Does pride in company performance compensate for low wages?
According to the Fortune annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, the assumed answer is yes.
Wegmans ranked third on the list released yesterday, behind Hilton and Ultimate Software. The family-owned grocery chain has made the list every year during the 23 years Fortune has published it.
Inclusion on the list is not only great PR for business in general. It also buoys the workforce. Who doesn’t want to work for one of the best companies to work for in America?
But back to moola.
Indeed reports that the average hourly pay for Wegmans cashiers is $12.90. That’s $2.10 less than the minimum wage passed by the House in 2019. In New York State, home of Wegmans, the minimum wage is $11.80 per hour. So the Wegmans cashier rate is just barely above that.
Mind you, Wegmans operates primarily in the Northeast, a region where the cost of living is significantly higher than in many other parts of the country. I work with these folks and, contrary to a general public perception, they’re not all teenagers saving up for college. They’re grandparents having to care for ailing spouses and grandchildren. They’re single moms with disabled kids.
Are wages even considered in the Fortune survey? Pay is not mentioned in the published methodology. When I posed the question to the magazine’s survey partner, Great Place to Work, I was provided no answers other than an invitation to enroll in a webinar designed for future corporate clients.
After repeating the question, Great Place to Work responded:
…Our methodology and survey measure and evaluates a few key elements, it asks employees how consistently they experience behaviors related to trust. Wages and pay satisfaction is in our questionnaire…
Upon a third query, about precise questions asked, we received this response:
In our survey, they are considered statements in which they will answer True or False
I feel I receive a fair share of the profits made by this organization
Everyone has an opportunity to get special recognition
I am treated as a full member here regardless of my position
People here are paid fairly for the work they do.
I would slightly modify my original point based on this third answer:
At a time when paychecks for working families are stretched thin, when the richest (an elite group that includes the Wegman family) account for an increasingly lopsided proportion of the nation’s wealth, more weight must be placed on pay schedules (and available hours, which is a common complaint among Wegmans employees).
Wages have to be more openly addressed in future Fortune rankings. The current format reads more like spin for employers than insight for prospective workers.