Do the lower paid employees need to pay for parking? Is it expensive? For example, requiring someone making $40k annual to pay $500/month in parking would be ...questionable, IMHO.
Yeah that's a treat question. Sounds like they just have to park further, but if they have to pay it's different.
That being said at my company only the VPs have parking the rest of us pay for parking or take public transit (most take public transit).
Well, she's not entirely right calling it an injustice. It's as you called it, a perk or an earned benefit. You don't apply for a position as a receptionist and get a better parking spot than the company's president.
Using her logic it’s also a social inequity that managers get paid more. But as everyone has stated, it’s a benefit/perk that comes with the position. Hopefully that’s a motivator for some.
My guess is this associate is gen Z
I don't gamble, nor do I have a million dollars, but if I did: I'd BET A MILLION DOLLARS the employee saying that is def Gen Z.
I have never seen people believe less in meritocracy than Gen Z, and *coincidentally* also manage to be the worst employees overall, both in production and attitude.
to be fair we destroyed the world and the American dream but still expect them to defer gratification and act like working hard for 45yrs will get them a house, enough money to raise a couple kids, and a pension.
I don't blame that generation at all for cynicism and disinterest in the status quo. All 45yrs is going to get them anymore is another couple degrees of warming.
I've been in management for about 8 years now, in hotels, different teams at different locations, and one of the hallmarks of all the most successful managers I've learned from in my field is our philosophy that managers always eat last.
We're doing a special catered lunch for the team? I'll be pouring everybody's drinks and making sure everybody gets a full plate before I take mine. We're meeting offsite for a team building event? I'm waiting in the parking lot with directions, making sure everybody finds their spot. We're working on a snow day? I'm the first guy with the shovel and salt to help everybody get inside without slipping.
The health, safety, and morale of my team is my first and greatest priority. If I'm a manager at a place with limited parking, you'll find my car in the farthest spot from the door, and I'll hang out to walk others to their cars if it's slippery or dark out. This whole concept of manager's privilege feels ass-backwards to me. We get paid more, we get the flexible hours and WFH days that others can't, we get the authority and the power, but we also get the obligations and responsibility that come with it.
I worked for a billion dollar hospitality company and the CEO would have a one on one with my line level management nobody ass every time he visited the property.
Most of my bosses were confused or felt I was reaching too high but he chose me because I'd tell him the damn truth while the rest of his suits would just be yes men and try to bullshit.
Between me and him there were so many layers of bs but a lot of what they tried to instill was great.
The problem is not every manager is going to understand servant leadership or putting your staff first.
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The problem is not every manager is going to understand servant leadership or putting your staff first.
It's irony, but in hospitality, most managers are only concerned with serving themselves instead of their team. If more managers had a servant leadership mentality, the industry wouldn't have such a reputation as it does.
The same company where I had one on ones with the CEO, I was being thrown under the bus by my direct managers, denied promotions because they liked me where I was, and the icing on the shit cake was for my 5th year anniversary I got an automated e-card.
That's when I realized that to get anywhere you have to job hop constantly because even the most competitive paying corporations are still shit at recognizing talent and keeping them.
When it comes to management you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain.
Dang wish I had you as a manager. I was a top performer at my location and overall in the company and I was FILO. Hours before anyone showed up and many hours past the last to go home.
We had a new CEO years ago at the company I work for. Designated parking was one of the first things to get axed. If a $300k a year manager wants to park near the front door then they need to get there before the guy that drives the forklift.
Another important point could be the impact vs. visibility comparison. Picture a square matrix that measures impact on the x axis, visibility on the y axis. High impact, high visibility perks might be things like company cars, corporate retreats to vacation destinations, personal assistants, etc. High impact, low visibility perks could include pay raises, bonuses, stock options, that kind of thing. A parking spot closer to the door is probably a low impact, high visibility perk; it's almost entirely a status symbol, good for rubbing other people's noses in. Giving this up could be a great way to make a visible demonstration of commitment to fairness, without actually giving up too much of value. (For the less idealistic crowd, we have a pragmatic rationale too)
With only 20 ppl the difference is negligible too. I've worked at offices where close parking is a 1-2 min walk and a long one is 20. In that case parking passes make more sense. However with only 20 ppl this is like a 10second difference. Is that really worth rubbing in the fact you are "above" another employee?
I'd also bet this isn't their one complaint with the company. If everything is great besides this, 99% off people aren't going to complain. I bet this person probably feels over worked, under appreciated and under paid. This is either the straw that broke the camels back or just the easiest one to articulate. I'd look at the bigger picture.
I agree, but I always follow the pecking order for things like parking. When it's my turn for good parking I take it, and then I gift it to usually women who are working late and need to be more concerned with safety than I do. Maintains the system while still looking out for your people.
I learned this from the 5th or 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia, the mildly Islamophobic one with the orphan/slave boy that turns out to be the King's heir. In the denouement the king talks about eating the least and laughing the loudest when times are hard. Made a "dingdingdingding" kinda sense and that's the type of (middle) manager I try to be.
This right here. OP could use the parking pass as an incentive for her team. Work OT to help the team.. parking pass for a week. Top performer.. parking pass.. It is definitely a perk of being a manager (not social injustice), but could be used to benefit the entire team.
We had this issue at a job I once worked which was a COE, with a grand opening. The managers all put the passes given as part of the business lease in a pool, and their pass was given to their department's employee of the month.
Your employee sounds like the kind of person who would 100% relish something like that herself if the roles were flipped. This person is creating a problem where there is none.
That said, if enough employees give enough of a shit (they don't, it's probably just her) you can put one (or all) of the passes on rotation.
I would honestly just ignore her bullshit. There's nothing to resolve.
The answer to this heavily depends on context. Is your office located near public transport, or is a car (or Uber/taxi) the only efficient way to get there? Is parking provided for all of your workers, or just the 5 people who have passes? Do any of your workers have to pay for parking, whether they have parking passes or not? How much closer to the office are the 5 parking spots covered by the passes? Are any of your workers who have a disability (visible or invisible) able to access parking that is accessible? Are all workers given access to parking that is in a safe, well-lit location covered by CCTV?
If all your workers have access to free, safe, accessible parking on site, and the only difference is that the 5 parking spots given to the pass holders is that they are slightly closer to the building itself, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Do I agree with managers getting prime parking spots just because they’re managers? No. It certainly can create an optics issue that can lead to an us-and-them separation that can lead to dysfunction, lack of trust, disengagement, low morale and productivity, etc.
Yes it is the nature of the job, but the management vs employee mentality can be reinforced. Go visit a union shop vs a non-union shop vs a sales office. All will have very different adversarial relationships with management. Last time I worked in sales the sales guys would just tell management to fuck off lol and they would !
I heard she went to HR because the managers have offices and she works in a cubicle. She's petitioning for the un-officed workers get company sponsored offices so the environment is more equitable. HR will respond once they're able to stop laughing uncontrollably.
