Overheard my GM tell the owner he doesn't "believe in" giving raises based on merit

I was scraping the flat top during a slow Tuesday shift and heard my GM on the phone saying raises should only be for "time served" regardless of skill. This guy has been here 8 years and still can't run a Saturday dinner rush without losing his cool. We have a 19 year old prep cook who can break down a case of chicken in 12 minutes flat but he's making the same as the guy who burns toast every other day. It's wild how some managers just want to keep the bar low so they don't have to justify their own paycheck. Has anyone else had a boss straight up admit they don't believe in rewarding good work?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.willow1d ago

I read somewhere that some managers do the "time served" thing because it makes their job easier. No tough conversations about who's actually good at their job.

evangarcia1d ago

Why is it that nobody ever talks about how the time served system actually DOES work for certain jobs? @schmidt.willow, you're right that managers want an easy way out, but I think there's another side to it. In a lot of trades and blue collar gigs, time served actually means something because you DO gain real skill just by showing up every day for years. It's not like some office job where you can coast for two decades and still be useless. But I'll agree that it gets abused when managers use it as a blanket rule instead of having those hard conversations. The real problem is when companies refuse to pay a younger guy what he's worth just because he hasn't been there long enough. That's how you lose your best people to the competition.