Some business owners and managers believe that a good way to enhance their bottom lines is to pay employees as little as they can possibly get away with. This is unquestionably a bad idea. Your employees will literally make or break your company. In order to attract and retain highly productive employees, wages need to be at least competitive and preferably on the high end of the scale especially in a tight labor market. Companies that pay employees too little find that they attract people who simply don't perform up to expectations on a consistent basis. Productivity of employees might be the single most important factor in profitability. If wages are not high enough to attract and retain top performers, productivity could suffer significantly. Over the very near term, lower wages might put a little more to your bottom line, but over the longer term they will likely lead to performance and profitability problems. Think long-term when establishing employee wage policies and ranges.