On Married with Children, Al, the main character, was always complaining that being a shoe salesman was a lousy paying, degrading job. You can’t afford nice things or live in a nice house, and it’s hard to keep up with the Darcys. But imagine working for a shoe store where you actually can afford nice things?!
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The owner of Lamey-Wellehan Shoes in Maine believes that all employees should make a decent wage. That’s why he pays his employees $15 an hour; double what the state’s minimum wage actually is! The shoe store, which has been in business for over 100 years, has seven locations. The owner, Jim Wellehan, can name every single employee and how long they have worked for the company.
According to Wellehan, “When I was a kid, America was definitely committed to fairness. And that concern for other people seems to be missing today in our corporate culture. And we’ve got to change that. We should pay people enough to live on comfortably, to educate their kids, to bring up their kids.”
On top of the high wage, Wellehan also offers a commission for every pair of shoes that are sold, a health plan, and an impressive 401(k) plan. For employees who contribute 5 percent into their 401(k) retirement plan, the company will match it with 5.5 percent!
Wellehan also says that during the recent recession, he and a few other top employees offered to take pay cuts in order to keep the staff wage the same. While most companies would cut pay across the board to meet the bottom line, Wellehan did the opposite. He says, “If you’ve got people who are happy and like to work with you and enjoy what they do and do a good job, how can you be more profitable than that?”
So all you corporate shoe stores out there, take note!! Al Bundy wouldn’t sully the profession if he was making just a tad bit more money! Or maybe worked a little harder.
Commendable (especially with people increasingly buying shoes online), but you’d have to pay me a lot more to get up close and personal with people’s feet.
Just goes to shore that profits and fairness need not be mutually exclusive as some would claim. Real problem with not wanting to treat employees fairly, or provide benefits is simply greed!