Re: Salary Question
- From: "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 02:00:06 +1300
"P. Raulerson" <paul.rl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eaHlh.4354$hr3.2518@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Comon Doc - I said if they were loyal to *him*.
It would seem in his old job, he was loyal to them without any
reciprocation.
-Paul
Unfortunately, Paul, you can't know whether they are loyal to you until the
crunch comes. I have seen (on more than several occasions) permanent
employees who were totally "company men"... fiercely loyal to the company,
worked there for more than 15 years (in one case it was 22 years), loads of
unpaid overtime, etc. and yet, when the company has a hard time, they get
fired.
On one occasion, the company implemented Voluntary Redundancy and paid large
golden handshakes to people who took it. My friend decided he would apply
(having worked there for 16 years and achieved middle management status).
They turned him down. ("We don't want YOU to leave"...). Six months later
they fired him (and a number of others who had refused VR or been declined
when they applied), with his holiday pay and a very small "loyalty
bonus"....Yet all the "dead wood" walked and got paid handsomely for doing
so.
Were they a bad company? I've thought about this a lot over the years. I
don't think they did what they did with malice; it was simply expediency.
Do the people you work for owe you a living? It is arguable.
I was interested to see that the OP on this said they "refused to retrain"
him for web development.
Do we have a right to expect a company to train us? Certainly, if they need
a particular skill and it isn't readily available. But if it is in good
supply, why should they? They are not our parents, or our friends, or our
family. (Despite what the CEO says at the Xmas party... :-)) They are simply
a legally constituted entity with the stated purpose of making money. Help
them do that, and they may give you some.
(Just because you have friends at work does not mean that the "company" is
your friend... this is a popular misconception.)
I have a slightly different approach to this; I consider that MY skill set
is MY responsibility.
As it is my primary means of survival, it is FAR too important to entrust to
any company I may be working for. The only person who can ensure I have a
full toolbox is me. If a company is prepared to contribute to my training
costs, that's fantastic, but I certainly wouldn't expect them to (and I'm
speaking now as if I were a permanent employee...which I was for 10 years
out of a 40 year career).
The hard fact is that there are no jobs for life any more. (Actually, there
haven't been for almost the last three decades.) It is a market place; you
better be sure you have something attractive to sell in it if you don't want
to go home hungry. Not acquiring skill because a company won't pay you to,
is simply foolhardy and shortsighted. It is the same foolishness and myopia
which says "They'll take care of us; we have the pension plan and the
benefits, and John, the Boss, is a good friend...". Sooner or later myopia
will hit you in the wallet.
(Please note I am NOT arguing here what companies SHOULD do...I am
describing real behaviours I have observed.)
Get trained, then find a job that will enable you to recoup your training
investment, if your current job won't. With the advent of the web, and
universal access to it, it doesn't even cost loads of money to acquire
skill.
(It does require self-discipline, time, and application, but you get paid
for it when you sell your newly acquired skill, or use it to build something
that will generate revenue. I have spent the last 5 weeks, in my spare
time, learning C#. It has cost me only time and effort. I'm using my newly
acquired knowledge to write something I have already sold and, although it
isn't huge, it is an income source that will more than repay the time I
spent. Sure, when the summer's over I'll go and get a ":real job", but
meantime, why shouldn't the "hobby" pay for itself? If it helps, look on
your learning as a hobby. One day the hobby may feed you...)
Information is available. If you don't take advantage of it, someone else,
somewhere else, will do so and that person will have your job. It's as
simple as that.
Pete.
P.S. the guy in the story above who was refused VR emigrated with his wife
to Australia. They have never looked back. Sometimes, when one door closes,
another (better?) door opens.
<snipped>
.
- References:
- Salary Question
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- Re: Salary Question
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