Reply #10: Welcome to DU edwardsguy

[liberal N proud]

I am a mid level manager above 10 professionals. I do their appraisals, vacations and other time off.
Minimum wage is not a factor in this profession.
I think of the people under me as my peers and treat them with every respect they deserve.
My job is to coordinate the projects they work on and insure they are getting the job done for the customer and the quality of their work meets company and industry standards.
I very rarely deny anyone time off if the reason is valid and I see a scheduled vacation as valid and I will go up against managers at the highest level to try to make sure my people get their vacation when they scheduled it. I see it as a part of their compensation for the work they do and managers should not deprive them of that time. I also feel it is good for the employee to get away for a week or two at a time, it helps the moral.
Our evaluation system makes it difficult to deny someone a pay raise based on my judgment alone. There are safeguards to protect the employee that measure their performance.