By Kate Taylor
Entrepreneur, Dec 3, 2013. Also Reuters, other outlets
... Business owners in general are divided on raising the minimum wage. A November Gallup poll found that small-business owners were split nearly 50-50 on raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour from the current $7.25. ...
For franchise owners, there's a fine line between what they might like to pay their employees and what they realistically can pay without damaging profits. At the same time, they have to pay competitively enough so that they aren't constantly wasting money hiring and training employees. “If you keep paying people low wages… you’ll blow through employees, which costs a lot of time and money,” says franchise ownership adviser Joel Libava. As for potential price increases on consumers, Libava is skeptical of the long-term effects on business owners. “Would consumers pay 25 cents more for a hamburger if prices go up? Probably.”
Indeed, a number of large businesses see an increased minimum wage as a pro-business position. Companies including superstore Costco and ice cream franchise Ben & Jerry’s have signed Business for a Fair Minimum Wage’s petition to raise minimum wage for all workers. According to Ben & Jerry’s website, employees are paid what the company considers to be livable wages: $15.97, twice the national minimum wage.
“Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business,” said Jim Sinegal, [former] CEO of Costco in a statement on Business for a Fair Minimum Wage’s website. ...
Kate Taylor is a staff writer for Entrepreneur.com.
Copyright 2013 Entrepreneur