Archived Does your store offer a competitive wage?

[Backroom81]

My GSTL (not a Sr) makes more than any of these numbers you have thrown out.

Length of employment and cost of living in your area will impact the numbers greatly.

 

[OhYouDidntKnow]

Don't get me wrong guys I am not knocking the living wage debate at all. I just was trying to prove a point that their # of 30k is more than enough even in the pricery areas of the country and if it is not you are doing something wrong.d The term living wage gets thrown around way to liberally and I dont think people really know what it means or what that number would be. Even in NYC one of the most expensive places to live the living wage is like $12-13 an hour. On the other hand the living wage in a place like Arkansas is only $7.05 an hour so by their standards means if you are getting paid minimum wage you should be ok.

I did find this though it was pretty interesting
http://livingwage.mit.edu/

It breaks down what the living wage by where you live.

Competitive wage means relative to other stores near your Target. According to your link I'm making $4 under the living wage in my area and that's with 2 raises under my belt. Lowe's right down the road starts their employees at $1 under. So at least there you have the opportunity to get a living wage which for the most part is also the competitive wage in my area.

 

[commiecorvus]

Sadly, competitive doesn't have to mean living.
It just means close to what the other businesses in the area are paying.
I would argue that on the average Spot pays at the bottom end of that scale and does a much worse job than most of pay raises.
The argument about how much one can live on is moot
for the purpose of this thread since it is so variable and
Spot really doesn't care anyway.

 

[The Dude Abides]

That thing is a joke. The costs are way off and it assumes the person is working a full 40 which is near impossible especially after mytime.

 

[Noiinteam]

Competitive wage at Target? Compared to a third world country, maybe. Ask the tm's that are living with their parents and the rest that are working 2 jobs and still not making it.

 

[Fyi]

Keep in mind that no one at my store is getting close to 4o if you're not a tl. I would say the average now is 20ish. And that's with 100% availability

 

[EMFlow]

Competitive wage at Target? Compared to a third world country, maybe. Ask the tm's that are living with their parents and the rest that are working 2 jobs and still not making it.

I come from a third world country and compared to that the crappy pay rate at Target is actually pretty good.

 

[pfreshdude]

I get it the economy sucks, there are no jobs it took me 3 years after graduating college to get a job that actually required to go to college. That being said though a job that the only requirement to get is that you are 16 in my opinion should not pay enough for you to be able to afford to live alone. Not to mention if fast food or retail paid enough that their lowest level workers could afford to live alone apartments and housing would quickly dry up causing inflation of those places and we end up in the same place anyway. Work hard, get promoted, take advantage of tuition reimbursement get promoted further or use that newly paid for college education and get a desk job. It wasnt easy but that is what I had to do.

Hard to get promoted these days when they keep slashing and slashing and slashing TL positions.

 

[importracer98]

This is a interesting topic that we as hourly Target employees should address and investigate. There are many employees here at Target who are making at or slightly above the minimum wage.

Here are some interesting articles addressing the impact Target and other retail employers are having on our economy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/retail-pay_n_2991676.html

http://www.ilsr.org/chains-walmart-foods-free-ride-taxpayers-expense-responsible-small-businesses/

Target is a massive business, with many employees and huge yearly profits. Career jobs at Target are those jobs that require a 4 year or higher college degree, and these jobs pay well. However the majority of their employees are hourly team members with an average hourly pay slightly higher than the minimum wage. These employees are the ones who are interacting with "guests" and developing the guest experience seen at thousands of stores across the country. They are the ones who are following the Target culture and effecting the sales of the company as a whole. Unfortunately they are not rewarded like many of the executive team leaders are by good yearly bonuses, instead they are asked to perform more work, improve areas of the store moral or guest experience, and tackle jobs that at one point higher management was required of. The pay increase does not reflect the increased work load, in fact yearly raises are at the same level seen when I first started at Target in 2006. with yearly raises of .10-.25 cents. Executive leaders workload is focused more on off-site duties than sales floor visibility. With less and less team members scheduled during the day and night, moral is at a all time low. This company is in need of a culture change, a good culture to examine is that of Costco. Who's employee's are well paid, great benefits, and turnover is very low. Costco is also exhibiting strong yearly profits. Target is declining in stock value, store traffic, and "guest" moral of the store.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/29/costco-earnings_n_5412588.html

 

[JuicedSoftball1]

I think competitive wage will also always be subjected to interpretation. In my opinion retail is to broad to compare it too. Are wages in line with Walmart, Meijer, and Kmart? These are all 1 stop shopping experiences the rest are specialized.

If Walmart was starting cashiers at 15 in your area and Target was only paying 8 that is not competitive. If they are paying 9 and Target is paying 8 you can make the argument that is competitive as we get our employee discount on all items including food and they do not.

When you hear Costco pays much more they are a different retail industry.

 

[importracer98]

When you hear Costco pays much more they are a different retail industry.

I agree you can't compare Costco to Target in terms of "competitive wage" since they are in a different retail category. However lets look at some things, Target and Costco are a business that hires employees, both make profits (Target being a far larger company), and both have different business practices. Costco viewpoint on success is well centered around their employees, not so much on their shareholders. Target is vise versa.

Here is another great article describing low wages and practices at Target.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/target-walmart_b_4254981.html

 

[OhYouDidntKnow]

7 Companies That Aren't Waiting For Congress To Raise The Minimum Wage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/26/companies-minimum-wage_n_5530835.html

2 of these are in spitting distance of my store. I did not choose wisely...

 

[neversaynever]

I live an hour or more away from all of those,

In and Out was paying $9/hr to start about 12 years ago when they came to my town. It was shocking to the places around them!

 

[PullMeBackIn]

When you hear Costco pays much more they are a different retail industry.

I agree you can't compare Costco to Target in terms of "competitive wage" since they are in a different retail category. However lets look at some things, Target and Costco are a business that hires employees, both make profits (Target being a far larger company), and both have different business practices. Costco viewpoint on success is well centered around their employees, not so much on their shareholders. Target is vise versa.

Here is another great article describing low wages and practices at Target.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/target-walmart_b_4254981.html

Actually, Costco is bigger than Target now. While Costco has less locations at 649, their market cap is about $50 billion vs. Target's $36.8 billion.

For those wondering, market cap is basically the average selling price of shares multiplied by the total number of outstanding shares. It's a quick and easy way to compare large corporations because it's the easiest way to get the value of a company down to just one number. Granted the issue is much more complex when you start looking at balance sheets and such but that's the quick and easy version.

Nevertheless, your overall sentiment is correct Costco very much puts their employees at the forefront and let shareholder concerns work themselves out. Target, on the other hand, bases almost all of their decisions on impact to shareholders and stock valuation.

 

[mrknownothing]

7 Companies That Aren't Waiting For Congress To Raise The Minimum Wage
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/26/companies-minimum-wage_n_5530835.html

2 of these are in spitting distance of my store. I did not choose wisely...

None of those are in my area except Gap at the mall near my store.