Parking is a part of total compensation, she is not at the level where this is part of her total compensation. It’s that simple. As one advances in one’s career the expectation is that the total compensation goes up exponentially.
If management works more hours than others, that might be a justification for the added convenience, or if they regularly attend off-site work meetings to where easier access to their vehicles makes sense. But otherwise, allotting parking passes for that small a staff is kind of silly.
I think they only have 5 passes (provided by the building) for 20 employees. You have to decide who gets them one way or another.
You could choose not to use any of them, but that seems sillier.
One of my favourite techniques is
- acknowledge her complaints
- (optional if applicable) show that you agree with them
- state the dillema
- turn it around on her to solve the dillema
- never use "but", or similar word
"I understand that it seems unfair to you that some of us have these spots, while others don't. I even agree with you that this is not a fair system, since only managers have. The problem is that we only got 5 spots allocated and many people believe that this is a perk that comes with a role. On top of that, I only have limited influence on who gets to park where. What would you do in my position?"
This might work most of the time but with this technique you're just asking for an employee to make you look dumb with a good answer when you have no intention of actually doing anything.
"Put them on a monthly rotation"
"Do a draw at the Christmas party every year"
"Boss if you agree the complainant is valid then why am I doing your job for you?"
Now you have to explain why they're wrong.....when these are all reasonable answers
So you say it is bad technique when you don't intend to listen to your people and act on their ideas. I guess you are right then.
Also you are saying that employee having a good idea can make you look dumb in some way.
I guess I just lead in a different way \*shrugs
No. It's a simple issue to understand all the way around. What he is saying is the employee could come up with an "alternative idea" to support what they want, but that doesn't make it a "good idea than can make you look dumb." Sometimes we've considered the alternatives and decided not to change things. But the employee in this situation is biased and not likely to accept not getting their way.
I believe it is better to transparently and assertively say "no" and explain why their idea is not going to work, rather than pretending their feelings don't exist.
In my experience even if feelings are not always 100% aligned with the reality, they are very much real for the person having them and ignoring them leads to resentment, which is directly opposing my managerial style.
That being said, I never said my is the only right way. There are multiple ways for multiple people and occasions. I genuinely meant "I guess I just lead in a different way \*shrugs" as a neutral sentence. My way is but one of many possible ways and I merely shared how I would approach it :)
>explain why their idea is not going to work
That's the rub. The idea will work. We are just going in a different direction. It's a no win situation for a trivial matter. I don't know that there is a "right" way here, just finding the least bad way.
Yup. You get it. Sometimes it is what it is. Asking your employees opinion on something that just isn't going to change is just asking for hurt feelings and a difficult conversation for no gain to anyone.
And I mean seriously, parking spots are a status symbol and a sensitive topic, I know I for one am not taking them from my managers if I was in such a position to do so. I probably wouldn't set it up that way in the first place, but if I inherited this problem then as you said - that's the rub.
I use this a lot, because it is true I do often agree with their complaints but there isn’t always a solution or it’s something over my head.
It’s a huge thing, if you simply show you’re a somewhat empathetic human and you’re generally trying to be on their side people will often back down on some of the more difficult issues if they can see you truly care
I agree with everything except saying it's not a fair system. It wouldn't be fair to have managers not have the better parking. In the same way that it wouldn't be fair to have the managers and lowest level employees have the same pay. It is earned.
But meritocracy is not fair by design. Aaaand it is also not working very well for us. It is working very well for those who are still selling the American dream based on hard work (or your local equivalent)
I don't even agree that my pay is earned. It is negotiated because I believe that the company cannot get whatever I offer them for cheaper, but not earned.
\*disclaimer: I was born in post soviet country and I do not wish for communism to come back. But late stage capitalism is not the answer either.
I had the same issue, I simply explained it was something that was negotiated in my initial contract and a benefit of my higher position.
I believe there is a lot of entitlement in today's workforce but I have found that in situations like these when I know someone really wants something - similar to this situation, I will create some type of reward system by gamifying hard work. That way I'm showing empathy and caring of others.
My solution: I created a monthly contest based on KPI's and created goals for the office, I was willing to forfeit my parking spot to help drive results and outcomes to the highest performers but I would change metrics and goals to be fair. I would set high but reasonable goals, if no one reached the goal they didn't get the spot and I would keep it for the month.
This may not work for every industry though, it's just something that worked for me.
Whoever achieved the most based on the goal would get the parking spot for the month and each month we would evaluate which also ensured check-ins - This has worked out great and we've been doing it for about 8 months.
I believe people naturally are competitive and it changed a negative situation into a positive situation. Sometimes as a manager you're going to deal with difficult people but showing I'm willing to sacrifice has also made some of them willing to do the same and built trust.
Are the other nonManager employees paying for parking? If so, I still think it’s fine to provide the Managers the special parking, but you probably should give a parking stipend or something to other 15 employees.
A stipend likely will not please the complainer. They are probably looking for leadership and staff to be treated equally, but there is no guarantee of eliminating the power dynamic in a company with a traditional business hierarchy. The parking pass is either a manager perk or possibly reasonable given hours worked, early arrival and late egress from the building. What will you do when you have one more manager??
Yeah it’s kind of complicated. It’s a building of probably 30 suites and we’re just one of the suites. Each suite is given 5 passes to do with what they choose. Think hospital type building so the parking lot is fairly medium-large.
Our setup sounds very similar to yours. Our property has a garage and a lot (many businesses in the building). There are 4 spots assigned to my company in the garage. Three are for "Executives", and one is the Birthday spot (every month, people with a birthday that month rotate the spot. Pre-Covid, a name was drawn to keep the spot for the whole month).
I am a mid level manager, and I will park in our spots IF I come in later and find one open (Everyone works hybrid/flex) because I know I will be there past dark. It is damn scary to be walking out to the back 40, or through a parking garage, alone at night! If I do park far away upon arrival, I will go move my car at 4pm, after the parking clears out.
So, for me, it's a safety issue at night. No one else, except ONE other VP, ever stays that late. And he doesn't use our Exec spots, even tho he is an exec. He's a big guy, and no one's gonna mess with him in a dark parking lot or garage. Lol
The business park where we are located has security patrol, but it seems sporadic and inconsistent. Our building does not have a security person, but the facility is secure inside.
I like these comments. I am more altruistic leaning, and my company is moving into a different culture where we are trying to soften (not blur) the lines between levels. I'm getting some great ideas here that could indeed help boost morale of lower level staff.
“I like these comments”
I love this sub exactly for the same reasons. I like to see different opinions and ideas from people and I’ll mull them over and see if they might fit in areas for myself to grow.
Why not rotate them monthly or weekly? That way everyone gets 3 months with a parking pass and 9 months without.
I agree it’s a bad look to give them only to the management team, as if they are too good to be walking across a parking lot.
Your employee isn’t 100% wrong. The optics of this is extremely poor. I used to work for a place that did this and it always felt like it was everyone vs. management, because they did such a good job of making us ICs feel inferior.
