Responding to the needs of low-wage workers

All too often, when it comes to attracting and retaining the best employees, it is the technical and professional people who are perceived as being the core of the business. But, according to a recent edition of US human resource magazine Workforce Management, some US companies have decided that their low-wage employees do not have to be disposable. Instead, they are using performance bonuses, childcare or educational opportunities to increase loyalty and save on hiring costs.

Workforce Management investigates how a range of US employers have found that offering low-wage workers a chance to learn skills, earn a decent wage and gain a promotion makes good business sense:

Clothing retailer Eddie Bauer Inc. uses a programme called the Team Store Initiative to reward its 6,200 hourly wage earners for their contribution towards helping individual stores achieve established monthly sales goals.
Bank of America launched a "child care cost-reimbursement" programme -- employees who earn $34,000 or less can be reimbursed as much as $175 per month for each child under five years' old.

Want to know more?

Title: "High impact for low-wage workers", by Tom Nelson Workforce Management, August 2004.

Availability: Workforce Management magazine is published monthly. For subscription services, tel: 001 313 446 0450 (USA: 888 448 1422). Contact the online editor Todd Raphael for more information, email: raphaelt@workforce.com.

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Posted 1 September 2004