Volume 1 Chapter 120 - Prodigal

Volume 1 Chapter 120 Prodigal

Two days later, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s factory outside the city welcomed a special guest.

“Young miss Seveni, please take a look, these two workshops are the current factories for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. As for the construction to the side, that is our new magic machine workshop. According to manager Riley’s deadline, we should be able to use it within the month.” Xu yi was standing outside the workshop, introducing everything to Seveni beside him.

Wayne Riley on the side heard Xu Yi mention his name and immediately revealed a smile as he said while nodding, “That’s right, if nothing unexpected happens, this factory can be used at the end of the month.”

Seveni looked at the magic machine workshop that was less than a thousand square meters before looking at the new workshop that was clearly more than ten times bigger. She knit her brows and said, “Such a large place, can it be done within the month? Even if it is done, can it be used that quickly? Chairman Xu, aren’t you being too hasty?”

Xu Yi shrugged his shoulders, “If it wasn’t for manager Riley insisting on maintaining quality and not ruining the reputation of their Amrit Chamber of Commerce, I would have requested him to finish this factory by the middle of the month.”

Manager Riley heard Xu Yi unintentionally praising him and the Amrit Chamber of Commerce, causing him to fill with joy.

With how Xu Yi was treating her and even how respectful he seemed, although this young miss Seveni seemed young, she definitely was someone with status. If he could make a good impression on her, it was a good thing whether it was to manager Riley or the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.

“Chairman Xu, although his majesty’s request is a bit tight, I hope that it will not cause too much pressure for you that will lead to accidents. If you let these workers be hurt, his majesty and I will both be unsettled.” Seveni looked at Xu Yi, speaking in a serious voice.

Xu Yi was a bit surprised. He looked at Seveni and saw that her expression was serious, not like she was saying this just for appearance. He gave a nod and said with a smile, “Be assured, young miss Seveni. I take the safety of the workers under me very seriously and I am assured in the skills of the Amrit Chamber of Commerce and manager Riley, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Manager Riley immediately came forward to say, “Young miss Seveni, you might not know this, but in terms of treating one’s workers, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is one of the best. Not to mention the companies of our Banta City, perhaps there wouldn’t be a single company in the entire Lampuri Kingdom that could compare to them.”

“Oh?” Seveni looked at manager Riley and asked in an interested voice, “What special treatment for Frestech Chamber of Commerce workers? Why do you think that it is so good?”

Manager Riley looked at Xu Yi and saw that he had no objections, so he said with a smile, “Not mentioning anything else, just the set work time of eight hours a day for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce workers is something no companies can compare to.”

“A set work time of eight hours a day?” Seveni looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Chairman Xu, is this true?”

Xu Yi gave a slight nod with a smile

Seveni of course knew that Xu Yi wouldn’t use something this easy to research to deceive her with, so she was even more surprised.

“Why do you have this rule? Although employees do need time to rest, don’t you think set work times of eight hours is too short? If you give the employees that much time to rest, don’t you think that it’s a waste of their wages?”

Xu Yi’s expression became a bit strange, as he thought that since the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had too many orders right now, the workers were working overtime each day. If this was earth, he would be scolded as a no good capitalist. He never thought that he would be asked if he felt the wages were a waste if people rested too much.

“This…..Young miss Seveni, workers are people too. Other than work, there are many things they have to do in their own time. Actually manager Riley’s words aren’t correct, because the company has been too busy lately, the workers have been working overtime each day and don’t have that much time to rest.”

Before Seveni could speak, manager Riley couldn’t help saying, “That’s not right, chairman Xu. Not mentioning your workers doing overtime, when the workers under me heard that your workers receive overtime pay, there were some people who wanted to come over to your company.”

“Overtime pay?” Seveni was surprised again, “What is this?”

“Eh……It’s that outside the set eight hours of work each day, if people still need to work, they will receive rewards for their services. That is called overtime pay.” Xu Yi explained.

Seveni looked at Xu Yi with a strange gaze, “Chairman Xu, you really are a strange chairman. Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is also very strange, this is the first time I’m hearing about a company giving their workers overtime pay. That’s right, chairman Xu, can I ask you something? The employees for your company…..How much is the wage for your workers each month?”

“There isn’t anything wrong, it’s not a secret.” Xu Yi said with a smile, “If it’s for the set eight hours and there isn’t overtime, the workers in the two workshops earn around eight gold coins. Because there have been more overtime in the past two months, most of the workers earn around ten to sixteen gold coins.”

“That much?” Seveni’s eyes widened slightly. After thinking about it, she turned to ask manager Riley, “Mister Riley, can I ask how much the workers under you earn each month?”

