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Traditionally lower-wage jobs across the U.S. have experienced a marked jump in hourly rates this year&mdash;retail workers hourly pay &ldquo;rose 4.3 percent in November from a year earlier&rdquo;&mdash;according to an article in <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/12/29/retailers-hope-higher-pay-will-buy-more-efficient-workers/ml664Y0zktDVQYGNa5NKnM/story.html?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=corporate-hopes-of-higher-worker-productivity-accompany-increased-wages-2708767" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">The Boston Globe</a>. In a sales-focused, direct-to-consumer world, however, companies know that customers won&rsquo;t passively accept price increases and will seek out competitors. For companies looking to preserve their profit margin, then, the answer is two-fold: increased technology and higher productivity from employees.

&ldquo;[U]nless companies are willing to eat all or part of their higher labor costs, they need to increase their workers&rsquo; efficiency. A company&rsquo;s wage increase of 10 percent can be offset if its employees produce 10 percent more,&rdquo; the article said.

&ldquo;Walmart employees can now use mobile devices to check whether an item is in stock and avoid trekking to distant storerooms,&rdquo; according to the article, with the phones also sending alerts for restocking and price changes. &ldquo;And in a cluster of stores, Walmart has deployed robots that monitor stockpiles and can send photos of empty shelves to employees&rsquo; phones,&rdquo; the article said. This process reduces the number of workers needed to unload shipments, according to the article.

According to the article, Target has introduced &ldquo;specialized assembly lines&rdquo; that minimize worker movement needed to package goods, and similarly, Mooyah Burgers has introduced a pivot system so that line cooks &ldquo;do everything without steps,&rsquo;&rsquo; said Michael Mabry, Mooyah&rsquo;s chief operating officer.

Read the full article <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/12/29/retailers-hope-higher-pay-will-buy-more-efficient-workers/ml664Y0zktDVQYGNa5NKnM/story.html?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=corporate-hopes-of-higher-worker-productivity-accompany-increased-wages-2708767" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">here</a>.

wage increase, worker productivity, McDonald’s, Mooyah Burgers, Target, Walmart, profit, technology

Corporate Hopes of Higher Worker Productivity Accompany Increased Wages

1851 Franchise

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