The other day I read an article about a domestic worker who was suing her employer of forty years. She wasn’t happy with her pension offer (a lump sum plus monthly stipend).
I was only skimming headlines and reading comments (a terrible mistake, I’m sure).
After forty-five minutes of the ire of the peanut gallery, I was exhausted.
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There were comments from, “My granny only got a fridge, this lady should be grateful,” to “He should give her the mansion and take the forty thousand to live on instead.”
Each comment got replies to validate or insult the contributor, and add another two cents.
What a dog show.
It had me thinking about a pension, though. Was this a normal benefit -to have a pension plan and be able to live on it? That was news to me.
I’m thirty-something and reliant on online work as a freelancer.
The four years’ worth of compulsory contributions in my previous retail job are in a preservation investment.
Obviously, that’s now earning peanuts because of Covid, Trump, ANC corruption, Eishkom, and who knows what other factors in a flailing world economy.
At 55, I can access that money, but it probably won’t be enough to buy the currently-R50-a-bottle-of-sandich-spread-of-choice I’ll be living on by then.
Many South Africans I know have put decades into companies who changed the goalposts (or contract conditions), looted the fund, or couldn’t cope with the financial pressures of our country’s challenges.
They’ve worked thirty, forty years, and need to keep working.
Otherwise, they need another job that will keep food on the table after they’re forced to retire by 65.
If they’re lucky enough to have a monthly pension, it isn’t enough to cover soaring food prices, not to mention anything else. How did we get here?
Do you pay your domestic worker or gardener a decent enough salary for them to actually save anything at month-end?
Do you even remember to pay their UIF contributions or put aside extra for an annual bonus?
It’s all good and well to rage at this Capetonian millionaire who didn’t pay his loyal employee a sum that she appreciated, but what about you and me?
This country has problems, and the pandemic is only worsening the job prospects.
He paid her what he thought she was worth, an act of goodwill, but he didn’t have to pay anything according to our legal framework.
He cared, though maybe not enough?
Here’s our challenge for 2021: Pay people what you can to make a difference in their lives. Ignore minimum wage or industry averages. It’s a moral issue, not a financial one.
Don’t NOT hire someone – everyone needs work. We can do better, though.
I don’t know how I feel about the pension story because these things aren’t simple enough to put in boxes.
However, change starts in our own homes, and our own companies.
How would you feel if that was your grandmother?
Feel free to fill up the peanut gallery on this one.
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