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Attracting and Retaining Minimum Wage Employees

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As the economy in Prince George heats up, businesses that rely on minimum wage employees to operate, will eventually start to find they are running out of employees. Typically, these are jobs that are either entry level positions or service related, such as food servers and retail sales people. However, there are some strategies for attracting and retaining these employees. While these strategies may be more costly upfront, they will likely reduce your turnover and training costs related to new employees. It is usually cheaper to retain current employees rather than to constantly hire new ones.

First, you must realize that the types of employees you are typically attracting are high school students who are working to earn spending money or to save for school, traveling or purchase a car. They have very little interest in long term careers and don’t believe that this will be long term employment.

That being said, the obvious method to attract and retain employees is to pay them more. Money talks, especially for young people who are just entering the workplace. Being paid one to two dollars more per hour is considered to be a significant step above most other available jobs. Remember, you don’t have to start paying this higher wage up front. Instead you can tie it to length of service, such as a dollar an hour raise after six months or other similar incremental steps.

The other issue around pay involves the training wage which businesses in British Columbia are permitted to pay employees with limited experience. Job seekers are always going to favor those businesses which pay the highest wages, not to mention the stigma of knowing you aren’t considered to be as valuable as other employees because you haven’t worked for wages before. Employees who feel inferior will perform as though they are inferior.

Another incentive which can help to attract and retain employees is to pay them overtime or holiday pay when they work statutory holidays. Employees know that you are saving money when you schedule them in such a manner so that they don’t qualify for holiday pay. Just think of the message you are sending when you pay them at a rate of time and a half for each hour they work on a holiday. Earning extra cash and knowing the employer isn’t trying to exploit them, certainly helps create a sense of commitment on the employees part.

If you are a retail store, especially a clothing store, you have the opportunity to use staff discounts as a way to attract and retain. As mentioned, most of these young employees are looking for spending money in order to purchase clothes and electronics. A staff discount is an excellent tool to ensure employees want to work for you. Again, using a tiered discount rate based on length of service and hours worked can be used as an incentive to reward long service employees.

Introducing other incentives with a cash value such as contributing to education costs or long service bonuses, are also useful reward and retention tools.

On top of the need for cash, young employees are also looking for a work environment which is stimulating and exciting. Remember that these employees have grown up being bombarded with constant stimulation and are looking for that type of working environment. For example, instead of having the young employee work all day at one till doing a few select jobs, have them rotate through different stations. This can be done on a daily basis. This helps to keep the employee from getting bored, and benefits your business, because your staff will be capable of doing any job required at any time.

Young people are also looking for flexible work schedules which allow them to have a social life as well as an opportunity to earn extra cash. Be willing to work with these employees to ensure they are able to continue to engage in their chosen activities and you will likely find that they are willing to continue working for you. In other words, this type of arrangement can be a win-win situation for both employee and employer.

A final suggestion for employers is to take a look at new young employees who are looking to enter the job market. Included in this group are people in the fourteen to sixteen age groups who are looking for their first job. This group of employees is usually looking for after school jobs and are an excellent source of labor to fill those short shifts during the busy times. While they usually require more training and more time to understand the complexities of the business, they are very likely to reward you with a long term commitment. We all remember the person who gave us our first break or job.

Some words of caution need to be considered. Be careful who you assign to train or work with new employees. This group of employees is usually quite nervous, with a very fragile self-confidence. They can easily be scared away. For example you would want to think twice about assigning them to a thirty year old supervisor who feels underemployed. That feeling will likely be taken out on the new employee causing a negative situation which may result in a quick resignation.

By paying a fair wage, providing incentives, having a stimulating and flexible environment, accompanied by an open-minded hiring policy, businesses can stay ahead of the competition.

-Myron Gordon owns TMSG Management Services Group, which provides management and financial services to growing businesses.


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