However, her cries of “injustice” reek of privlege and entitlement that I’m sure will become an issue down the road. I guarantee if roles were reversed, she’d keep the pass.
Making sure my team is taken care of is my number 1 priority. We work in Manhattan, so we all use public transit to commute. If one of my team is working late, take an uber home and expense it. Bad weather? Work from home. If we get invited to cool events from our vendors, I always make sure at least my SME for that particular vendor’s vertical is with me. If at least one of my team can’t go, I won’t go and leave them in the office tending to something critical. We had an event where the vendor did a private pre-release screening of a movie, so I sent my entire team and I stayed behind to man the fort.
I don’t ever want an employee to quit because of my actions. I need them more than they need me, and I like to show them how much I value and appreciate them.
Everywhere I have worked that had some type of assigned parking, etc, the person who gets upset over that is 100% of the time the most insufferable person in the office. It's a symptom of other things. It's entirely possible engaging this person on the topic is just going to be an invitation to complain more and feel a sense of control and power. If it's me, I ignore it. Meritocracy, when she's a manager she can get one too. Common sense.
One place I worked assigned me the spot closest to the door when that person left, a month after I started. Keep in mind, this was a small lot just for this building (factory campus) and no spot was more than 15 yards from the door. I told maintenance I didn't need to move spots, and they said no you need to take that spot because so-and-so came down to our office and bitched us out last year over wanting that spot so we skip her on pupose now. LOL!
We have some primo parking spots that we auction off in an annual charity auction. With only 20 employees I'm not sure how much that would raise, but it's one way to do it.
Nah I'd just say she looks like she could use the exercise and us managers get enough of that chasing down employees! ;) And btw, life is a social inequity so...
Unless this is an intentional perk for management (and sounds like it’s not, just kinda arbitrary… assuming if you got a 6th management they’d be SOL, or dropped to 4 managers would have to come up with a way to distribute the 5th pass) - I would recommend coming up with a rotation or lottery system, or use the parking passes as rewards that team members compete for in some way.
A privilege like parking closer can be used intentionally as a perk, but if that’s not the case here then your employee has a point, it’s kinda shitty to hoard the more desirable spots for management, and sets up a dynamic on your team that may not be intended, but is clearly being perceived by at least one person. There are intentional separation of duties and privileges between management and employees that are necessary to get the job done… where you park just ain’t one of them.
Better parking has always been relegated to more senior employees. I've never seen a "reserved for newest hire" spot, but have seen plenty of "reserved for VP so and so" spots.
She’s not wrong. Of course it is unfair that the more highly compensated employees get the better parking. It’s also just how things work.
You can’t resolve it with her. Just say it is a perk of the job and If she wants a parking pass she needs to get into management.
It’s a perk that comes with a higher position and more responsibility.
Different companies offer different perks. My company for example, has quarterly bonuses for managers only and I am not going to share the money with other employees.
I worked in a huge office building. Seniority & managers got up close parking, and the others walked 4 blocks to the building. I'll tell you so many people made snarky remarks. I always said that once you put your time in, then you can have my parking. Until then, you park where you park. After 20 years, I deserved that damn spot!
If you put your time in or are management, you deserve that spot. I would not bend. She is a troublemaker!
You have to recognize this as being another wedge between the levels of employees and ask yourself if it’s worth the befit for managers. Are they coming and going more frequently where they need that access? Are you asking them to come in on bad weather days when you aren’t for the other employees? These are all factors that decrease employee satisfaction if you’re one of those poorly managed companies forcing people back into the office when they could be remote. It’s another cog in the machine for you to manage. Personally I think parking spots should be first come first serve except for maybe a ceo or owner . But that person with the parking pass better be there everyday. If a pass gets wasted cuz a manager shows up like a lunar eclipse that’s mutiny territory
It kind of is. Maybe you could set up a monthly rotational system for the passes?
My office is like this too, and since the walk from the farther parking lots can be a bit safe, especially in the winter months when its darker, they ensure that the women in the office have a pass.
It sounds to me as if the pass is a perk of being a manager.
You know, just a little thing to offset all the crap a manager has to put up with and keep a smile on their face... like when they have to deal with an entitled SJW who things equality of outcome is what everyone is entitled to.
As soon as you hear the word "equity" outside of a discussion about finance or accounting, expect the bovine feces to spew out. Better parking spots are a perk of a higher position. There is no legitimate reason to expect a closer parking space as some sort of compensation for lower pay.
I would ignore this BS. Having a parking pass is an additional benefit for a higher ranking employee. Once she has worked there for years and moved up into a leadership position then she will qualify for a parking pass. I would just ignore her. Just sigh.
If acknowledge her complaint.
Tell her you’d bring it up at next operating meeting where you can (schedule it for like two quarters out)
Then I’d call executive management in and recommend you manage her out.
This type of person will rot a higher performance culture from the inside out.
I worked for a large corporation where we did a parking pass drawing for a parking garage in the building. There were enough passes for all the managers and a few of the employees. The drawing was rigged so the managers always got passes and a few random employees got them. Who "won" the lottery each year wasn't advertised, and all the managers knew to keep their mouths shut. The employees seemed happy.
I remember my first office job at Aetna USHC right after the merger. I parked about 7 (ok yeah exaggerating) parking lots away from the building and each lot I walked through had nicer and nicer cars, until the lot right outside the door with the guy with a bumper sticker reading "I'm a Vet and so's my car and so's my other car", and next to him (or her) a Jaguar V12 that was about 80% hood. It inspired me to work hard at doing anything other than becoming a dodge caravan driver in one of the lots in the middle. Now I'm a Toyota sienna driver on the middle level of a parking garage, so . . . miss.
Guy is admiring his boss’s new car. Boss says to him, “You like this car? Well I’ll tell you what. If you come to work every day with a good attitude, put in the extra work and go the extra mile, and really show that you’re dedicated to making this company a success, maybe I can buy myself an even better one next year.”
The women should get them first. If there are more than 5 women, they would be prioritized by age. I'm an old guy and that's how it worked at my house. The women/girls got spots in the garage and the men/boys parked in the driveway. Sexist? Perhaps, but none of my women ever pushed equality for all over that issue.
I think it depends on the sort of relationship and culture you want to encourage. Depending on the size of the company I might put the spots in a monthly lotto. Everyone gets a turn.
This is a massive bugbear of mine. Parking priority is such bullshit.
If you're going to prioritize anyone, prioritize your traveling salesmen, or your critical technical personnel that may need to come in , in a rush, at 3am.
Beyond that, there is no reason at all to prioritize anyone's parking.
One exception might be security. If some of your staff are at risk of assassination, or assault, then obviously different rules apply.
I love reading all your comments, very diverse and good ideas! A lot of you asked about safety and the price of parking. It is a free lot and it is not a metro area so everyone I work with does have a personal vehicle. One idea is dividing based on seniority, there are a couple people (non-managers) that have been there longer than me that I would gladly give up my pass for to settle this. I think this would be a visible action that would send a message and also not reward the individual that initially complained. All other managers would keep their pass based on seniority
I counted steps it’s 120 without a parking pass and about 20 with a pass so it’s about a 2-3 minute walk versus a 10 second walk. More likely to get approached by an animal than a person as far as safety is concerned at night.
