Restaurant Executive Plots to Pay Workers Less By Exploiting the Rising Price of Gas in This Leaked Viral Email

The email, sent by an Applebee's franchise executive, declares that rising gas prices and inflation will only seek to improve the company's hiring prospects. This, the email claims, is all thanks to the fact that people will be more desperate. 

“Wayne,” the author of the email, predicts that the changing economy will “increase application flow” and has the “potential to lower [their] average wage." This implies that desperate workers will be forced to accept jobs at minimum wage to try to survive the rising cost of living. 

Rising inflation and gasoline have drastically increased the cost of living globally. ABC reports that Inflation and cost-of-living increases have left people “struggling to afford everyday items." reporting that “American consumer price inflation has hit 7.5 percent, the highest in 40 years."

Opportunistic employers, who have struggled to fill minimum wage roles since the start of the pandemic, are looking at people's growing desperation as an opportunity to slash wages and fill vacant minimum wage roles. 

"Rising inflation and gasoline prices have drastically increased the cost of living globally."

_{Image Source: Wassim Chouak}

The leaked email was posted to r/antiwork by Reddit user u/pool_fizzle. It features the headline “Applebee's Executie (sic) claims higher gas prices make people more desperate so we can pay them less,” accompanied by two photos of what appears to be a forwarded email thread sent on March 9. Most information is redacted, but the identity of the original emailer “Wayne P” has since been verified by resourceful internet detectives. We won't be posting that information here, but there does seem to be some evidence that this is a legitimate email.

The email displays a toxic culture of middle-management with other managers responding to "Wayne"'s email with messages such as “Words of wisdom from wayne!!!”. An assuredly appropriate response to an email advising how the company will screw its workers.  

The first image, below, displays the start of the email as it was posted to r/antiwork, with cropped images that show the full text of the email following. 

Source: u/pool_fizzle - Applebee's Executie (sic) claims higher gas prices make people more desperate so we can pay them less.”

The first section reads below as follows:

"Team

Everyone has heard that gas prices continue to rise. The advantage this has for us is that it will increase application flow and has the potential to lower our average wage. How you ask?"

“Wayne” then answers his question, and this is where the email gets even more disturbing. He starts by acknowledging that “Most of [their] employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck.” 

Let's stop and think about that for a moment. Why do their employees have to live paycheck to paycheck? That phrase implies that a working individual is unable to accrue any savings. Why might it be that your workers can't save any money? Could it possibly be because they already aren't paying their workers enough? Yet, the email suggests that “As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living.”

Right, so your below-cost-of-living wage serfs will need to work more hours to survive as the cost of living increases. Have I got that right? The more ethical and logical conclusion would be to pay your workers more. 

This illustrates the importance of having a higher minimum wage; cynical employers such as “Wayne” will look for any opportunity to pad out their bottom line and the cost of their workers. 

It's no secret that minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation since the 1980s; consult any data or economist, they all reach the same conclusion. Here are a couple of graphs and infographics to illustrate the point.

Source: Statista - “A Brief History of the U.S. Minimum Wage”

This graph from Statista illustrates how minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation, has fallen steadily since the 1970s. This is well presented and explained in this Economic Policy Institute infographic, published in 2019, displaying the “Real value of the minimum wage” as adjusted for inflation. 

Source: Economic Policy Institute - “Low-wage workers are suffering from a decline in the real value of the federal minimum wage.”

“Wayne” further details that the company should take advantage of people being forced “back into the workforce.” and suggests that the rising costs will impact small business owners too, who will have to “raise prices, cut employee hours, or pay employees less” leaving these major corporate fat-cats to lap up all of the profits at the expense of the small business owners. 

“Wayne” closes out his email with his worst advice, advising his managers to “have a pulse on the morale” of the employees they intend to exploit. Noting that these employees are bound to be more desperate and stressed as their living cost rises, they should seek to exploit that. “Wayne” also suggests that they “hire at a lower wage to decrease labor."

"Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck. Any increase in gas price cuts into their disposable income. As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living.
We are no longer competing with the government when it comes to hiring. Stimulus money is no more, supplemental unemployment is no more. This benefits us as prices rise, people who we (sic) relying on unemployment money, simply will have less money to spend. It will force people back into the work force.

Furthermore, other competitors ( especially mom and pop companies or smaller businesses) will have to either raise prices, cut employee hours, or pay employees less hourly to hit their profit margins. Some businesses will not be able to hold on. This is going to drive more potential employees into the hiring pool.

We all competed to hire out of the limited applicant pool and there was a wage war. We all saw businesses hiring team members at $18-$20 an hour. They will no longer be able to afford to do this. Trucking is the backbone of America and as fuel costs rise, so will the charges for shipping. If those costs cannot be passed onto the customer in terms of menu price, the only area they can cut sizable costs will be in labor. 

The labor market is about to turn in our favor. What can you do?

Besides hiring employees in at a lower wage to decrease our labor ( when able ) make sure you have a pulse on the morale of your employees. Your employees that live check to check are impacted more than the people reading this email. Be conscious of that. Many will need to work more hours or get a second job. Do things to make sure you are the employer of choice. Get schedules completed early so they can plan their other jobs around yours. Most importantly, have the culture and environment that will attract people."

Comments/Reactions

Commenters on the r/antiwork thread were incensed. Some swore to boycott Applebees; others noted how they have come across similar messages from employees since gas prices went out of control. 

Some users reiterated that we should all be making an effort to turn our business towards the “Mom and Pop” businesses “Wayne” referred to to support them in what is sure to be a harsh economic downturn. 

What do you make of this email? Be sure to let us know.