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The problem in my specific situation isn't the actual numbers of hours worked. I work basically a flat 40 most weeks, rarely a little bit more. It's the on-call that gets me. We have a short time to respond. If I'm out in public, I have to keep a laptop in the car. I can't really do much the weeks I am on call. I've no more than gotten to the gym right after work and had to simply leave numerous times. Coordinating with other teams (who are themselves on-call and whomever you reach may have no clue how to help) on the weekends if there is a major outage is a pain. I can't really take weekend trips or hike/bike. It would be one thing if it was once a quarter, but when it's once every four weeks, that's a lot of weekends that are basically shot you don't get back.
Pretty much my life for 25 years... 5 minute required response to a page... back in the days when we had pagers... mine was the last at the company because the pager worked everywhere... cell was too sketchy even 5 minutes away and didn't work where I live.
Even at my father's funeral I had calls... years ago I restored a 27' Sailboat and kept it in SF Bay... it would never fail... I would be out on the Boat on a weekend or holiday like 4th of July and get a call... finally sold the boat because it was just too stressful getting calls.
Took my parents out for their anniversary and they had to take a cab home... power went down at work and the steam boilers didn't come back on generator power... you can outsource a lot of things but still need someone knowledgeable onsite.
That said... I had a very free hand as long as I was available... it meant I could show apartments, take family to medical appointments, drop in at the kids games... etc...
Being on the clock I still respond to a lot of the above... but it is all on the clock... Corporate HR and my Admin have had a few conflicts over my employment... HR will say as hourly, your obligation ends when you are off the clock... call back is voluntary unless compensated for being on call back... checking e-mail is discouraged... etc.
Thing is all of the remaining salaried managers/directors refuse to come in after hours or simply are not accessible... our Medical Chief spends a lot of time in the mountains 4 hours away... the Director of Nursing has said she will quit if coming is required after hours... she has enough pull to make it stick.
Letting go has been the hardest part... but simply giving management the option has been my path forward... I will stay late to meet a delivery delayed by weather but the company now has to pay me... I will come in on Saturday for a medical seminar but the company has to pay me... I will deal with break-ins after hours but the company has to pay me...
All of a sudden... things that were mandatory are not... those late night board meetings are now off the table... making presentations on budget or capital programs are now done by memo.
The loss of flexibility has been expensive... and efficiency has most definitely been impacted... getting things done with minimum impact to operations is not automatic... such as shutting down a system over the weekend so Monday morning no one is the wiser that it has been upgraded or replaced.
One of my friends is IT for our sister hospital... great guy... single, about 32 and no matter what time day or night he always responds I am on my way... he worked 105 hours one 7 day week during the holidays... seven 15 hour days back to back... he wants to buy his Mom a condo and is well on his way... he is paid hourly!
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 03-01-2018 at 01:15 AM..
What dirty tricks? Take a job and if you don't like the hours, schedule, or salary, then get another job.
Sage advice. I bet NO one thought of that! Not sure what your situation is, but have you given thought to possibly becoming a career mentor, or advisor, or even employment consultant? Not easy stuff, but with such amazing, out of the box insight like what you suggested in the above post, well I'm guessing high corporate elites would be willing to shell out 6 or 7 figures for such in depth, original life- altering advice, I mean you really can't put a price on such a dynamic concept.
I honestly don't think it's exaggerating to say that we're in the presence of Corporate America's newest superstar!
Sage advice. I bet NO one thought of that! Not sure what your situation is, but have you given thought to possibly becoming a career mentor, or advisor, or even employment consultant? Not easy stuff, but with such amazing, out of the box insight like what you suggested in the above post, well I'm guessing high corporate elites would be willing to shell out 6 or 7 figures for such in depth, original life- altering advice, I mean you really can't put a price on such a dynamic concept.
I honestly don't think it's exaggerating to say that we're in the presence of Corporate America's newest superstar!
That's all you've got? Ha ha. What I wrote is simple and true. You can't argue against that.
You seemed to have left your insights out of your post. What info or knowledge are you proposing?
This thread is about being salaried. No one is playing dirty tricks on people. If one doesn't like their current situation, then change it. We all have agency and power. Or is it better to see ourselves as victims of the big bad corporations?
I've been a salaried slave before, no more. The restaurant industry is infamous for putting assistant managers on salary then working them 60 hours a week. When you figure out you make less per hour than the dishwasher, its a problem.
If you want control over your schedule, you really need to be self employed, commissioned, or some sort of outside sales. Corporate America and its legions of cubicle drones is no life for me. I once took a gig with DirecTV during the housing crash, and it was like being plugged into a collective hive mind. I referred to being Borg.