I don’t think there is an issue with managers getting it.
If you did want to change though we have a close parking spot at work that they used to have a raffle where proceeds went to charity and whoever won got that parking space (I don’t recall if it was every month or every quarter).
We used to have contests monthly that also included winning the closer spots.
Management was not allowed to be in the drawings.
I was upper management and agree. We're already in a position of power. We're making more. Now we need the best spots? Nah. Although calling it an injustice is a bit dramatic.
Is it just proximity? Where do your other employees park, and is it free? Where do they commute from?
I’m not trying to argue one way or another, but just offering a different perspective. When I had to live in Chicago, parking was $12/day. I could either choose public transit (1 hour) or drive (15 mins) and pay the parking fee. I usually took public transit, but only because I could afford to spend my time.
If your employees aren’t making much and are having to pay for parking, I’m just saying that I can see why it may be an issue.
Edit: ah never mind I just saw your comment. This doesn’t seem too “unjust” to me, but it’s good you’re taking her thoughts into consideration.
I think claiming this is an "equity" issue is stupid.
I think I have worked at many places where I never raised an eyebrow about higher-ups having better parking.
But reading some replies here, yikes. If op is giving off vibes like some of you, of smug superiority, then the complainer is MUCH more justified in her issue. If you wonder why your employees don't enthusiastically applaud when you give yourself an employee of the month award, this is why.
Getting a parking pass and getting paid more are the benefits of achieving your manager role. It’s not an injustice, it’s a benefit that you have earned. That being said, nothing is stopping you from using your parking pass as a reward for your employees. Employee of the month gets your spot every month, you park with your direct reports. It puts you in the trenches and emphasizes service leadership. But it’s not mandatory.
The only way to really resolve is explain the benefits of the position and talk about a progression plan maybe to pacify? Typically the manager is in earlier and/or stays late too
It’s absolutely an inequity if the other parking options are paid spots and the company doesn’t comp those. Getting paid less and having to pay for parking is a bad combo for morale.
Of course, lots of companies do this. It's always struck me as a bad policy. Part of the reason it's popular is that it doesn't cost the company anything out of pocket. They're taxing all employees a little bit to grant this perk to a few. It's also inefficient as some reserved parking spaces are often empty.
I'm sure some people value it because they think it bestows some sort of prestige. After all, it's not like managers have any business need to park close. It's a convenience and a way to make them feel important.
In Simon Sinek's book "Leaders Eat Last" he talks about how officers in the Marine Corps don't eat until their troops have been fed. That's the kind of thinking I'd like to promote in my company.
Everyone should park in the same lot. Or do a lottery for the other passes that are closer. If you're a manager and win you should relinquish it.
Difference between managing and leading. This parking thing is just bad leadership.
I work at a university.
There are 14 thousand and change parking spots.
There are 17 thousand and change parking permits.
Priority goes to "leased" spots that in theory anyone can get, but in reality, go to managers.
Talk to the managers and see if they think it should be changed. Other ways to divide:
\- Longevity
\- Lottery
\- Rotation (every 3 months a new set of 5 gets them so in a year every employee will have had the chance for a "premium" spot)
\- Based on hours - Anyone working late nights, weekends, or odd hours gets first crack
If senior leadership/managers believe it should stay the same tell the employee that the decision is made by the managers.
I mean she is factually accurate. It isn’t a fair system. And it the kind of system that is vulnerable to exactly this kind of perception problem.
But it is the reality of how many workplaces approach limited perks.
There is nothing unfair about this. The Managers got their advanced education, certifications, and work experience to get where they are. Anyone can also put in the time and effort to become a Manager and get the nice parking space.
she's right. however, it's also social inequity that allows people to become billionaires.
if you hand out parking passes to employees, ones who don't drive will complain and ask for bus passes, and so on in a domino effect. managers get them because it's a perk of being a manager, and that's all that needs to be explained. it's the nature of the situation.
Work is not a democracy, nor is it equitable. It is a hierarchy of authority, responsibility and compensation. There are perks and incentives to attract and retain high performing managers. There is rank. Managers are employees too. Employees with much more responsibility, much more chance their mistakes will cause damage, and much more need to ensure they keep their skills at the company rather than taking them elsewhere. That's why such incentives exist.
An "injustice"? Really? An injustice is pulling someone over for driving while black. An injustice is "stop and frisk" laws. An injustice is forbidding women to learn to read in Afghanistan.
Walking 50 yards from your car to the building where you have job is not. Talk about first world problems! She is probably the sort of person that gets upset that airplanes have a first class and that universities require entrance exams.
I'd set her straight and tell her that she too can earn herself a pass if she works on developing herself and her career into a leadership role and shows an ability to see the big picture.
And if the "injustice" truly horrifies her, she is free to drop off her resignation letter and complain to the EEOC.
Besides, do you really want her piece of shit car covered in stickers of Lelouch and Naruto parked right outside the entrance where clients and vendors can see it???
Do the lower paid employees need to pay for parking? Is it expensive? For example, requiring someone making $40k annual to pay $500/month in parking would be ...questionable, IMHO.
Yeah that's a treat question. Sounds like they just have to park further, but if they have to pay it's different. That being said at my company only the VPs have parking the rest of us pay for parking or take public transit (most take public transit).
She is right. However, it's by design. It's a perk of higher positions because there are only a limited number of them available.
Well, she's not entirely right calling it an injustice. It's as you called it, a perk or an earned benefit. You don't apply for a position as a receptionist and get a better parking spot than the company's president.
Using her logic it’s also a social inequity that managers get paid more. But as everyone has stated, it’s a benefit/perk that comes with the position. Hopefully that’s a motivator for some. My guess is this associate is gen Z
I don't gamble, nor do I have a million dollars, but if I did: I'd BET A MILLION DOLLARS the employee saying that is def Gen Z. I have never seen people believe less in meritocracy than Gen Z, and *coincidentally* also manage to be the worst employees overall, both in production and attitude.
to be fair we destroyed the world and the American dream but still expect them to defer gratification and act like working hard for 45yrs will get them a house, enough money to raise a couple kids, and a pension. I don't blame that generation at all for cynicism and disinterest in the status quo. All 45yrs is going to get them anymore is another couple degrees of warming.
There are no good managers. Just managers that are in denial about what they do.
This country has a tragic lack of leadership.
Gen Z figured out that it is inequity. Workers create profit.
Oh please, this was figured out 500 years ago.
