That seems to be the conclusion to be drawn from reading The Trader Joe's Lesson: How to Pay a Living Wage and Still Make Money in Retail, Sophie Quinton's story in the Atlantic which is subtitled "Companies that invest in higher salaries for low-level employees find success in a competitive market."
It focuses on three chains that pay their employees far more than most competitors, and treats employees as an asset, not as a cost to be contained or shed whenever possible. Those three chains are QuikTrip, Trader Joe's, and Costco Wholesale.
All three are low-cost retailers, a sector that is traditionally known for relying on part-time, low-paid employees. Yet these companies have all found that the act of valuing workers can pay off in the form of increased sales and productivity.
QuikTrip pays itsentry-level employees around $40,000 plus benefits, while the average cashier makes $20,230.
Those high wages didn't stop QuikTrip from prospering in a hostile economic climate. While other low-cost retailers spent the recession laying off staff and shuttering stores, QuikTrip expanded to its current 645 locations across 11 states.
Let me offer the final paragraph as well:
At the upper echelons of the American workforce, salaries have soared. Companies are accustomed to thinking of their highest-level employees as "talent," and fighting to hire and reward people who will help grow the company. Now Trader Joe's and QuikTrip are proving that lower-level employees can be assets whose skills improve the bottom-line as well.
I am not going to quote more. The article is brief enough to read quickly. I thought it important to bring to people's attention.
Isn't it nice to consider that treating one's employees decently might actually lead to higher profits?