John - This is more true than you'd think. In an effort to cut costs, my company has recently frozen overtime for hourly employees. Well, all of our "associate consultants" - the front-line PC jockeys who do the basic user support - are hourly. This means they are effectively never on-call after hours, and cannot be used for after-hours projects.
So what does the burden fall upon? The senior, salaried staff. Because we don't get overtime. The on-call escalation traditionally had an associate as #1, and a senior as #2 - now that's been inverted. All salaried, senior consultants are on-call #1 - because we don't cost the company overtime. Be careful what you wish for... -- Durf On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 10:48 PM, John Hornbuckle < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I suspect that if more of us were hourly, weeks would rarely exceed 40 > hours! > > > > > > > > *From:* Jon Harris [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > *Sent:* Saturday, August 16, 2008 10:22 PM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: So, Why Do We Do It? > > > > John, I know for me it is that in 1 year, 10 months, and roughly 2 weeks I > get to retire and go work for a company that will hopefully pay me better or > not treat me like dirt simply because I try and save a bunch of (l)users > from stupid mistakes. I am also tired of the after hours work for nothing > other than the management will not allow me to do it any other way and the > "but you were not authorized to work those hours" from managers that told me > to get the job done but not disrupt anyone else's work schedule. I also > know for me the overtime stopped for the most part when I went from salary > to hourly. Now the managers have to sign off in advance of any OT work of > any form. I still get emails and calls asking for me to fix something on my > time off and I just refer them to my boss, I actually just forward the email > to my boss or if they do accidentally get me to answer the phone I tell them > to talk to him, he makes the rules. I have never gotten a second request > and my junior has messed up a couple of times so no one asks him for > anything more than something simple, but then he has been very good at > hiding when there is work to be done anyway. I also get to work hours that > for me mean I have to deal with the users a lot less, and makes the managers > stew a bit more, but my supervisior actually likes my hours. I work 3 11.5 > hour days and one 7 hour day. On days with more than 8 hours I am suppose > to get a half hour for lunch but usually just stay in my office and ignore > the phone. I also am at work a 4 am on my work days and since most of the > staff don't usually get in until about 9 most of my day is done. > > > > Jon > > > > > > > > On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 2:05 PM, John Hornbuckle < > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I was recently talking to a technician who works for a company we sometimes > hire for projects. He's salaried, but working just 40 hours in a week is > pretty rare for him. Looking at the poll in another thread and how many of > us are basically on call 24x7x365 for no additional compensation, I have to > ask… Why? Why, as a profession, do we allow ourselves to be treated this > way? > > > > Is it that the pay is just so good that it's worth it? I know a few folks > on this list have indicated that they get compensated pretty well, but my > sense is that most of us just earn average pay and aren't living the high > life. I'm not really sure why. We have skills that are in high demand, and > take years to develop. Why are we selling ourselves short? > > > > Personally, my pay is just so-so. For the area I live in (poor, rural, and > with a low cost of living) it's decent, and I do work in the public sector > rather than private—that's always going to hit you win the wallet. But I > generally get to make up the extra time with time off, a long lunch, maybe > going in late or going home early. Plus I get vacation and sick leave that's > pretty generous by American standards, and participation in the state > retirement system. So all in all, I can't complain much. > > > > But I know a lot of people who work in the private sector for pay that's > only so-so, and regularly work 60-hour weeks. > > > > Why? > > > > > > > > John Hornbuckle > > MIS Department > > Taylor County School District > > www.taylor.k12.fl.us > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- -------------- Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Give a fish a man, and he'll eat for weeks! ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