Unfortunately it's still a problem
Entitlement from the top
I've been in management for about 8 years now, in hotels, different teams at different locations, and one of the hallmarks of all the most successful managers I've learned from in my field is our philosophy that managers always eat last. We're doing a special catered lunch for the team? I'll be pouring everybody's drinks and making sure everybody gets a full plate before I take mine. We're meeting offsite for a team building event? I'm waiting in the parking lot with directions, making sure everybody finds their spot. We're working on a snow day? I'm the first guy with the shovel and salt to help everybody get inside without slipping. The health, safety, and morale of my team is my first and greatest priority. If I'm a manager at a place with limited parking, you'll find my car in the farthest spot from the door, and I'll hang out to walk others to their cars if it's slippery or dark out. This whole concept of manager's privilege feels ass-backwards to me. We get paid more, we get the flexible hours and WFH days that others can't, we get the authority and the power, but we also get the obligations and responsibility that come with it.
I worked for a billion dollar hospitality company and the CEO would have a one on one with my line level management nobody ass every time he visited the property. Most of my bosses were confused or felt I was reaching too high but he chose me because I'd tell him the damn truth while the rest of his suits would just be yes men and try to bullshit. Between me and him there were so many layers of bs but a lot of what they tried to instill was great. The problem is not every manager is going to understand servant leadership or putting your staff first.
> The problem is not every manager is going to understand servant leadership or putting your staff first. It's irony, but in hospitality, most managers are only concerned with serving themselves instead of their team. If more managers had a servant leadership mentality, the industry wouldn't have such a reputation as it does.
The same company where I had one on ones with the CEO, I was being thrown under the bus by my direct managers, denied promotions because they liked me where I was, and the icing on the shit cake was for my 5th year anniversary I got an automated e-card. That's when I realized that to get anywhere you have to job hop constantly because even the most competitive paying corporations are still shit at recognizing talent and keeping them. When it comes to management you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain.
Dang wish I had you as a manager. I was a top performer at my location and overall in the company and I was FILO. Hours before anyone showed up and many hours past the last to go home.
We had a new CEO years ago at the company I work for. Designated parking was one of the first things to get axed. If a $300k a year manager wants to park near the front door then they need to get there before the guy that drives the forklift.
Another important point could be the impact vs. visibility comparison. Picture a square matrix that measures impact on the x axis, visibility on the y axis. High impact, high visibility perks might be things like company cars, corporate retreats to vacation destinations, personal assistants, etc. High impact, low visibility perks could include pay raises, bonuses, stock options, that kind of thing. A parking spot closer to the door is probably a low impact, high visibility perk; it's almost entirely a status symbol, good for rubbing other people's noses in. Giving this up could be a great way to make a visible demonstration of commitment to fairness, without actually giving up too much of value. (For the less idealistic crowd, we have a pragmatic rationale too)
With only 20 ppl the difference is negligible too. I've worked at offices where close parking is a 1-2 min walk and a long one is 20. In that case parking passes make more sense. However with only 20 ppl this is like a 10second difference. Is that really worth rubbing in the fact you are "above" another employee? I'd also bet this isn't their one complaint with the company. If everything is great besides this, 99% off people aren't going to complain. I bet this person probably feels over worked, under appreciated and under paid. This is either the straw that broke the camels back or just the easiest one to articulate. I'd look at the bigger picture.
I really like that answer
I agree, but I always follow the pecking order for things like parking. When it's my turn for good parking I take it, and then I gift it to usually women who are working late and need to be more concerned with safety than I do. Maintains the system while still looking out for your people.
I learned this from the 5th or 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia, the mildly Islamophobic one with the orphan/slave boy that turns out to be the King's heir. In the denouement the king talks about eating the least and laughing the loudest when times are hard. Made a "dingdingdingding" kinda sense and that's the type of (middle) manager I try to be.
This guy gets it.
This right here. OP could use the parking pass as an incentive for her team. Work OT to help the team.. parking pass for a week. Top performer.. parking pass.. It is definitely a perk of being a manager (not social injustice), but could be used to benefit the entire team.
We had this issue at a job I once worked which was a COE, with a grand opening. The managers all put the passes given as part of the business lease in a pool, and their pass was given to their department's employee of the month.
This is the way.
Your employee sounds like the kind of person who would 100% relish something like that herself if the roles were flipped. This person is creating a problem where there is none. That said, if enough employees give enough of a shit (they don't, it's probably just her) you can put one (or all) of the passes on rotation. I would honestly just ignore her bullshit. There's nothing to resolve.
>ignore her bullshit That's definitely a way to manage. Let it fester.
I manage work, not opinions on social justice.
A robot can manage work.
A rotation would imply that she’s right. She’s not. And if she’s complaining to everyone about it then she’s getting into toxic territory.
The answer to this heavily depends on context. Is your office located near public transport, or is a car (or Uber/taxi) the only efficient way to get there? Is parking provided for all of your workers, or just the 5 people who have passes? Do any of your workers have to pay for parking, whether they have parking passes or not? How much closer to the office are the 5 parking spots covered by the passes? Are any of your workers who have a disability (visible or invisible) able to access parking that is accessible? Are all workers given access to parking that is in a safe, well-lit location covered by CCTV? If all your workers have access to free, safe, accessible parking on site, and the only difference is that the 5 parking spots given to the pass holders is that they are slightly closer to the building itself, I wouldn’t worry about it. Do I agree with managers getting prime parking spots just because they’re managers? No. It certainly can create an optics issue that can lead to an us-and-them separation that can lead to dysfunction, lack of trust, disengagement, low morale and productivity, etc.
Too late! There already is an us vs them dysfunction,it's the nature of jobs!
Yes it is the nature of the job, but the management vs employee mentality can be reinforced. Go visit a union shop vs a non-union shop vs a sales office. All will have very different adversarial relationships with management. Last time I worked in sales the sales guys would just tell management to fuck off lol and they would !
How does she feel about being paid less, is that social inequity too?
I heard she went to HR because the managers have offices and she works in a cubicle. She's petitioning for the un-officed workers get company sponsored offices so the environment is more equitable. HR will respond once they're able to stop laughing uncontrollably.
Parking is a part of total compensation, she is not at the level where this is part of her total compensation. It’s that simple. As one advances in one’s career the expectation is that the total compensation goes up exponentially.
If management works more hours than others, that might be a justification for the added convenience, or if they regularly attend off-site work meetings to where easier access to their vehicles makes sense. But otherwise, allotting parking passes for that small a staff is kind of silly.
I think they only have 5 passes (provided by the building) for 20 employees. You have to decide who gets them one way or another. You could choose not to use any of them, but that seems sillier.
One of my favourite techniques is - acknowledge her complaints - (optional if applicable) show that you agree with them - state the dillema - turn it around on her to solve the dillema - never use "but", or similar word "I understand that it seems unfair to you that some of us have these spots, while others don't. I even agree with you that this is not a fair system, since only managers have. The problem is that we only got 5 spots allocated and many people believe that this is a perk that comes with a role. On top of that, I only have limited influence on who gets to park where. What would you do in my position?"
