The minimum wage debate keeps coming up and recently has had some big headlines. This article is not about the merits of raising the minimum wage. Instead it’s about doing more than the minimum. Before I go any further, it’s important to me to say that raising the minimum wage is not as simple as just giving entry level employees more money. Say some business has experienced employees earning $12 per hour and the minimum wage is raised to $12 per hour. Now the experienced people will rightfully expect to have their wage increased and if their wage was increased to, say $15 per hour then the $15 dollar per hour people would rightfully expect their wage to go up. So, it’s more complicated economically than presented, but how about we think about doing more than the minimum?

I see something today that is very troubling to me. It seems that employees only want to do enough to get by and then complain about their treatment. I had a discussion with a high school student recently that said he hoped to get a high paying job. Then he said that he wanted a job where he didn’t have to do anything. How does that work and why would anyone think such a job existed? Another thing that bothers me is that employee benefits are starting to be treated like employee entitlements. So, here we go!

Minimum wage is the expectation for someone who has no knowledge of a job and has not demonstrated that they can arrive at work on time, complete the assigned tasks and stay until the end of the work day. It is not intended to be a lifelong ambition. As an employee demonstrates that they can learn and perform assigned tasks while arriving at work on time and staying until the end of the work day, they become more valuable and most of the time they are compensated appropriately. If that compensation doesn’t come about, you find another job and this job becomes part of your resume. So if you or someone you know has been working for minimum wage for several years, you have not moved up from entry level skills.

Rather than whine about minimum wage, how about you look at what opportunities are available to people who want to better themselves by demonstrating that they are dependable and want to learn.

As an entry level person, you are surrounded by experienced people who usually will teach you what you need to learn. If you have no interest in learning, they will have no interest in teaching. We all need to be more like sponges. We need to look for opportunities to better ourselves, which makes us more valuable.

Here’s the deal: Everyone has to pay their dues. If you’re the new person and you aren’t willing to demonstrate that you will do some things that are above your pay grade, you’re not going to advance. So why can’t we all try to be the best that we can be?

I don’t claim that I’m the best I can be all the time, but I certainly can say that I try to be. I think there needs to be more of that. Really, how much more effort does it take to be your best than to just to show up? Many people think that if they show up fairly regularly and offer the minimum and do it for long enough, they are worth more. That’s not the case. If you are doing the same thing that you were doing when you were hired five years ago, you are worth exactly what you were paid five years ago. See, this isn’t about corporate responsibility or government responsibility; it’s about your personal responsibility.

And don’t give me this “I work lots of hours and I work hard, but the customers are mean and they hurt my feelings.” Those customers are paying your paycheck! You should appreciate that.

Benefits are another thorn in my side. A benefit is just that. It’s not an entitlement. If an employer appreciates your efforts enough to offer you a benefit and is in a financial position to do it, accept it graciously, but don’t feel like you’re entitled to it.

This whole movement has created a group of people who feel that they are better than most of the jobs that are out there. They won’t go to work at a place that doesn’t have “benefits”.

Not long ago I applied for and got hired for a job to pay the bills while I build my coaching business. The assistant manager told me I was overqualified for the job. How could that be? I didn’t know one airplane from another. I had no idea how to park a jet. Where you hooked up the fuel hose and how you pumped the fuel was a mystery.

It’s been a really good gig and I think I’ve caught on pretty quickly, but my point is that I was worthless the first day I arrived at work. I knew nothing about the job even though I had a wealth of job experience. I wanted to be better and I think I’ve done that. Every day I learn something new. Whether I’ve been paid any more or not is none of your business and I did not start at minimum wage.

If we focused on the maximum rather than the minimum, it seems to me that we’d be better off as individuals and better off as a state and a country.