Turning minimum wage demands into employee experience discussions

As the demand for talent continues to be high, leadership’s roadmap to raising the minimum wage should include critical discussions on why competitive pay matters and who really benefits. (Photo: Shutterstock)

We’ve all seen recent hiring trends like fast-food establishments are offering starting wages 50% —and sometimes even higher—more than the state minimum wage. We’ve all felt the pinch at the pump with gas prices approaching $5 in states like California and trending upward in most other places too. And, we’ve all been to the grocery store and felt like everything was a dollar more than yesterday. It’s not in our minds: the U.S. inflation rate is the highest it’s been in 40 years.

In many cases, the pressure to react to inflation is falling on employers. As a result, employers are not only contending with federal and state legislation for minimum wage but also increased benefit demands: what’s in it for me? As performance evaluation season marches on, many employers aren’t able to increase employees based on rising living costs alone. So what are companies to do?