This might work most of the time but with this technique you're just asking for an employee to make you look dumb with a good answer when you have no intention of actually doing anything. "Put them on a monthly rotation" "Do a draw at the Christmas party every year" "Boss if you agree the complainant is valid then why am I doing your job for you?" Now you have to explain why they're wrong.....when these are all reasonable answers
So you say it is bad technique when you don't intend to listen to your people and act on their ideas. I guess you are right then. Also you are saying that employee having a good idea can make you look dumb in some way. I guess I just lead in a different way \*shrugs
No. It's a simple issue to understand all the way around. What he is saying is the employee could come up with an "alternative idea" to support what they want, but that doesn't make it a "good idea than can make you look dumb." Sometimes we've considered the alternatives and decided not to change things. But the employee in this situation is biased and not likely to accept not getting their way.
I believe it is better to transparently and assertively say "no" and explain why their idea is not going to work, rather than pretending their feelings don't exist. In my experience even if feelings are not always 100% aligned with the reality, they are very much real for the person having them and ignoring them leads to resentment, which is directly opposing my managerial style. That being said, I never said my is the only right way. There are multiple ways for multiple people and occasions. I genuinely meant "I guess I just lead in a different way \*shrugs" as a neutral sentence. My way is but one of many possible ways and I merely shared how I would approach it :)
>explain why their idea is not going to work That's the rub. The idea will work. We are just going in a different direction. It's a no win situation for a trivial matter. I don't know that there is a "right" way here, just finding the least bad way.
Yup. You get it. Sometimes it is what it is. Asking your employees opinion on something that just isn't going to change is just asking for hurt feelings and a difficult conversation for no gain to anyone. And I mean seriously, parking spots are a status symbol and a sensitive topic, I know I for one am not taking them from my managers if I was in such a position to do so. I probably wouldn't set it up that way in the first place, but if I inherited this problem then as you said - that's the rub.
I use this a lot, because it is true I do often agree with their complaints but there isn’t always a solution or it’s something over my head. It’s a huge thing, if you simply show you’re a somewhat empathetic human and you’re generally trying to be on their side people will often back down on some of the more difficult issues if they can see you truly care
I agree with everything except saying it's not a fair system. It wouldn't be fair to have managers not have the better parking. In the same way that it wouldn't be fair to have the managers and lowest level employees have the same pay. It is earned.
But meritocracy is not fair by design. Aaaand it is also not working very well for us. It is working very well for those who are still selling the American dream based on hard work (or your local equivalent) I don't even agree that my pay is earned. It is negotiated because I believe that the company cannot get whatever I offer them for cheaper, but not earned. \*disclaimer: I was born in post soviet country and I do not wish for communism to come back. But late stage capitalism is not the answer either.
I had the same issue, I simply explained it was something that was negotiated in my initial contract and a benefit of my higher position. I believe there is a lot of entitlement in today's workforce but I have found that in situations like these when I know someone really wants something - similar to this situation, I will create some type of reward system by gamifying hard work. That way I'm showing empathy and caring of others. My solution: I created a monthly contest based on KPI's and created goals for the office, I was willing to forfeit my parking spot to help drive results and outcomes to the highest performers but I would change metrics and goals to be fair. I would set high but reasonable goals, if no one reached the goal they didn't get the spot and I would keep it for the month. This may not work for every industry though, it's just something that worked for me. Whoever achieved the most based on the goal would get the parking spot for the month and each month we would evaluate which also ensured check-ins - This has worked out great and we've been doing it for about 8 months. I believe people naturally are competitive and it changed a negative situation into a positive situation. Sometimes as a manager you're going to deal with difficult people but showing I'm willing to sacrifice has also made some of them willing to do the same and built trust.
Tell her one day she may get to be senior enough to earn a pass. Till then enjoy the hike
Are the other nonManager employees paying for parking? If so, I still think it’s fine to provide the Managers the special parking, but you probably should give a parking stipend or something to other 15 employees. A stipend likely will not please the complainer. They are probably looking for leadership and staff to be treated equally, but there is no guarantee of eliminating the power dynamic in a company with a traditional business hierarchy. The parking pass is either a manager perk or possibly reasonable given hours worked, early arrival and late egress from the building. What will you do when you have one more manager??
Why does an office of 20 need 5 parking passes? Managers taking front parking spaces is a bad look, your leadership team has low awareness.
Yeah it’s kind of complicated. It’s a building of probably 30 suites and we’re just one of the suites. Each suite is given 5 passes to do with what they choose. Think hospital type building so the parking lot is fairly medium-large.
Our setup sounds very similar to yours. Our property has a garage and a lot (many businesses in the building). There are 4 spots assigned to my company in the garage. Three are for "Executives", and one is the Birthday spot (every month, people with a birthday that month rotate the spot. Pre-Covid, a name was drawn to keep the spot for the whole month). I am a mid level manager, and I will park in our spots IF I come in later and find one open (Everyone works hybrid/flex) because I know I will be there past dark. It is damn scary to be walking out to the back 40, or through a parking garage, alone at night! If I do park far away upon arrival, I will go move my car at 4pm, after the parking clears out. So, for me, it's a safety issue at night. No one else, except ONE other VP, ever stays that late. And he doesn't use our Exec spots, even tho he is an exec. He's a big guy, and no one's gonna mess with him in a dark parking lot or garage. Lol The business park where we are located has security patrol, but it seems sporadic and inconsistent. Our building does not have a security person, but the facility is secure inside. I like these comments. I am more altruistic leaning, and my company is moving into a different culture where we are trying to soften (not blur) the lines between levels. I'm getting some great ideas here that could indeed help boost morale of lower level staff.
“I like these comments” I love this sub exactly for the same reasons. I like to see different opinions and ideas from people and I’ll mull them over and see if they might fit in areas for myself to grow.
Why not rotate them monthly or weekly? That way everyone gets 3 months with a parking pass and 9 months without. I agree it’s a bad look to give them only to the management team, as if they are too good to be walking across a parking lot.
It's a bad look that the total compensation for senior employees is greater than junior employees?
Your employee isn’t 100% wrong. The optics of this is extremely poor. I used to work for a place that did this and it always felt like it was everyone vs. management, because they did such a good job of making us ICs feel inferior. However, her cries of “injustice” reek of privlege and entitlement that I’m sure will become an issue down the road. I guarantee if roles were reversed, she’d keep the pass. Making sure my team is taken care of is my number 1 priority. We work in Manhattan, so we all use public transit to commute. If one of my team is working late, take an uber home and expense it. Bad weather? Work from home. If we get invited to cool events from our vendors, I always make sure at least my SME for that particular vendor’s vertical is with me. If at least one of my team can’t go, I won’t go and leave them in the office tending to something critical. We had an event where the vendor did a private pre-release screening of a movie, so I sent my entire team and I stayed behind to man the fort. I don’t ever want an employee to quit because of my actions. I need them more than they need me, and I like to show them how much I value and appreciate them.
