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.
