Low wages + low social status + uncertain future! It is not easy for manufacturing workers to survive, but they do it and cherish it!
It is said that the manufacturing industry is the backbone of China's economy, but I don't see it. With the development of China's economic situation and changes in the industrial structure, the manufacturing industry is being reduced to an auxiliary industry, which can be seen from the status of industrial workers. In the 1980s, everyone was proud of being in a state-owned factory, and they managed relationships from top to bottom. When they became a worker, they had a lot of face. It was like looking for a target to give priority to workers! But now, with a salary of three or four thousand yuan a month, it’s hard to support myself, and it’s almost impossible to find someone who is a factory worker. The status is very embarrassing, and my grandma doesn’t love my uncle.
The basic situation now is that if the post-90s or post-00s have a choice, they will basically not choose to work in the factory. Those who have the ability and fighting spirit can try to do sales, and those who have suffered hardship can try to deliver express delivery and takeaway. There are also people who choose to start their own businesses, such as We Media. Their social status is higher than that of workers, at least it is not so bad to say it. I feel that "industrial worker" has now become a derogatory term. It seems that only those who have no future and are unwilling to forge ahead will enter the factory to work. Industrial workers are directly at the lowest end of the contempt chain! In the past, the order of the four people in the feudal society was "Scholar, Farmer, Industry and Commerce", but now I think it should be "Scholar, Businessman, Farmer and Worker". Workers do the hardest and most tiring work on the assembly line, earn the meagre wages, and see no development at all. The future, even the promotion route is used to bluff people!
Low wages + low social status + uncertain future! It is not easy for manufacturing workers to survive, but they do it and cherish it!
I have been engaged in the manufacturing industry for more than ten years, and I am well aware of the development and current situation of this industry. Now I will talk about it based on my personal work experience.
First, workers’ wages are generally low, making it a problem to support their families.
The core reason why workers are looked down upon is that they cannot earn money! Money can solve 99% of the world’s problems. Poor and lowly married couples grieve for everything. Men can’t stand up if they don’t have money. They need money for everything.
For an ordinary skilled worker, his income is composed of basic salary + overtime pay + performance bonus. Taking my current company as an example (a third-tier city), the local minimum wage is 1,350 yuan, and the company's basic salary has been raised a little bit. 1750 yuan. There is also an opportunity to adjust the salary every year according to the working years and performance of the workers. However, as we all know, the general survey of most companies is a very low level (such as the Sunshine Award), which is maintained at a level of 5% to 10%, which is still profitable. Due to the bad economic situation in 2019, especially in the manufacturing industry, some companies even canceled the annual salary adjustment.
Let's take the highest 10% to see, what is the concept of this 10%? If the basic salary is only 1,750 yuan, 10% is 175 yuan, and the total is 1,925 yuan, which means that the monthly basic salary is only 1,925 yuan. Let’s look at overtime pay. Anyone who has worked in a manufacturing plant knows that overtime pay is the bulk of income. , not working overtime means losing most of your income. Because the factory operates a five-day, eight-hour work system, extra time is considered overtime, such as working at night and on weekends. Usually, a skilled worker's overtime pay is 2,000~3,000 yuan, which depends on the number of customer orders. The more orders, the more income. , But it’s also quite tiring. I’m already very tired from working overtime. I have to go to work on Saturdays and Sundays. I have no choice but to earn money to support my family!
So, seeing this, the income level of a skilled worker is basically out, basic salary 1750 + overtime pay 2500 + performance bonus (capacity target achievement + full attendance) 700 = 4950 yuan (average level), is this a lot? A month’s rent or mortgage will cost 2000~3000, plus expenses such as meals, water, electricity, gas, and telephone bills. It is basically not enough, and raising a family is a problem!
Low wages + low social status + uncertain future! It is not easy for manufacturing workers to survive, but they do it and cherish it!
Second, the promotion prospects of workers are limited, and there are many bottlenecks.
Promotion prospects bright for ordinary workers? I believe that when many people enter the factory, the company's HR has described the promotion route and method for them. Workers--team leader--squad leader--supervisor--manager--director--director, the blueprint is beautiful, especially For some young people who have just left school, they seem to have a promising future, and they are worth fighting for, but is this really the case? Many senior workers simply don't believe this, and even scoff at it.
"I'm here to work and earn money. It has nothing to do with me whether I'm promoted or not. Besides, if you add a little money, you have to do grassroots management. It's too tiring and not worth it!"
Why do you say that?
First of all, for factory employees, most of them are assigned to different assembly line operations. When there are too many people, some grass-roots management personnel are needed. Therefore, it is possible to achieve from employees to team leaders and even squad leaders, because these The grassroots managers are all selected from the inside, and priority is given to some senior employees, such as outstanding employees with multiple skills or some other specialties. If a factory even recruits grassroots managers from outside, I think this There are definitely problems with home factory management.
But there is a problem here, some employees are reluctant to be promoted to junior managers, why? Because even if you are promoted to a team leader and manage an assembly line or production area, the salary increase is not large, usually a few hundred yuan, but the responsibilities are greater and the more tiring. It used to be "one person does well, the whole family eats", but now it's different. Dozens of people are watching you. It's not just about work skills and arrangements, but more about the distribution of benefits. A bit of power, but this is a thankless position, so some people would rather be a soldier than be promoted for this reason!
Low wages + low social status + uncertain future! It is not easy for manufacturing workers to survive, but they do it and cherish it!
Back to the topic of promotion route, I have worked in 4 different manufacturing plants. According to my observation, grass-roots employees usually end at the level of monitor, and supervisors usually hire some experienced managers from outside. Why?
First, the skills of grass-roots employees usually do not meet the requirements, such as office software and foreign language expression ability;
Second, for talents at this level, the company will intentionally introduce some fresh blood and foreign ideas to promote the improvement of management level and efficiency. Therefore, the vast majority of grassroots workers cannot achieve the level of supervisor or above. The ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny!
Third, due to the single repetition of skills and high turnover rate, personal ability cannot be comprehensively and continuously developed.
As an industrial worker, you usually only need to know the operation of this position. Some all-rounders may learn the operation skills of some other positions, but most of them have relatively simple skills, repeating the movements in their hands every day. There may be a sense of freshness at the beginning, but after a few months of working, it feels like a robot, and it is impossible to get fun and satisfaction from this job. At the same time, a single skill leads to the failure of personal comprehensive ability to grow and develop, such as Communication and expression ability (written + oral), logical thinking ability and overall coordination ability. If an employee who is engaged in assembly line work wants to improve himself, he can only use his spare time to deliberately strengthen the exercise. If he just depends on the current position blindly, it is not good to say that he can only be a worker for the rest of his life!
In addition, because most manufacturing industries have low wages, low technical content, strong replaceability, and employees cannot see a long-term future, the only thing that matters is wages, which leads to a relatively high turnover rate. As the saying goes, people Going higher, of course, industrial workers can only move to factories with higher wages. I have seen many employees who privately discuss which nearby factories have high wages and good treatment during breaks or meals. In fact, for many grass-roots employees, where they do things are the same, they are all production lines, the difference is only It's just the salary, but it is precisely because the turnover rate is too high that the employees themselves can't achieve sustainable development. Today, I am in the automotive industry, tomorrow I will switch to LED manufacturing, and I will simply do small home appliances in two days. Manufacturing, the industry has changed a lot, and the wages have not increased much. It seems that I have worked in many industries, but without deep accumulation, it is impossible to achieve a qualitative breakthrough.