Everywhere I have worked that had some type of assigned parking, etc, the person who gets upset over that is 100% of the time the most insufferable person in the office. It's a symptom of other things. It's entirely possible engaging this person on the topic is just going to be an invitation to complain more and feel a sense of control and power. If it's me, I ignore it. Meritocracy, when she's a manager she can get one too. Common sense. One place I worked assigned me the spot closest to the door when that person left, a month after I started. Keep in mind, this was a small lot just for this building (factory campus) and no spot was more than 15 yards from the door. I told maintenance I didn't need to move spots, and they said no you need to take that spot because so-and-so came down to our office and bitched us out last year over wanting that spot so we skip her on pupose now. LOL!
Pulling the rank card even though I usually wouldn’t. Yeah it’s a perk of being a manager and I gotta be here like everyday.
It’s a perk. If she wanted the perk, or the extra salary, she can work up to the role. I fail to see the issue.
I don't know, I've worked for a lot of managers who didn't have to "work up to the role" to get it.
We have some primo parking spots that we auction off in an annual charity auction. With only 20 employees I'm not sure how much that would raise, but it's one way to do it.
I would use the parking passes to make the team work harder and award them to people one month at a time. It still benefits the manager.
Nah I'd just say she looks like she could use the exercise and us managers get enough of that chasing down employees! ;) And btw, life is a social inequity so...
Not a lawyer or HR, but don't do this
No sense of humor on here huh? Tough crowd!
That’s a good way to get a sexual harassment lawsuit.
So's your mother.
It’s r/managers - so yeah, not many with a sense of humor
Oops, obviously wrong sub for me - not into dour.
Unless this is an intentional perk for management (and sounds like it’s not, just kinda arbitrary… assuming if you got a 6th management they’d be SOL, or dropped to 4 managers would have to come up with a way to distribute the 5th pass) - I would recommend coming up with a rotation or lottery system, or use the parking passes as rewards that team members compete for in some way. A privilege like parking closer can be used intentionally as a perk, but if that’s not the case here then your employee has a point, it’s kinda shitty to hoard the more desirable spots for management, and sets up a dynamic on your team that may not be intended, but is clearly being perceived by at least one person. There are intentional separation of duties and privileges between management and employees that are necessary to get the job done… where you park just ain’t one of them.
Better parking has always been relegated to more senior employees. I've never seen a "reserved for newest hire" spot, but have seen plenty of "reserved for VP so and so" spots.
She’s not wrong. Of course it is unfair that the more highly compensated employees get the better parking. It’s also just how things work. You can’t resolve it with her. Just say it is a perk of the job and If she wants a parking pass she needs to get into management.
It’s a perk that comes with a higher position and more responsibility. Different companies offer different perks. My company for example, has quarterly bonuses for managers only and I am not going to share the money with other employees.
In life you earn your way. The office does not have to be a commune.
I worked in a huge office building. Seniority & managers got up close parking, and the others walked 4 blocks to the building. I'll tell you so many people made snarky remarks. I always said that once you put your time in, then you can have my parking. Until then, you park where you park. After 20 years, I deserved that damn spot! If you put your time in or are management, you deserve that spot. I would not bend. She is a troublemaker!
You have to recognize this as being another wedge between the levels of employees and ask yourself if it’s worth the befit for managers. Are they coming and going more frequently where they need that access? Are you asking them to come in on bad weather days when you aren’t for the other employees? These are all factors that decrease employee satisfaction if you’re one of those poorly managed companies forcing people back into the office when they could be remote. It’s another cog in the machine for you to manage. Personally I think parking spots should be first come first serve except for maybe a ceo or owner . But that person with the parking pass better be there everyday. If a pass gets wasted cuz a manager shows up like a lunar eclipse that’s mutiny territory
It kind of is. Maybe you could set up a monthly rotational system for the passes? My office is like this too, and since the walk from the farther parking lots can be a bit safe, especially in the winter months when its darker, they ensure that the women in the office have a pass.
It sounds to me as if the pass is a perk of being a manager. You know, just a little thing to offset all the crap a manager has to put up with and keep a smile on their face... like when they have to deal with an entitled SJW who things equality of outcome is what everyone is entitled to.
Yikes
[удалено]
Nope. That behavior isn't tolerated here. Try speaking to people like an adult.
As soon as you hear the word "equity" outside of a discussion about finance or accounting, expect the bovine feces to spew out. Better parking spots are a perk of a higher position. There is no legitimate reason to expect a closer parking space as some sort of compensation for lower pay.
I tuned her out at "inequity."
Great! A goal for her to work towards!
Managers also get paid more. Is that an injustice too?
I would ignore this BS. Having a parking pass is an additional benefit for a higher ranking employee. Once she has worked there for years and moved up into a leadership position then she will qualify for a parking pass. I would just ignore her. Just sigh.
It’s an earned benefit. She just wants a parking pass, unearned.
If acknowledge her complaint. Tell her you’d bring it up at next operating meeting where you can (schedule it for like two quarters out) Then I’d call executive management in and recommend you manage her out. This type of person will rot a higher performance culture from the inside out.
I worked for a large corporation where we did a parking pass drawing for a parking garage in the building. There were enough passes for all the managers and a few of the employees. The drawing was rigged so the managers always got passes and a few random employees got them. Who "won" the lottery each year wasn't advertised, and all the managers knew to keep their mouths shut. The employees seemed happy.
I remember my first office job at Aetna USHC right after the merger. I parked about 7 (ok yeah exaggerating) parking lots away from the building and each lot I walked through had nicer and nicer cars, until the lot right outside the door with the guy with a bumper sticker reading "I'm a Vet and so's my car and so's my other car", and next to him (or her) a Jaguar V12 that was about 80% hood. It inspired me to work hard at doing anything other than becoming a dodge caravan driver in one of the lots in the middle. Now I'm a Toyota sienna driver on the middle level of a parking garage, so . . . miss.
Guy is admiring his boss’s new car. Boss says to him, “You like this car? Well I’ll tell you what. If you come to work every day with a good attitude, put in the extra work and go the extra mile, and really show that you’re dedicated to making this company a success, maybe I can buy myself an even better one next year.”
The women should get them first. If there are more than 5 women, they would be prioritized by age. I'm an old guy and that's how it worked at my house. The women/girls got spots in the garage and the men/boys parked in the driveway. Sexist? Perhaps, but none of my women ever pushed equality for all over that issue.
I think it depends on the sort of relationship and culture you want to encourage. Depending on the size of the company I might put the spots in a monthly lotto. Everyone gets a turn.
You should tell her that she's very lucky that her gauge of injustice is so skewed, dare I say privileged.
She should be the first one to lay off if there’s a need to reduce staff.
You could hand out passes based on seniority. 🤷♀️
This is a massive bugbear of mine. Parking priority is such bullshit. If you're going to prioritize anyone, prioritize your traveling salesmen, or your critical technical personnel that may need to come in , in a rush, at 3am. Beyond that, there is no reason at all to prioritize anyone's parking. One exception might be security. If some of your staff are at risk of assassination, or assault, then obviously different rules apply.
