Who should buy the work grill?

Tuff question. If wanting a new one and never had one I'd say employees purchase. But if it was already provided I would think the company should replace if needed or fix the current one.

We get a refrigerator and microwave and lucky if we get lunches as is half the time. We get paid if we didn't get a lunch, but it's frowned upon because by law we are required to have a lunch break.

 

I work for a similar organization, city run, names posted for salary over $.

You should NOT be expected to pay. If the supervisors or higher ups want your department or unit to have a BBQ, they need to find the funds.

 

If you have to pitch in money do you get to borrow and take it home to throw a party? I'm guessing no, in which case work equipment is paid for by the organization and it stays there otherwise it gets messy when 2 people want it on the same weekend

 

We are in a very similar situation.
Public owned utility here and we also get the annual email stating our name, position, wage/earnings are posted publicly.

I think it comes down to the supervisor/management finding it in the budget, if they want to. Keeping the crew happy is worth a grand here and there, company morale should be a factor in the budget. We have several grills, fancy Keurig machines etc.. that they replace when needed.

Do you have new management?

 

Another argument for the 'company' paying for it is convenience to the tax payers...

What I mean by this is that generally employees receive break periods, paid or non-paid lunches, etc... If employees don't have a means to prepare some of the foods they enjoy, then they are more apt to leave the premises and take inherently end up taking longer breaks, lunches due to travel time etc; which ends up putting a burden on tax payers as employees' response times, efficiency, and such seems to go down... because they respond from 'lunch' to office to job site or they respond from lunch to their work station; either way much slower than if they are responding from within the facility.

Another point here is overall Team moral and such; if employees are able to celebrate important days or even prepare good tasting and reasonably healthy meals by grilling at the facility, it allows more efficiency than 'going out for drinks' later or everyone going out to a restaurant (again away from the facility).

Finally, if your facility is sometimes faced w/call out, all-calls, stand-bys and such it gives a means for employees to prepare healthy meals under those circumstances and not be forced to rely on crappy pizza or a bag of burritos in those times

 

Do any of the departments that work for your organization have a friends or foundation group that could possibly fund it?

Alternatively, would work pay for it if it's used once a year for an open to the public event, assuming your municipality does a once a year open house? Then the employees can just use it when it's not in use for the once a year open house.

 

Santa already knows what you want

 

It's a tax write off for the company. They are pinching pennies from your wallets for no reason.

Does any other department of the company have a similar item? If they do, then they have to provide it to you as well. Otherwise it's technically discriminatory or preferential treatment. I get the same supplies in my little bunker break room as the corporate office has right next to the CEO's office. Anything less wouldn't actually be legal. Not sure if it's the same in Colo-fornia though.

 

I’m always the first to offer to take over cooking at bbq or party as I enjoy it.

If I knew I would be the majority stake holder in cleaning it and cooking on it, I would probably go to Home Depot and purchase one of the $179 4 burners and call it a day.

If people want to eat… they can provide the propane.

 

Everyone pitch in but if anyone retires, quits or gets fired, they get to take a part off.

They have to tell new hires that part of the employment is they need to bring the missing part day one, so it can still be used.

 

If the money comes from public sources, I would say that they shouldn’t.

However, if the money comes from a discretionary fund or company funds then sure.

My thought would be that we need to tighten our belts and rather than spend money on a BBQ, give workers a bonus and bring a bag lunch!

That is why I don’t have any employees, I am too cheap!

 

Not saying you want to go waving the legal cudgel, but look into the requirements. If they are supposed to be providing stuff equally the case could be made that they could have their feet held to the fire and all you guys want is a grill. The danger is that they can always take everything away down to basics and say it was to comply with legal requirements. Up to you guys how you want to address it and if you trust them not to get shitty about it. If you have several guys pulling 6 figures, if everyone pitches in outside of company influence then the company has no say over it and you guys can do what you want with it.

 

First off, none of my money would be going to a community anything that is only available on company grounds. If I wanted a grill that bad, I’d buy a bumper mounted one.

Second, who the hell has time to grill on their lunch break? Microwave some stuff and get back to work. I work from home and take an hour lunch and don’t have that kinda time. You telling me you bring raw meat to work and grill it up? Grilled veggies? Raw is healthier.

The companies I’ve worked at that had grills were used for company functions and came out of company funds. There was no crowd funding of these items. They could be used for individuals but rarely and seldom were.

Wonder if there’s a state law or code or something that says they only have to provide a fridge or range (or whatever other cooking equipment) and a grill falls outside of that so they don’t want to pay for one.

 

That's awesome. Even if it's cold, snow removal with a tractor has an element of fun to it.

 

When you say you live out there, is that hyperbole, or do you legit eat, sleep, and work for multiple days at a time on site?

 

Ah, but it's not built in? Purely situational? I ask because if it were just how it worked all the time it'd be worth it to haul in your own appliance for a week or two at a time. If it's usually a home every night type of deal then the office unit would be a boon.