How would you guys handle this? One of our part-time employees posted this on facebook yesterday and I am just trying to figure out how to approach this. Keep in mind that we are in a really small rural town and only do about 5K a week.
“It’s BAD when your 17 yr old makes more money an hour than you do and she is only part time!!! She’s (her daughter) been at **** ***** since May and I have been at my job for over a year, she got a raise - guess I need to go work there!!!”
She posted this knowing that we are doing raises and evaluations next week. What makes it even worse is that my manager ‘liked’ her post!
Should I overlook it? Should I confront her and my manager?
i used to be much more generous with raises and bonuses,after bouncing a few business checks and almost losing the business about 10 ys ago, i started paying industry standards for my area plus extra to retain my most valuable employees, i had to get tougher or lose the business, you can make a huge difference in your bottom line by working more and keeping a lean labor crew,i would not make any confrontation, but asses how valuable this employee is to you,
Yeah, thats the situation that I am in. I would love to pay my employees $15/hr, but that would last a couple of months and we would be forced to close the doors. This particular employee is an average employee I guess, slower with the occasional mistakes, but she is dependable. I think some people just don’t have a clue about the things that they post on social media!! AND my manager liking the post was just the icing on the cake!
As long as the employee post is on her own page, I would probably ignore it. Or you could mention that you saw the post and ask if she would like to talk about what changes would make it worth paying her more you could turn it into a positive. It is pretty hard to judge the merits of the complaint without knowing what the daughter does for work or how well she does it. For example, in our store a fast pizza maker would be paid more than a phone person no matter how long they had worked there or what age they are. When phone people want to make more, they learn to make pizza.
Your manager “liking” the post makes me wonder if your manager feels underpaid as well. In any case a conversation is due with your manager. If they have a beef too you probably need to deal with it. If they don’t, pointing out their responsibilities to the business might be in order.
the counter has a tip jar, people are quite generous if receiving friendly fast caring service, no tips for robotic lazy service,hey steve that was awesome fish you caught bet it tasted great ! a manager at 5k per week??? havn’t had one of those in 15 yrs !!!
i would be more pissed with the manager than the employee…i have had to ask a few employees to not mention my workplace on social media or my competition in the past as well
@bodegahwy[/USER] & [USER=10815]@famousperry – I am more upset with my manager than the employee. My manager should know better. We will be having a discussion this weekend. She shouldn’t feel underpaid, she makes more than anyone else (including me some weeks).
@VAScotty – I am putting a social media policy in our handbook, something to this effect: “Any posts on social media that puts our customers, your co-workers, or in a negative light, will be grounds for termination.”
What’s frustrating is this employee knows that we are doing evaluation and raises next week, but she still feels the need to post this. I think I will mention it in her evaluation. Should I tell her that incidents like this make me not want to give you a raise? Or is that not a good idea?
I wouldn’t say that, it’ll trickle down after you speak to manager. I would update employees handbook though and highlight change and make them sign that they got a copy. Even though it would feel good to say something I always believe to never say it unless you have to or it improves your position of power. Saying something now only makes you feel better of getting it off your chest, nothing more.
Social media is protected by free speech laws. As much as it sucks, you could end up in court for firing the wrong person over something like this. Liking a post is apparently also considered free speech.
I’d have a face to face with my manager that would start something on the lines of, “What the hell man?”
The fact is that if you own a business or even just manage a team of people, people are going to say things about you that you would never expect, way more often than you would think by people you would never expect to say them, even if you are a wonderful person and a phenomenal boss.
The First Amendment protects you from government action against protected speech. It does not apply to a private organization.
It protects you from going to jail for saying something, not from being fired.
The possible exception could be an NLRB violation, where somebody is attempting to organize a union or something of that type.
There is no danger of this person being hauled into court for a first amendment complaint if he decided to take some sort of action against this employee.
I think the First Amendment might be one of the most misunderstood concepts of our country.
Really? You should do some more research. Do you genuinely think the guy can terminate these people for that without it bouncing back on him in some way?
“Yeah, I got canned from my last job for thumbs upping a post on Facebook”
I didn’t say it wasn’t going to “bounce back” on him in “some way”, nor did I say that I thought he should take some sort of action (I don’t).
What I said was that the First Amendment first doesn’t apply here. If we were taking about public sector employees it might be different, but we’re talking about a private business.
If my employee goes on Facebook and posts “the food at Piper’s Pizza sucks”, they’re getting fired. Their “freedom of speech” isn’t going to protect them. Maybe they’ll make some other sort of claim for wrongful termination, but I assure you it won’t be on First Amendment grounds.
Let’s say one of your employees tells a customer to “eff off”. I assume you won’t be firing that employee because they’re protected by the First Amendment?
Due to the geographical location that I am in, and the buttloads of competition in such a small area, and us being the only place around doing the genre of food that we do, all new hires get to agree to, and sign a “Nondisclosure agreement” This covers all aspects of the business, pay rates, etc etc
WTF is it with many people just expecting pay increases when they offer no performance increases to earn more pay?
Absolutely.
I do not go snooping, but I made sure to cover that aspect due to seeing posts from employees of other business on social media ragging about customers, supervisors, etc.