Thankfully, it didn't last long, as the market started to stabilize in 2010 and 2011. Turning in my headset was a happy day.
Control over my schedule and who I work with is something I will never give up again....
The rest of us had to use comp travel days within a month after the travel took place. Not too shabby if you ask me!
My current company does something kind of like that. Thankfully I don't travel much, but the time I did, I traveled to my location during work hours and had the option of leaving in the morning and traveling during work hours. That just seems reasonable.
This thread is about being salaried. No one is playing dirty tricks on people. If one doesn't like their current situation, then change it. We all have agency and power. Or is it better to see ourselves as victims of the big bad corporations?
Impossible! I'm the victim here! It isn't my fault that all of these mega-corporations don't understand how awesome I am! I don't have to change, they do! And it isn't fair that I should have to quit a job... it should change to accept me as the valuable human being I am!
somehow people think being exempt is better and wear the designation as a badge of honor, as if hourly employees are worker bees and salaried (exempt) employees hold the better positions. maybe in some industries this is a big deal, but not in mine. I am paid a salary for 40 hours of work per week. It is far more profitable, for me at least, to be able to get time and one half if I have to work more hours (due to project or whatever). Employers having to pay time and one half gives folks second thought about keeping employees after hours for frivolous reasons or coming in to work on non-scheduled days. In my industry (legal), it doesn't matter, overtime is always there for the taking if you want it.
the whole "i can come and go as I want" thing isn't really such a big perk. most people expect people either in the office or completely responsive for 8 hours whether they are exempt or non-exempt. many clients expect the workday to start at 8:30 and continue on until 5:30. if people have the pto or the ability to "make up time" (for me that would be during the lunch hour and that's only if I really care about making up time), then leaving early, coming in late is not a big issue at all. I'd rather be saddled with the "hourly" baggage than not have access to a goldmine which is overtime.
In my younger, no-kid days, I was a workaholic. I was able to raise money for a downpayment on a house in months due to working lots of overtime. I was working at a white glove New York City law firm that handled lots of Wall Street transactions. If I had a salaried job? Heh....no way.
Good rant, I like it. The parts about extracting work for promised future salary, benefits or promotions is true, I think it’s called breach of psychological contact were employees feel they bend over backwards to suit employers with unsaid expectations that they will get some sort of payoff but in many cases it doesn’t come, therefore leads to lack of engagement and a bad attitude toward them, and performance reviews etc are used as a way stringing employees along that are never going get promoted with promises of being trained in something, or promised a promotion when things improve, or we will look at payrises when the market improve.
But is this what their clients do to them, make them bend over backwards with promises of future work etc? All the while trying get the job done for the cheapest price.
A coworker mention this one time...
First year, he did a good job and got a great PR.
Second year, he did a lousy job and got a bad PR.
Third year, he still did a lousy job, but did a better job of hiding it, so he got a good PR again
.
In all that time, his raises were identical.
somehow people think being exempt is better and wear the designation as a badge of honor, as if hourly employees are worker bees and salaried (exempt) employees hold the better positions..................
That's definitely true at some companies.
I was an exempt employee. When my division closed they found all the exempt employees a position at another division. Hourly employees were laid off.
Fact is, exempt employees run the companies and make the rules. And generally, we do not worry about the hours we work.
That's definitely true at some companies.
I was an exempt employee. When my division closed they found all the exempt employees a position at another division. Hourly employees were laid off.
Fact is, exempt employees run the companies and make the rules. And generally, we do not worry about the hours we work.
Unless your an owner or majority share holder you dont make any of the real rules and your still at will. Just because they let hourly go first does not make you immune unless you are a majority share holder or owner in the business. Your just working alot of hours for free so they keep you around. Depending on how many hours you are working you may be making a lower hourly rate than a burger flipper .... unless your making 500k a year and working like a maniac and can retire in a few years ... but I doubt it.
If I only had to pay someone 9-10 an hour to work like a dog and the other guy made 40/hr (plus time and a half to work like a dog) im going to let the hourly guy go first, even if your less skilled. I think a large part of employee positions (unless its a start up where you are earning ownership share and the success of the business is on you and a hand full of people) is to be a jester for the managers, your presence or non presense in that company is not going to make or break them so you have to jump around like a jester to keep your job.
I think thats what companies should just call most positions jester 1, jester 2 etc. Unless you are gaining and ownership share and your performance is absolutely critical to the success of the company then thats really what you are. If a company can afford to lay off 100's of people and they dont go bankrupt then those people were jesters. they were there for the amusement of the management and that's a sad state of affairs.
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