"Upscale" wrote in message

Not to disagree with your opinion, but there are some things that make the
long time employee more valuable, at least from the get go when hiring a
new
person.

(good list of attributes snipped)

All those things do add up to a more valuable employee and if true, he
should make more. In the real world. that is not always the case.

Let's say we make widgests. We have 20 people making them. We expect each
employee to make 100 widgets a day. It is repetative labor, not much skill
required. The new guy comes in and makes 80 widgets today, 90 a few days
later, eventuall work up to 110 a day. Old Fred has been here for 15 ears
and makes between 99 and 101 a day. Has never taken on any additional
duties, never showed interest in a promotion, just keeps making his widgets
and goes home.

We sell widgets based on what our costs are and what the market will bear on
prices. How can you justify paying the senior person more money?

In a skilled labor environment, experience make a huge difference. Knowing
where the main power switch is on a malfunctioning machine, knowing how a
problem was solved ten years ago can save the company thousands of dollars
in down time. That makes an employee valuable.



- One could also argue that the long time employee
knows how to work the system, but anyway you slice it, there's always
going
to be some advantages that the long time employee has over newer
employees.

One would hope so, but . . . . There will always be an exception. You
don't need the old guy telling the new workers to slow down. Why do 110
widgets when the company only expects 100?