Another employment issue question

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Down here, if she tells the boss that she knows what her "opposition" is on, both are liable for disciplinary action.

Oft, it is signed up when the position is offered that you will not discuss remuneration with other employees, or other companies.

The higher wages are often used to attract new employees, while the existing are assumed to have comfort factors that don't need to be attracted...

inertia in both cases meaning greater/lesser compensation



We had that non-talk about the wage dealio at Wal-Mart, but I quickly pulled it out of the new guys. No kidding, I'd been there for three and a half years, and was making $9.10/hr. The new guys were being hired on for nine dollars, and the least physically-working workers, the cashiers, were making $9.50 off the starting line!

I was peeved, told the store manager either ten bucks an hour or I was walking. Couple weeks later he came back and offered $9.95/hr, and stated ten bucks was too symbolic where I worked (it would put me in the top 3% bracket of floor workers - and remember, many had been there for ten, twenty years). By then my current bussing employee had called for training, so I said screw it.

I'm in federally-controlled union now, so any bloke can find out what I make. I don't however, let anyone except close friends know what I make, for fear of retaliation on my employer (the tickets *are* pretty expensive, IMO.)

 

[JHZR2]

well my wife has a seperate "per diem" position, paid hourly at far closer to what a typical "unburdened" rate would be - that's the nature of per diem medical positions. Its a rate roughly double what she gets paid on a man-hour basis at her current job.

The company that she works for per diem has asked her to come on full-time. She will have that job steady for a good while, but that's not her full-time gig, and she does not want it to be.

Per my other thread, one of the districts that she works in offered her a full time direct job in the past.

The nature of the market is right now to provide signing bonuses... and she and I are comfortable with the fact that she didnt get a signing bonus - the needs are different this year. However, the disparity in pay is large and unacceptable. One year difference is not large enough to justify roughly 25% higher pay, IMHO.

She has other opportunities, lots of them. Where she would really want to work has that pesky noncompete type issue, which she is working on... however, if the pay differential did not exist and her pay was equitable, moving to the district work directly might be a non-issue...

Thanks,

JMH

 

[dwendt44]

If you excuse my previous snid remark; it is often a rule not to discuss salary and benefit packages with other employees.
When it's time for the annual review, the subject can be broached: 'Rumor is...others are getting more that me...' or something to that effect.
If she likes the position and company well enough, she may just have to grit her teeth and swallow the resentment and go on.
Stuff Happens.

 

[javacontour]

Exactly,

I wouldn't pull this sort of stunt today.

Back in 1997 when IT was offering insane money for anyone with a pulse that could spell TCP/IP or Java correctly 2/3rds of the time it wasn't a risky move.

Today, if I looked, it would be because I wanted to move.

There weren't too many certified Sun Instructors who could teach Java, Solaris, Sun Networking, NIS+ and Fault Analysis, not to mention a handful of other Sun courses.

I could ( and did for a while) be in independent contractor as well, filling needs for instructors at $6K-8K/week. You don't have to work too many weeks at that rate to make a good living. Even if I had a 50% book rate, that's $200K/year.

The downside was I had to pay for my own insurance and both parts of my payroll taxes.

But opportunities abounded if you were willing to shop around.

It's not so in IT today.

In medical, I think there are more opportunities.

But it's a game of chicken. Will the employer match the offer or let you go. I was ready for either contingency.

Originally Posted By: VeeDubb
Originally Posted By: MinivanMauler
"I got several offers and came back to my employer giving them a chance to come close to matching before I decided. They came close enough."

I was always taught that this is a good way to get yourself fired. That is, once the boss knows you're shopping yourself around, he starts shopping around, too. And if he finds someone willing to work for less than what he's paying you (or even the same amount), you're a goner.

If you don't like your salary, find a new employer and hope they pay more.


I agree that in some industries this is true. I think the employee really needs to read the tea leaves carefully before pulling something like this. The key is market opportunities. If there is an excess supply of labor and the employee is replaceable, then the employee needs to think twice.

 

[The_Jeff]

What noone asked yet, is what kind of therapist is this, and does health insurance pay for the service? If so it's one of few bright spots in the economy, and could be in shortage...

 

[JHZR2]

Physical therapist, doctorate, in her case the school districts are legally mandated to provide services to kids that need them, and yes, they are very much in shortage.

Not as much last year... this year very much so. The PT magazine shows signing bonuses of up to $15k in certain areas.

Problem going back to the other thread is that where she wants to work if not for her company, is one of the districts that her company contracts with. Sticking with the company would be more palatableif she was given equitable pay to the current rate (1.25x last year's rate).

JMH