Manager Riley gave a bitter laugh and looked at Xu Yi with hidden complaint. He hesitated a bit before saying, “This…..There are different works, so there are different wages. For the current month…..it’s around four gold coins……” Seeing Seveni’s strange appearance, manager Riley couldn’t help explaining, “The price our Amrit Chamber of Commerce is giving is already quite high, the other workers who build houses like us at most earn six gold coins! Young miss Seveni, you can’t compare our company with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. Chairman Xu, he…..he……”

“I what?” Xu Yi asked with a smile.

With Xu Yi and Seveni looking at him, manager Riley gave dry laughs for a while before he finally couldn’t hide it any longer. He lowered his voice and said, “This…..Chairman Xu, young miss Seveni, you mustn’t think that this is something I’ve said. Actually, there are many bosses of many companies in Banta City who secretly talk about chairman Xu. They all say that……chairman Xu is a complete prodigal……”

“Prodigal?” Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling, “Giving the workers a slightly higher wage is being a prodigal? I think that aren’t they being a bit too stingy?”

Manager Riley quickly waved his hand, “Chairman Xu, you can’t speak nonsense. Actually if I have to say something, you are indeed a bit of a prodigal. They are just some normal workers, why do you need to start them off with such high wages? Not to mention with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce giving such high wages, what can the other companies of Banta City do? Do you know that the workers under me have protested many times. If it wasn’t for chairman Cruise agreeing to increase their wages, they would have already stopped working.”

Xu Yi looked at the slightly irritated manager Riley. He thought that these words probably weren’t manager Riley’s words, but rather words from chairman Cruise and a small warning to him from the other companies of Banta City.

Xu Yi disdained all of this.

Compared to him, these fellows were capitalists who squeezed out every drop from their employees.

Of course, on the Sines Continent, their ways were common and Xu Yi’s was a bit strange. It was expected that it raised some opinions with some people.

But Xu Yi didn’t plan to change according to their ideas.

Based on industrial development from earth, pressing down the wages of the workers was not the right thing to do. This would go against the rules of socio-economic development and would actually slow down the development of the economy.

[TL Note: If anyone is more interested in this, search “wage increase effect on supply and demand”, it’s actually quite interesting.]

If the normal populace didn’t have the economic ability to buy products it meant that the market wouldn’t be active and it would affect the circulation of goods. This would affect the profit of the company and would create a vicious cycle.

But with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce raising the wages of their workers, it allowed the workers to have enough financial power to satisfy their basic needs, while also allowing them to buy other products. This facilitates the circulation of products and increases economic development.

Take the example of the two hundred human workers in the household magic machine workshop. Because they received a wage of over ten gold coins from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for two months, not only has it greatly increased their family’s living conditions, it also allowed them to have enough money to buy toys for their children.

These toys were not made by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but the company that made these toys benefited from this, which brought more profit for their company. This also allowed them to create more jobs, which also increased the income of another group of people.

Through the business cycle, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would benefit eventually.

Take the Magic Fan as an example. Actually one Magic Fan only cost two gold coins and if the people of Banta City had the same level of wages as the workers in the household magic machine workshop, then each person would have the financial power to purchase one.

Like this, in just a small city like Banta City, there would have been several tens of thousands of Frestech Brand Magic Fans that sold. It wouldn’t have been the same as summer where only several thousand sold.

This logic was something that Xu Yi felt someone like chairman Cruise wouldn’t understand, so he didn’t waste time explaining it to him. The best method was to just do it.

If he placed the solid benefits in front of their faces, those fellows might understand.

As for now, Xu Yi didn’t plan on changing his methods.

After a few thoughts passed in his mind, Xu Yi paused before saying to manager Riley with a smile, “If they won’t work anymore, our company is about to expand again, so we plan on recruiting some more workers. If the workers under you don’t want to work anymore, I welcome them very much to join our company.”

Manager Riley’s face instantly changed, “Chairman Xu, what do you mean by this?”

Xu Yi laughed and patted manager Riley’s shoulder before saying, “Nothing at all, it’s just a joke. Relax, manager Riley. Please tell chairman Cruise that since our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is already working with the Business Union, then we won’t make it hard for everyone. Since the wages of workers has already increased, it’s impossible for it to fall for no reason. As for other aspects, we can cooperate on some more things. As long as everyone receives gold coins, it isn’t that hard to accept the workers earning a bit more, don’t you think so?”

Manager Riley looked at Xu Yi with an uncertain expression.

This Xu Yi, was this secretly making fun of them?

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