Well Pay

Sick pay is one of those necessary and sensible corporate institutions that are often abused. If an employee is hung over or simply does not feel like working because it is a lovely day, he can call in with a feigned case of the blahs. That escape hatch from the workaday world is being mildly threatened by a newfangled idea aimed at throwing dedicated malingerers into a dilemma: well pay.

Now being tried in several small and medium-size companies on the West Coast, well pay rewards people for doing what they are supposed to do: go to work regularly and on time. Some results have been impressive. Reports James Parsons, 59, president of Parsons Pine Products of Ashland, Ore., maker of nearly 80% of the nation's wooden mousetrap bases: "Our absenteeism has dropped 30%, and our tardiness is almost zero." Parsons' incentive: an extra day's pay at the end of every month to workers who are punctual. Reichhold Chemicals' fiberglass manufacturing division in Irwindale, Calif, offers half an hour's extra pay for each week a worker completes a full shift without illness or absence. The bonuses are called "sweet pay" (for Stay at Work, Earn Extra Pay).

Most employees like the idea, but some workers and union leaders seem skeptical. Says Mildred Corriveau, a vocational nurse at one of the 151 nursing homes owned by Pasadena's Beverly Enterprises, whose employees get 5% bonuses each month for showing up on time: "It's not enough money to persuade a person to come to work. I think we will still have as much diarrhea as we used to." For some folks, no reward can match the luxury of loafing. qed

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.