I started two businesses in the past seven months. I employ seven
people. These people depend on my businesses to feed their families. In African
terms this means that 70 people depend approximately on my businesses. A big
responsibility.
Deciding on a salary has been a real challenge. My social
side wants to pay as much as possible, but my entrepreneurial side wants to pay
as lot less to keep costs down.
Is paying the minimum wage enough? Legally it is, but is
paying the minimum wage right?
I pay my staff R200 per day which is about 60% over the
minimum wage. I want to pay them more, but the cash flow of the business
doesn't allow this atm (or maybe these are just excuses?!?!). I make sure my
staff can do one day a week overtime so they can bring their total earnings to
just over R5000 a month.
A good friend of mine posted a link to http://living-wage.co.za/
- twitter: @code4sa
These guys build a basic calculator to work out how much we
should pay our domestic workers in South Africa .
I followed their guideline by giving my staff R5000 per
month in possible earnings. I don't know if this enough.
I find this an interesting topic and something to think
about for everyone who employs somebody. I don't have the answers just more
questions.
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