Tami Forbes is a hardworking manager at Key West Key Lime Pie Company in Florida but is only paid $300 a week.
Tami manages the store’s inventory, staffing, HR, event planning, and more -— but she doesn’t make enough to support her family. As a mom of 8-year-old twins plus another baby on the way, that’s not her only job. She also bartends twice a week to help her family.
“Yep, got to make the money, pay the bills. … I try and take one day off a week. A nine-hour day on my feet is hard.”
— Tami
Jim Brush, Tami’s boss at Key Lime, recognizes her work ethic but doesn’t know how to pay her more. The company is barely staying afloat.
Then this little pie company became a focus of CNBC’s reality series The Profit, which works to help troubled small businesses thrive.
That’s where Marcus Lemonis, host of CNBC’s The Profit, comes in — to turn things around.
Marcus was orphaned as a baby and adopted by a Greek family in Miami who owned two of the largest Chevrolet dealerships in the U.S. He learned how to run a thriving business early and now helps troubled companies turn themselves around.
But this business guru knows that building a great company begins with taking care of your employees.
To fix this ailing business, Marcus does something surprising: He writes Tami a check for a six-month paid maternity leave and gives her a raise.
Tami was floored. She couldn’t hide her tears. But this isn’t charity, this is basic business sense: Taking care of employees like Tami builds loyalty, increases productivity, and is really good for business. It’s also the right thing to do — now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
“It means everything, knowing that I have a salary when I come back — a salary that I can live on, and still save money. … I’ve never had that.”
— Tami
Only 13% of American workers have access to paid maternity leave, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. How do you think other companies would fare if all bosses took this business guru’s advice to take better care of their workers?
