Month: November 2025

Slightly prior to the beginning of the pandemic, I used to work for an office supply store full time, or as close to what you would consider full time. At the time, the minimum wage in my state in 2020 was $13.50 per hour. At the time, during tax season was when we got our yearly raises, and my pay was raised to a few cents over $14 per hour. At the same time, however, I also learned that the new associates that had been hired within the previous three months and throughout the next few months were being paid a little more than what I was getting for part time work, while I was getting paid less for being full time with more responsibility. During this time as well, due to the pandemic causing havoc with anything to do with retail, my hours were also being reduced to about 30 per week instead of around 38 where I was previously. All of these compounding factors led me to take a job where I currently work for over $4.50 more per hour and a guaranteed 39 hours per week, along with the prospect of bonuses, and hefty incentives. The main reason that this occurred was because not only had the compensation become completely unsatisfactory, it became an issue of not being able to support myself without working a second or third job and fighting and scraping for every hour possible. This was due to a lack of worth in the position and the company paying the bare minimum they could with as many cuts in hours, pay, and incentives as they could. This is an issue that seems to be common in retail and office work where they do not value and support seasoned employees in order to keep their compensation satisfactory. However, there has been a recent movement where it has almost become a standard to pay employees well above minimum and marker rate for many food, retail, and office positions across the country. This has been a step in the right direction, but there is still more work that needs to be done to make this a standard.

Training and assistance can make all the difference for new employees in an organization. As mentioned in the article, “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly” (Ellis et al., 2017), adequate training and keeping your employees up to speed on a longer term scale is critical to make sure that your employees are trained correctly, happy, and are retained longer. Managers also play a role in how employees are trained because, “supervisors can promote or inhibit newcomer adjustment through their supportive or obstructive behaviors.” (Ellis et al., 2017) This has happened to everyone at some point, but two personal examples come to mind. I worked at a local grocery store that was part of a Northwest chain and got hired for a part time position while I was starting in college. The training in this role consisted of here is how you clock in, what to wear, where everything is, and your duties, then I was left on my own without any other help or assistance to make sure I was doing my duties correctly, then was scolded when things were not done the correct way or in the correct time. I only lasted a week and a half in this position since they fired me for calling in sick, after having the store manager’s position, however it was for the best looking back on it since I would have continued to be unhappy being there. On the other hand, I had a training for my current position a few years ago for most of the stores in our district with the vendors that went over everything from start to finish for this product, but also let participants that had been in this role for varying lengths of time share their knowledge and help create a sense of community and making sure that everyone felt supported. By doing this, it helps employees stay in this role longer and be more productive because they feel supported and are happy.

Ellis, Allison, Sushil Nifadkar, Talya Bauer, and Berrin Erdogan (2017), Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly.

When I think about good and bad interviews that I have been involved in, it comes down to a few critical things on the business’s side. These are preparation, research, and attitude/caring. These things can make or break an interview not only on whether the company is good in general, but also the applicants view of the company and whether they want to work there based off of first impressions. If you have two equal candidates, but one interviews with the high energy and positive attitude that always wants to be successful, and the other one interviews with the manager who does the bare minimum and does not care about anything, if they offer both the job, who do you think is going to accept the position based off of first impressions. I have had several interviews where the interviewer seemed like they did not care about the position, myself, or even that they were there, and were often times belittling me during the interview. Even if I was offered the job, I often turned down these positions unless I really needed the job. This is where attitude and research come in. Attitude seems like a simple thing, but can be complex during the interview depending on the person. However, always being energetic, interested and invested in what the candidate is saying, and being thoughtful and meaningful in your responses shows that you are giving them the time of day and giving them a great first impression. Research is also important to find the right candidates to interview and to gain more insight into them. Assessments, virtual interviews, social media, and job example games and tests are becoming increasingly more popular with business for good reason. Just like it is important for the interviewee to research the business prior to the interview to be able to interview correctly, it is important for the business to gather as much information as possible using all these resources about the candidates to tailor the interview to them and get as much from the responses aqs possible.

https://hbr.org/2016/04/how-to-take-the-bias-out-of-interviews

https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/2014202/files/112862366?wrap=1