Providing All Employees with More Than a Living Wage: How Raising Your Workers' Earnings Will Boost Your Profits

By: Jody Heymann

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Synopsis: It has become conventional wisdom that firms gain an important competitive advantage by paying the lowest wages they can get away with. But are the lowest wages for skilled workers really in your company's best interest? Drawing from thousands of interviews with employees from the front line to the C-suite, this chapter highlights the critical issues surrounding structuring wages and incentives in a variety of sectors. You will learn how real-life companies have used different approaches like team manufacturing systems, incentives programs, and innovative salary scales to improve productivity, brand image, and employee retention, as well as to save on talent recruitment and marketing. This chapter shows how providing decent wages and incentives to your employees will not only reduce the risk for low- and moderate income families during tough economic times, but can help position your entire company for profitability and growth. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 1 of "Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce."