Should companies ask workers to support fellow employees?
Commentary
Businesses often collect donations at this time of year for the less fortunate. But what if the less fortunate you are asking your employees to support are other employees? "Making Change at Walmart" -- a coalition of workers, faith-based organizations and other groups linked with the United Food and Commercial Workers -- says some Walmart stores are asking employees to donate to needy co-workers. They state on their Facebook page:
Despite a massive backlash last year when news broke that Walmart was holding an in-store canned food drive asking workers to donate to one another to keep from going hungry, Walmart hasn't changed its ways. An Oklahoma Walmart is running another food drive this year!Rather than agree to pay a decent wage or provide full-time hours, Walmart and its owners (the Waltons) continue to earn massive profits while too many of the workers who make the company a success go hungry.
It's undeniable that Walmart workers don't make big money, but is it bad to ask for donations for other employees? The Making Change at Walmart members think it's a horrible thing. If you read the comments on the Facebook page, you'll see they range from incredulity to anger.
But one thing they fail to point out is that if Walmart is doing this a second year in a row, that indicates that the program was successful last year. And if they were successful last year, that means that a good number of Walmart employees are doing well enough to donate to their co-workers.
Think about that for a minute. While no one claims that Walmart's store employees are rolling around in piles of cash, enough of them have sufficient financial resources that they can help others out. This is one of the flaws in the "living wage" thinking. It assumes that everyone who earns a low wage is in the same category. Some are students, with parental support. Some are teens, living at home. Some are young and share expenses with roommates. Some are single mothers of three small children. The latter probably needs a great deal of help, and giving her co-workers the chance to help is a good thing.
But should companies take on that role? Their legal and moral obligation is to pay employees the agreed upon wage for the time worked, pay overtime as required, follow all employment laws, and treat their employees as human beings. The latter is sometimes difficult during the holiday shopping season.
Companies often ask for money for charitable purposes--think about United Way Campaigns, where often the company sets goals and has departmental quotas. If you don't donate, your boss knows about it. I find these acts of "charity" to be the opposite of charitable. When your boss strongly suggests you give a portion of your paycheck to charity, and then follows up when you don't, it isn't charity, it's protection money. But, when your boss puts a box for canned food donations in the lobby, or allows people to sign up of their own free will and choice, that's a nice gesture.
So while Walmart's employees will never get rich while working at Walmart, many are doing fine, and they are all learning valuable skills that will help them move up in the world. As much as people complain about pay in retail, we need to remember that retail is a great training ground for future life. It's where you learn to deal with angry customers, to come on time to work, to wear proper clothes, and to be polite even when you want to scream at someone. Plus, you get paid to do so.
