Robert Jenkins’ first job as a certified plumber was a dream. After a four-year apprenticeship, during which he rotated between four companies, he was hired by a local plumber known for his high salary and good culture.
“It was great,” he recalled, “the wages were great, and they were providing trucks and tools in the beginning.” Jenkins earned about $40 an hour providing truck and tool services to small businesses and homes around Eugene, Oregon. Dollar. A few months into his job, Jenkins, 36, discovered that the company had raised everyone’s wages across the board, to $45 an hour.
That’s when the trouble begins. Jenkins said the company stopped providing tools to employees: “I was told we were paid enough to buy our own tools,” he said. In Oregon, it’s legal for companies to let workers buy their own tools as long as they’re paid more than the minimum wage — but that changed Jenkins’ working conditions, and he felt he was being shortchanged. He recalls a job that required him to purchase a press gun to join pipes together—not a cheap expense. “I bought a lot of my own tools anyway, some of the biggest ones were worth $4,000, $5,000. I’m not going to give it up just for a company to take it away from me,” he said.
Jenkins also had a conflict with a co-worker who, Jenkins recalled, was often rude and rude to junior colleagues, even belittling them and even cursing at them in front of their colleagues. When Jenkins complained to the company about the employee in question, he was told that the co-worker was a high earner and was effectively a pariah.Jenkins told wealth He was “increasingly unhappy” and his “quality of life was being destroyed”.
So despite having just been promoted, Jenkins resigned. “I realized that the company I was working for was one of the highest paying companies in the area; they had the best reputation and if I wanted something different, I had to do my own thing,” he said.
Jenkins is part of a trend: payroll processor ADP recently launched Research Shows that people who receive promotions are more likely to quit than people who don’t receive promotions. In a job market where overall promotions are rare, this is a surprising statistic: Only 4.5% of employees are promoted within two years of being hired, making it more likely that someone will quit another job than be promoted at their current employer is much more likely.
“We’re not seeing a lot of promotions, we’re not seeing a lot of development,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. wealth. “You might think that in a tight labor market it would be different.”
There are many reasons why people leave their jobs, even after being promoted. ADP’s data doesn’t specify whether promotions cause employees to leave; regardless, many, if not most, of them are likely to leave, since many of the qualities that can lead someone to a promotion (including ambition and drive) are not the same as Corporate loyalty is at odds.
Less money, more problems
Then there are promotions in name only. According to one company, more than a third of promotions come without a raise. 2018 Survey Human resources firm Robert Half said that a recent JobSage survey showed that more than three-quarters of employees polling He was reportedly asked to take on more responsibilities without a pay rise – something that was sure to cause resentment.
Even a raise on paper may turn out to be much less than it seems when all is said and done. Oftentimes, employees are promoted to management or salaried positions only to find that they are no longer eligible for overtime pay, commissions, or other benefits they received in lower positions, and that they are effectively receiving a pay cut.
Money issues aside, moving up in an organization can also reveal broader cultural issues, as Jenkins did.
“One of the reasons I work for this company is their culture is so good,” he told wealth. “Fifty percent of them have been proven to be incorrect — they made people pay for the tools they needed to do their jobs.” Jenkins said seeing his rude co-worker praised for his attitude in meetings ultimately led to the deal protocol.
“That’s when I realized that this problem was not going to be solved,” he said.
He started his own business five months ago, and although his responsibilities have increased, he says he now makes about the same amount as he did previously as a sole proprietor.
“It’s a big change to be the one talking to customers, paying all the bills. Dealing with the name change, forming the LLC, it’s a change,” he said. “But is it worth it? Absolutely.”
The experience also gave Jenkins a taste of what it means to provide a good work environment — something that should come in handy as he hopes to hire an office manager and one or two plumbers in the coming months.
“The shame we have as part of an industry is that we work, work, work and (culture) doesn’t matter, it’s the work. I’m glad that idea is changing and working conditions have to be good for employees,” he said. “I wish I could provide that.”
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