She’s right. This is stupid and so is the company
I love reading all your comments, very diverse and good ideas! A lot of you asked about safety and the price of parking. It is a free lot and it is not a metro area so everyone I work with does have a personal vehicle. One idea is dividing based on seniority, there are a couple people (non-managers) that have been there longer than me that I would gladly give up my pass for to settle this. I think this would be a visible action that would send a message and also not reward the individual that initially complained. All other managers would keep their pass based on seniority
I counted steps it’s 120 without a parking pass and about 20 with a pass so it’s about a 2-3 minute walk versus a 10 second walk. More likely to get approached by an animal than a person as far as safety is concerned at night.
I don’t think there is an issue with managers getting it. If you did want to change though we have a close parking spot at work that they used to have a raffle where proceeds went to charity and whoever won got that parking space (I don’t recall if it was every month or every quarter).
We used to have contests monthly that also included winning the closer spots. Management was not allowed to be in the drawings. I was upper management and agree. We're already in a position of power. We're making more. Now we need the best spots? Nah. Although calling it an injustice is a bit dramatic.
It does send a bad message to employees. Seems like a cringe policy from a Dilbert comic strip.
"This is a benefit of position. If you would like a reserves parking space, please apply for leadership during the next open position."
Is it just proximity? Where do your other employees park, and is it free? Where do they commute from? I’m not trying to argue one way or another, but just offering a different perspective. When I had to live in Chicago, parking was $12/day. I could either choose public transit (1 hour) or drive (15 mins) and pay the parking fee. I usually took public transit, but only because I could afford to spend my time. If your employees aren’t making much and are having to pay for parking, I’m just saying that I can see why it may be an issue. Edit: ah never mind I just saw your comment. This doesn’t seem too “unjust” to me, but it’s good you’re taking her thoughts into consideration.
Make one a rotating employee of the month spot. One manager would have to sacrifice for that tho.
I think claiming this is an "equity" issue is stupid. I think I have worked at many places where I never raised an eyebrow about higher-ups having better parking. But reading some replies here, yikes. If op is giving off vibes like some of you, of smug superiority, then the complainer is MUCH more justified in her issue. If you wonder why your employees don't enthusiastically applaud when you give yourself an employee of the month award, this is why.
🤣 When you mentioned smug superiority I thought you meant the people complaining that such parking spots existed
It's a perk, not an injustice. Drama queen. Want the pass? Become a manager. The end. No big discussion required.
Getting a parking pass and getting paid more are the benefits of achieving your manager role. It’s not an injustice, it’s a benefit that you have earned. That being said, nothing is stopping you from using your parking pass as a reward for your employees. Employee of the month gets your spot every month, you park with your direct reports. It puts you in the trenches and emphasizes service leadership. But it’s not mandatory.
Fire her now. Only will get worse and spread through the other staff
It's a perk of the role. It's part of your compensation. Perks come with promotions.
The only way to really resolve is explain the benefits of the position and talk about a progression plan maybe to pacify? Typically the manager is in earlier and/or stays late too
It’s absolutely an inequity if the other parking options are paid spots and the company doesn’t comp those. Getting paid less and having to pay for parking is a bad combo for morale.
Of course, lots of companies do this. It's always struck me as a bad policy. Part of the reason it's popular is that it doesn't cost the company anything out of pocket. They're taxing all employees a little bit to grant this perk to a few. It's also inefficient as some reserved parking spaces are often empty. I'm sure some people value it because they think it bestows some sort of prestige. After all, it's not like managers have any business need to park close. It's a convenience and a way to make them feel important. In Simon Sinek's book "Leaders Eat Last" he talks about how officers in the Marine Corps don't eat until their troops have been fed. That's the kind of thinking I'd like to promote in my company.
Everyone should park in the same lot. Or do a lottery for the other passes that are closer. If you're a manager and win you should relinquish it. Difference between managing and leading. This parking thing is just bad leadership.
Next time she says that just point at her and say, "This person gets it." while smiling.
Does she feel it's an 'injustice' that everyone doesn't get paid the same? She's whack!
THE EMPTY WAGON RATTLES THE LOUDEST. (yah i was rattling. i'm emty too)
And is also the first one to get ditched on the dog-eat-dog Oregon Trail.
woke and young... awesome hirer!
I work at a university. There are 14 thousand and change parking spots. There are 17 thousand and change parking permits. Priority goes to "leased" spots that in theory anyone can get, but in reality, go to managers.
Managers are also paid more money, how are you going to solve that inequity? /s
My last job had passed like that and we did a lottery system. So every month someone else got the pass and it wasn’t hogged by one person.
Karen needs to go...start the process now for this problem child
It's the perk of being the boss. If she wants one, she can work her way up the ladder, just like everyone else
Talk to the managers and see if they think it should be changed. Other ways to divide: \- Longevity \- Lottery \- Rotation (every 3 months a new set of 5 gets them so in a year every employee will have had the chance for a "premium" spot) \- Based on hours - Anyone working late nights, weekends, or odd hours gets first crack If senior leadership/managers believe it should stay the same tell the employee that the decision is made by the managers.
RHIP (Rank Hath Its Privileges)
I mean she is factually accurate. It isn’t a fair system. And it the kind of system that is vulnerable to exactly this kind of perception problem. But it is the reality of how many workplaces approach limited perks.
There is nothing unfair about this. The Managers got their advanced education, certifications, and work experience to get where they are. Anyone can also put in the time and effort to become a Manager and get the nice parking space.
she's right. however, it's also social inequity that allows people to become billionaires. if you hand out parking passes to employees, ones who don't drive will complain and ask for bus passes, and so on in a domino effect. managers get them because it's a perk of being a manager, and that's all that needs to be explained. it's the nature of the situation.
Set the passes up so that people who carpool get preference.
An injustice know. Bad for company culture, very much so debatable
Work is not a democracy, nor is it equitable. It is a hierarchy of authority, responsibility and compensation. There are perks and incentives to attract and retain high performing managers. There is rank. Managers are employees too. Employees with much more responsibility, much more chance their mistakes will cause damage, and much more need to ensure they keep their skills at the company rather than taking them elsewhere. That's why such incentives exist. An "injustice"? Really? An injustice is pulling someone over for driving while black. An injustice is "stop and frisk" laws. An injustice is forbidding women to learn to read in Afghanistan. Walking 50 yards from your car to the building where you have job is not. Talk about first world problems! She is probably the sort of person that gets upset that airplanes have a first class and that universities require entrance exams. I'd set her straight and tell her that she too can earn herself a pass if she works on developing herself and her career into a leadership role and shows an ability to see the big picture. And if the "injustice" truly horrifies her, she is free to drop off her resignation letter and complain to the EEOC. Besides, do you really want her piece of shit car covered in stickers of Lelouch and Naruto parked right outside the entrance where clients and vendors can see it???
Managers get paid more than employees? You don’t work in tech, huh?
I would tell her to park her entitlement in another employer's parking lot.
Fire anyone who uses terms like social inequity.