Paid holidays for employees

[scott_san_diego]

I was wondering if on New Years, Christmas, 4th of July and a couple of others if you pay your employees for time off for these holidays.  I always have, but am starting to re-think this.
Here in California they have come out with a new law that is starting in July that employers are require to give their employees 3 sick days.

[kodydog]

From an employees point of view. Most people love paid holidays thinking what a nice perk, get paid while sitting at home. Personally I'd rather increase my per hour wages and here's why. If you add up all those paid holidays and even a week vacation then divide it by your total annual hours worked it really doesn't add up to much. But if you pay me an extra dollar and hour, and if I'm a good employee who always shows up for work and works 40 hrs a week the increase in pay is much higher. One place I used to work would take 14 days off between Christmas and New Years. Problem is they only paid for one week and only to full timers. This made Christmas difficult for some of the employees. I would have preferred working more and holidaying less.

3 days sick pay is the government getting involved in private business affairs and like minimum wage it never works. What the government doesn't seem to understand is the business is going to make a profit one way or another. They force you to pay more in one benefit which forces you to take away other benefits.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I don't see what 3 days sick leave has to do with paid holidays.  No reason that you cannot have both.  I worked for a feedlot and the owner there had an interesting approach to sick leave.  We got 10 days, I believe it was.  If, at the end of the calendar year you had any unused days you were paid for them.  Probably half of the employees used all 10 days and went into leave without pay status.  The rest of us tried hard to have days left to turn in at the end of the period.

I worked for a furniture store in KS.  Probably the only one reasonably paid.  The warehouse/delivery guys had absolutely no respect for the product.  I always felt like there would have been less "accidents: that trashed furniture if the guys had been paid a reasonable wage.  Perhaps not, I don't know.

Virginia

[scott_san_diego]

I guess what I am trying to figure out is, I  have never worked for anyone else.  I have always worked for my self.  I am trying to get a prospective of the employee.  Do employee get paid time off for holidays?

[kodydog]

Some companies do and some don't. It's up to you to decide if you can afford it and are your employes worth it. Another thing to consider in these times of difficulty in finding good upholsterers, when a good upholsterer is deciding who to work for will the perk of paid holidays sway their decision?

[sofadoc]

But like kody pointed out. Any employer who gives paid holidays is just going to factor that into the hourly wage that they offer. I'd rather my boss just pay me the most per hour that he can. Then on holidays, I'll find my own way to make some extra money if I need to.

Similar topic...........We all think that the minimum wage should go way up. BUT.......what if that means that we pay 10 bucks for a Big Mac?

Many employers skirt requirements now by keeping their workers just under 40 hours so they don't have full-time status.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

An interesting point doc, re minimum wage and the price of a Big Mac.  Mickey D's had profits in the billions last year (record profits, I believe) so it is ludicrous for them to say that they have to raise the price of their gut bombs.   There is a chain (can't remember the name right now) that pays $10.00 per hour and their food prices are actually slightly under McDonalds.  If you look up greed in the dictionary, you will find McDonald's logo.

Virginia

[sofadoc]

Virginia:
I think you're talking about In-&-Out Burger. They pay 10 bucks to start.

And their prices are generally lower than Mickey D's. And IMO, they put out an infinitely better product. So yes you're right......IT CAN BE DONE.

But will most minimum wage employers do it? Probably not.

[mike802]

I have always believed that if you want good employees you have to be a good employer.  If your people do not feel appreciated they will not do good work.  At this point in time it is just me with family help as needed, but I have had up to 4 employees at times.   If I had to hire today, I think I would offer different plans where the employee could choose the plan that best fits his, or her needs.  They could choose between added pay pr hour vs paid time off.  The last employee I had I started at 10.00 pr. hour, over minimum at the time.  He was reliable and showed interest and talent, but decided to leave because he wanted insurance.  I found him a plan, but he would have had to pay for it, so I offered him a raise to off set the cost, I lost him anyway.

[kodydog]

Good point Mike. Benefits should be negotiated at the interview/bargaining table.

Scott, what will your employees say if you take away Holiday pay. Sure would piss me off if I was hired thinking that was part of the deal.

Of course if its to keep the business solvent you'll have to explain that. Then they will wonder how close are you to folding.

[kodydog]

But will most minimum wage employers do it? Probably not.

So In-&-Out Burger pays more and puts out a better product. I assume there growing and hiring employees away from McDonalds and other burger joints. Choosing the cream of the crop. Which in turn will force the other burger joints to raise wages if they want to keep valuable employees. Its the law of economics.

If a corporation keeps you in a helpless situation you need to get out of that situation as quickly as possible. Government intervention is not necessary.

People like to point at big corporations as evil and greedy. This may or may not be true. But the problem is when the minimum wage is increased it effects all business. Including small mom and pops. To the point they may have to reduce hours, lay off or reduce other benefits just to keep the doors open. Been there done that. My striper makes $8 an hour. With a 9th grade education he's happy to make it. I cannot afford to pay him $10 he's simply not worth it. He would be out of a job and I'll be working more hours.

[sofadoc]

I know there has been a push to raise the MW to $15.

What I wonder is, how would that affect the next tier of employees who were already making that much? Will they get a raise to keep them ahead of the minimum? Or will they suddenly find themselves working alongside, and making the same pay as entry level employees?

I think I would be PO'ed if I had worked at a place for several years, and made my way up to $12-$15 hr., and then some untrained high school kid hires in making the same pay.

If the MW does go way up, I don't see employers giving equal raises across the board.

[Allan]

In OZ we get paid for public holidays
10 days sick leave
4 weeks annual leave on average
Some jobs can get up to 6 weeks

Allan

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

In OZ we get paid for public holidays
10 days sick leave
4 weeks annual leave on average
Some jobs can get up to 6 weeks

Allan

Yup, other countries do it.  Canada, Germany, Australia & many more but we b*tch about the Government intruding into businesses.  Meanwhile we have kids that cannot afford to move out, single parents on food stamps and people who work at McD's/Walmart and their ilk having to work 2 or 3 jobs just to keep afloat.  If Bob & I were younger, we would be moving out of Country.

Virginia

[kodydog]

Yep, and in France minimum wage is $10.60. Guess what McDonalds did there.

Many low skilled and young workers get their start in a journey to better and higher paying jobs at fast food restaurants. By raising worker wages many fast-food restaurants will respond by restructuring dramatically in order to use less labor. And fewer opportunities for low-skilled and young-workers to be employed.

Not surprisingly, every McDonald's in France has resorted to using touch screen ordering rather than workers. It simply doesn't make sense, when minimum wage starts that high, to employ people when machines can do the job.

http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/03/french-mcdonalds-tell-us-pros-cons-minimum-wage-hike/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=c2w&utm_campaign=2515MinimumWage

In OZ we get paid for public holidays
10 days sick leave
4 weeks annual leave on average
Some jobs can get up to 6 weeks

Allan

Aren't you self employed. When I'm not at my bench I'm not making money. When I'm camping or kayaking I'm not making money.

There have been many times in my life I've worked 3 jobs. Nothing wrong with that if your motivated and want to get ahead. Been a while since I've taken two days off in a row. And when I get sick I don't get paid. Its really hard for me to feel sorry for a 30 year old who still lives at home with mommy and daddy. I left home when I was 18.

I'm not bitter about my life. Its been a great journey. What I cant stand is this entitlement attitude.