncle Sam was clawing back my pay. Time and freedom had great value. What does your employee value? Find out and execute.

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GunslingerRoland

Sorry, I think that's so small I'd just not give it. If you can't do a full dollar an hour, wait until you're in a position where you can.

 

If you can't even buy a small fast food meal with your daily raise, it's probably not worth the hassle.

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Is a $0.50 (fifty cents) per hour raise insulting? It's in line with a 3% c.o.l.a.

 

 

I'm a small business owner with a cash flow problem. I want to reward my employee on her anniversary for a job well done but don't have a lot of money to spare. I do give bonuses every once in a while when cash flow is better.

 

When cash flows are low, trim expenses down. I would wait. This is taken from entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary's book.

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Bonuses are great. It's nice you can do that. I guess it depends how much she's making and how often you bump her up .50. If she's making, I'd say, under $15 hr., and you bump her up .50 every year if she's performing, then that's fine. I do agree that approaching it from the percentage standpoint might make more sense to her. "I'm giving you a 3 percent raise."

 

If you don't do raises every year, then when you do one, it should be a bit more. But small businesses can't afford to keep giving people raises past what they could replace them for, so she needs to be realistic about that. In my small little part-time on call position, I will never get a raise, but I'm guaranteed a certain small amount whether I'm needed or not.

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It's a part time job, less than 20 hours per week & I'm flexible with schedules when the employee needs a break. I held the job open for 6 weeks while she was sick last year.

 

 

She answers the phone & does some typing. It's a very low stress job. Yearly raises are uncommon in the industry.

 

 

I like her & want to keep her but I already pay her 30% more than the last 3 people who held that job. While she's good & I genuinely like her, I could replace her with competent for a LOT less money.

 

 

I want to give her something but I won't go to $1.00 per hour.

 

 

My expenses are already bare bone. I'm not frivolous.

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Part-time workers with lots of flexibility cannot expect to go out of a certain price range. As you have done for her giving her time off whatever she needs it at cetera I have a similar part-time on-call position where there's so much flexibility that I have basically been working for the same dollar amount for several years because I know it would be nearly impossible to find a similar situation anywhere. At the initial interview years ago I made a deal with him to be able to take off work whenever I have rushed jobs which are jobs with a quick deadline that pay more so that is very valuable to me.

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GunslingerRoland
It's a part time job, less than 20 hours per week & I'm flexible with schedules when the employee needs a break. I held the job open for 6 weeks while she was sick last year.

 

 

She answers the phone & does some typing. It's a very low stress job. Yearly raises are uncommon in the industry.

 

 

I like her & want to keep her but I already pay her 30% more than the last 3 people who held that job. While she's good & I genuinely like her, I could replace her with competent for a LOT less money.

 

 

I want to give her something but I won't go to $1.00 per hour.

 

 

My expenses are already bare bone. I'm not frivolous.

 

I'd argue that giving her some more challenging work along with the raise would make the job better and not worse for her...

 

It sounds like of dead-end the way it is now if it doesn't progress in duties and rarely comes with raises.

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I'd argue that giving her some more challenging work along with the raise would make the job better and not worse for her...

 

It sounds like of dead-end the way it is now if it doesn't progress in duties and rarely comes with raises.

 

 

 

It's not designed to progress. She is retired from doing this work at a different company & only works for me because it's less boring than staying home. She had worked retail after retirement but didn't like it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Is a $0.50 (fifty cents) per hour raise insulting? It's in line with a 3% c.o.l.a.

 

 

I'm a small business owner with a cash flow problem. I want to reward my employee on her anniversary for a job well done but don't have a lot of money to spare. I do give bonuses every once in a while when cash flow is better.

 

No it is not. Example: When I was with my last company I got .50 every six months but I shut down my crew to get that,,,and I would not budge and with my skills my boss would never fire me. I talked to the guys and I told them not to work. I called my boss and said we are all on strike as of now. Period! Your done without me and these guys I trained.

 

I turned his small business of one crew of 4 guys into 3 crews in under a year and he could never let me go since I was requested by our clients personally.

 

I got my whole full time crew a wage hike and annual bonus from that day on. If you are starting out your business take a small hit now and again. This is my business ethic even today with a new business I just started several months ago. I take a small dime hit for the dollar later.

 

If you have a worker that makes you dimes starting out that may turn to dollars...you keep him/her at any cost. A small bonus goes a long way as with regular PRAISE on the positive and not a COMPLAINT session for something small.

 

Gift cards go a long way and speak volumes and a good talk of praise for the good work well done. Your worker will understand your starting out. Yeah a small card seems small to you, but a small bonus card for Barnes & Nobles to me was like a million bucks.

 

Just an opinion and experience and nothing more.

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