Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

New Ohio Minimum Wage Law?

Okay, so Ohio has needed to raise its minimum wage for a long time now. Finally, we did. However, it comes with at least one requirement that might prove useful, yet will cause some grief for those of us who are salaried. We now have to keep track of our time with timesheets, just like the non-exempt employees.

At first, I was a bit bent out of shape by this. But then, I realized how this might benefit those who are more than likely getting the ol' shaft because they work long hours, yet get paid a crappy salary. It's why I refuse to work more than 40-50 hours per week, because if I did...my "hourly" wage would go down. Now, I'm not below minimum wage by any means. I figure that someone who makes only $22,000 per year, yet works 70 hour weeks, is probably someone who would be making below minimum wage.

I also wonder...does this mean we'll get overtime? Doubt it. From what I've read, it only applies to recordkeeping in case someone does happen to fall under the minimum wage. I'll be interested to see if anyone in this company falls under that category. Again, doubt it...but hey, maybe it'll show my division just how much we really make per hour. I mean, a lot of us work 60+ hour weeks (not me), so our hourly wage might be ridiculously low for someone in our position. Bet nothing will come of it...but I might start working longer hours just to prove a point, you know?

The Jungle of Job Search Sites

I am always on the lookout for freelance writing gigs, or any writing gig for that matter. And actually, with the impending sale of my company, I am keeping my eyes open for work should I get downsized. So, I've been looking for job search sites, aside from the bigger ones, just to see if there are any hidden gems out there. When I stumbled across GetTheJob.com, I was pleasantly surprised to find a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate job search site. You can search by job title, company, or location, depending on your needs. Unfortunately, there are no jobs suitable for me at this time, but I will definitely be bookmarking this site for future reference!


Tuesday, October 17, 2006

What Burns Me Up!

Okay, so my department...the 4 people left in it...had its monthly staff meeting today, which went okay until my manager said these words, "we will not necessarily be replacing everyone who's left (that's 3 people now). We will be looking at workload and capabilities to determine how many people we will be replacing." So basically, we had 6 people before, but now 4 people will work just fine...and 5 might give us all the breathing room we need. Wrong!

Now, we are finally getting around to replacing the person who left in August, but only because the third person resigned...shortly after we were told we wouldn't be replacing the August departee. And now we may not be replacing the two other people we're supposed to get? WTF??? It really was all I could do not to jump up and yell, "What the f*ck are you trying to do to us, kill us all??? Dash any hope of this department getting any better? Because you sure are doing one heck of a job, if that's the case." I mean, really...I know that they *might* replace all of the people who've left, but the fact that they're even considering not replacing everyone just blows my mind...especially when we're being asked to take on yet another type of project in addition to the ones we're struggling to keep up with now.

The morale of this department is already at the bottom of the ocean. We're all overworked. We keep losing people because of the workload and morale. We could really use some hope around here, and having a full complement of project managers would sure help! We aren't just machines with certain levels of capacity...we are human beings with emotions and limits. Heck, even machines have limits...and they break down when they're asked to do too much. Humans are much more fragile, but I'm not sure if our manager realizes that.

I mean, she told me I was getting "needlessly upset" by this news. If she actually understood us when we tell her about our huge workloads and general depression over the circumstances this department is facing, maybe she wouldn't see it as needless. Just because she is unemotional does not mean my getting upset is needless. Just because she thinks it's needless does not make it needless. If they were actually going to do something to help this department, then it would be. But from what I can tell, they don't listen to us even when we jump up and down and scream in front of them that we're overworked and PISSED OFF about how we're treated! They don't do anything about it when people leave because of it!

God, I hope this thing with the vendor works out (them opening an office locally). I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. I've actually started a list of complaints to go to HR about, since it seems they want details on my manager. Well, I have them, and they're going to learn everything they want to know first-hand. I'll make dead sure of it.