Re:

["Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@ieee.org>]

On Sun, 2005-11-20 at 09:22 -0600, Mike808 wrote:
> Wow. If you're that important to the company, then perhaps they'd be more
> generous, given the criticality of your effort to their core business.

We'll see where my stake in the company is at soon.  Until I have reason
to believe I'm getting screwed in the longer-term, I will continue to do
my best to further the company's endeavors.

> One might think that people with advanced degrees, specifically in business
> administration, and who claim to have "mastered" the subject, would
> be aware of this.

Who says they have such?  The CEO is on the board of a major retail
chain.  That's part of the problem because he thinks he can work
engineers to death and then just get another one like they are
salespeople.  We've tried to get him to understand differently.

As I said, we'll see where my stake in the company is at soon.  That's
what really matters to me.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to come back to my former St. Louis
contractor.  My wife is very much against that.  This is the only
suitable position I've found within 50 miles of my home in Orlando in
years.

The Southeastern US is _known_ for its lowest salary rates in the
country combined with excessive work hours.  I have _never_ averaged
less than 55 hours/week in my 5 years of prior salaried positions.

I even contracted at a Fortune 100 company for 9 months and had an
average of 3 calls/night and worked a typical 7-7 schedule to match
banks (who work their people 13 hours/day, but only 3 days/week --
whereas I worked 5 days/week), and getting paid beyond 40 hours/week was
always an uphill battle without prior approval (long, long story -- and
I _never_ got prior approval).

It's just how the SE US operates -- especially with the massive number
of tech people unemployed in Orlando, Atlanta, etc...  Aggregate tech
salaries overtook hospitality in Orlando during the .COM boom, and then
it busted hard here.

And _now_ you know why I traveled to clients in the NE, west and mid-
west.  It was worth my sanity.  ;->  I would have brought my wife with
me had I been offered full-time positions, but they were almost never
right-to-hires (and I had a really bad experience with my initial right-
to-hire when I did bring my wife with me -- she was used as a liability
against me by an unscrupulous contracting company).

> Then given that the company "lives or dies" on your work, one might think
> that they would be open to the notion of "comp time", which, since you
> are salaried is reasonably accepted as a way to "time shift" unusual periods
> of excessive required work hours.

I don't expect to see any comp time.  Although I did take a day off a
couple of weeks ago (although I had already reached 40 hours by
Thursday).

I _did_ have a problem with the "arrive by 8:30am" non-sense my first 2
months.  But after I just finally started staying at work if I was still
there after midnight to ensure I was there at 8:30am (leading to some 40
and even 60 hour straight days), there was finally an administrative
notice that I was _not_ to be bothered about my arrival time, unless I
missed a meeting.

That was my #1 morale drain for awhile, although when it became an
issue, I just didn't care or mentioned what time I left the night before
(which often enfuriated the lower management even more).  I'm _not_ IT.
I'm _not_ support.  I'm _not_ on-call, although I do have my cell phone
if they needed to reach me.  I was agreed before I even came there that
if I was working excessive hours, unless there was a meeting, an 8:30am
arrival time would not apply to me.

As I said, just last week the whole administration was finally given
notice that I was not to be bothered about it (along with 1 other
gentleman who is also key to engineering).

> The key words in that phrase being "unusual" and "excessive".
> And if you want to work the 70+ hours a week, I sure hope that your contract
> has some ironclad extraordinary benefit on the back-end for that extra-ordinary effort.

There have been certain promises, in writing (although not quantitative)
made about ownership.  As I said, I need to see that soon or there might
be an issue.

> Then tell your management that you are taking off the workday adjacent to the holiday.

I'm seriously considering not calling or coming in.  They already know I
thought it was rather pathetic given the hours I work (although I only
told that to immediate management -- I don't usurp anyone).

> Is there a clause in the contract that says "only when said holiday falls on a 
> regularly scheduled work day"? Was an adjusted schedule of company holidays for 2005
> previously posted? Are there the contractually noted number of dates on that schedule?

There is a contractually noted number of 7 days.  The problem is that
with New Year's, they can always play games because it can fall on the
next calendar year.  I've just never seen a company do that before.

> If not, point out your criticality to their efforts, your previously demonstrated
> dedication to their core business, and that you have every expectation of spending
> holiday time with your family, per *their* contractual arrangement. Let them know that
> this is not negotiable.

I was hoping it wouldn't come to that point because it seems like I'm
just bitching.  My _only_ point has been the fact that although it seems
petty, it is no less than "nickle'n diming" and only drains morale.

> If you're not willing to stand up for your entitlements or reject poor behavior by
> your employer by applying your talents elsewhere, then it is hard to have sympathy 
> for you. You're simply *rewarding* your employer for acting badly by accepting it,
> and not demanding better of them.

As I said, I'm waiting to see what comes of this.

BTW, I was _not_ asking for sympathy.  I was just curious if anyone has
ever seen a salaried position where you were not given off Christmas or
New Year's when it fell on a weekend?  And I'm not talking about in a
support or "coverage" position.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith   b.j.smith@ieee.org   http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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