> If their employees felt exploited they'd have problems retaining them.
That is not usually true. Lots and lots of people feel exploited by their employers, yet stay in their jobs. Generally, they have financial obligations, need money and benefits, and jobs aren't so easy to replace.
The family scrap yard is hiring able bodied young men and training them to drive heavy equipment (which they then presumably slap on their resumes). I know they get free lunch and (used/questionable) fuel oil/diesel because I've discussed it with an employee (last July/August or thereabouts). Based on the demeanor of everyone there it seems like a great place to work if you don't mind working outside and a fair amount of physical labor. I don't know what they're paid but all things considered it's probably crap. They wouldn't be hiring highschoolers if the pay was good. Considering how permanent some of their employees have been over the years despite being at an age where one is typically "leveling up" quickly.
I feel very comfortable saying they're not exploited.
I don't have the same visibility into the "corporate" yard because I only go there when I have to (they are only closed Sundays and federal holidays) and they have organized their workflow to keep their customers at arms length.
What do you conclude? How does one person's perception of one example impact the overall issue?
> Based on the demeanor of everyone there it seems like a great place to work
If you mean it is your family scrapyard, I will suggest that many employers have formed that impression - often mistakenly (myself included!). I've heard it many times. My favorite was someone who told me how people loved working there and they didn't have the absurdities so common in business. Then we were walking around the cubicals, and it was observed how many Dilbert cartoons were posted.
I meant it is a family business, not my family business. Like their website has a picture of their ancestor hauling a boiler on a cart pulled by a team of oxen and it's currently run by two brothers of the same last name and the same name as the business (so I think it's a safe bet it's still in the same family). The point was to contrast it with BigCo that has MBAs writing the rules and shareholders it's accountable to.
I do a substantial amount of business with that yard (and less of the corporate one, because they won't sell material and are generally way higher friction to do business with) and it looks like a very fine place to work. But this is also coming from someone who has worked in adjacent low margin industries so I have no delusions of ping pong tables in the break room.
To reiterate what I said before, they're taking young able bodied men who are willing to do physical labor (this is a demographic that can basically find new jobs at will, you can't really trap them in a shit job) and teaching them marketable skill. The fact that those employees don't just turn around and get a different job with that skill says something about the value proposition of working there.
Is it really so unbelievable to you that a business can not follow the letter of the law and not treat people like crap at the same time?
I find it completely believable, and I suspect that such practices make up some kind of norm for generational family businesses. I've known many California restaurateurs that behave this way.
That is not usually true. Lots and lots of people feel exploited by their employers, yet stay in their jobs. Generally, they have financial obligations, need money and benefits, and jobs aren't so easy to replace.