March 6, 2009 at 8:59 am
I already have almost all those (except the pension and overtime) in my private sector, US job. I got them by busting my rear end and being good at what I do for 25 years. I don't really want a company provided pension, I'd rather have the salary and save it myself (admittedly I'm the sort who would go crazy being retired so that's not in the works anyway). I even changed my state of residence years ago to a "Right to Work" state, so that I couldn't ever be forced to join a union.
But all that being said, I would like a big bowl of gummi bears on my desk, and a Scotch allowance.
March 6, 2009 at 9:04 am
I thought this might go sideways. 😉
I'm torn on the union issue. They've been done poorly, but they have brought about changes and benefits that we wouldn't have. Don't forget, just like you'd rather have the ability to make your own decisions, and you'd rather spend the money on xx, so would the company, or rather, management. They don't necessarily want to take care of you in many cases. It's easy to say the market would work this out, but really what would happen is the "good" employers would get their choice of employees and those not chosen suffer. Unions could be better, but that being said, not sure how you can make it work.
So, it seems training is a big issue. Lots of people would like that. I'm not surprised, most companies want us to do it ourselves. Maybe we should, and as Gus mentioned, just go for more pay, make the investment ourselves and get paid back.
Ergo chairs, it's not necessarily ego. good equipment is important. That being said, a fair point about us investing in ourselves.
Vacation - The US is behind here. And we make it hard to take it. My wife is on PTO today, with my daughter, and people are calling her, expecting her to take care of things. IMHO, the US needs to readjust itself a little and understand that if something gets put off until tomorrow, it's not the end of the world. We need to allow people to get away for a few days here and there and deal with it.
March 6, 2009 at 9:25 am
On further thought, I should amend my prior answer which was not meant to imply that anyone else on here isn't working hard or good at what they do.
I also have typically made the decision to stick with boring and stable (prioritizing stability for my family) over interesting and cutting edge. Things like vacation time tend to go up when you've been with the same company for 5 or 10 years.
March 6, 2009 at 9:25 am
Yikes! What part of the country do you live in Steve, Montana? :w00t:
Calm down my foreign friends, it's not that bleak over here in the states. We have all the things mentioned on Steve's list. 10 holidays, over 20 personal days, medical/dental/vision, retirement savings plan, chairs, training, overtime. We even exercise at lunch (jog/mountain bike/basketball/surf).
We're not unionized, but I suppose if you didn't have those things you'd want to do something about it.
March 6, 2009 at 9:30 am
There are 2 things that I really like about a union - and they both have to do with pay structure and seniority.
1) There is a well defined job description and pay range for each job at each level (junior, intermediate, senior)
2) There is a defined ladder structure of unionized employee management and requirements for that structure
It would be nice to know that everyone at your level is getting paid the same and also knowing where you can go from here, how long it will take you, and what your raise and possibly perks will be.
But there are way too many things that I don't like about a union to want to ever work in one.
Mia
I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.
-- David M. Ogilvy
March 6, 2009 at 9:35 am
The only benefit I find useful in a union is the right to leave the union and still work side by side with those who choose to be part of the union, without losing my job or my neck.
The worst feature of a union is the tactic of strong-arming the employers into forcing them into a unionized shop... like they cannot win on their own merits and have people willingly join... That issue is just as bad as an employer who commits abuses in wages or labor.
I think the biggest reason the IT sector will never have a strong union base is because advancements come too fast for them to control or lock it all down, but it also keeps the wages up due to need of constantly improving skills.
March 6, 2009 at 9:48 am
WI-DBA (3/6/2009)
We have a good amount of holidays, if you work for gov't there is one every few weeks. Nothing close to Europe however.
Hardly. I work for state government and we get ten public holidays and one personal holiday per year. Still, add 12 - 22 days of vacation per year and 12 days of sick leave per year and it ain't so bad.
The only extra benefit I'd like would be overtime pay and I don't think the union I was forced to join three years ago is going to help with that.
Greg
March 6, 2009 at 9:54 am
Everyone has well commented your original list, Steve, how about some new items?
Relocation benefits for expansions or transfers, to help cover moving expenses. Some folks have this, but it's not guaranteed, that's for sure.
profit-sharing for process improvement - if you impact the bottom-line in a positive and demonstrable way, you get some % of a % of that impact. Talk about incentive to improve. How many of the readers here would be millionaires?
time allotted for public volunteerism. X number of hours every month/year that an employee can take to volunteer somewhere while still receiving pay. Boosts PR for the company, and gets the employees engaged in the local scene. Especially as it relates to your business, I'm in Medicaid Managed Care, so lots of opportunities there to help something that's actually related to work.
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"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
March 6, 2009 at 10:02 am
I am now 63 and have been working at this particular job for 7 years with a chair that won't adjust, a desk where my keyboard is way too high for my small frame and that was purchased before computers were invented.
Our employer will not spend the money on chairs or desks or anything else and every day I am in pain. At this point in my life, where quitting means never working again, I can say that an ergonomic work environment is important. It might not seem important when you are young, but later on in life it matters.
If I were in a union I would say that a safe ergonomic environment that does not cause permanent disabiling injuries would be on top of my list
March 6, 2009 at 10:02 am
Good list of new benefits.
I worry about profit sharing since how much contribution does each person make, and how many others have on that idea. That can fragment a team or company.
glad to see new items. Relocation makes sense to me.
I love the pro bono aspect. I'd like to see more companies embrace that a little. Give departments some allocation among their people to use.
March 6, 2009 at 10:12 am
There is no doubt that Unions are a factor in many of the conditions the we have today. Antibiotics are helpful when you are sick, but you don't stay on them indefinitely.
For myself, I'm glad to have a job. I'm glad that I can look out the window to see the snow falling. I'm glad that I can feed my family and put clothes on their backs.
Certainly there are things I would wish for and will push for in my present position; there always are. The benefits of telecommuting have been eloquently stated by many posters and I agree. But the bottom line is that the company I work for must succeed for me to succeed. I know the argument of, "Yeah, well I worked hard to make the company succeed and I got fired!" Been there! Doesn't change the reality! If the company isn't profitable, they won't be around for long.
Unless, of course, we can negotiate a bailout...
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"No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious." - George Bernard Shaw
March 6, 2009 at 10:17 am
Steve Jones - Editor (3/6/2009)
Good list of new benefits.I worry about profit sharing since how much contribution does each person make, and how many others have on that idea. That can fragment a team or company.
Yeah, it'd have to be well defined, but we're just listing our wishes, not defining how we get there, so I cheated :P:D
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
March 6, 2009 at 10:25 am
jcrawf02 (3/6/2009)
Relocation benefits for expansions or transfers, to help cover moving expenses.
profit-sharing for process improvement
time allotted for public volunteerism.
If the company is forcing the relo, then they should pay.
Profit sharing for process improvement? That would be SWEET! I'd be retired by now.
Volunteering. Back in college I was the philanthropic chair for my fraternity. I also got in the habit of doing some work for a small family camp in New Hampshire, along with some former college buddies. This spring marks my 20 consecutive year volunteering at that camp.
Now, if my employer wants to "help", either paying some of the expense, not counting those days as vacation, etc, that would be incredible.
Honor Super Omnia-
Jason Miller
March 6, 2009 at 10:44 am
Jason Miller (3/6/2009)
jcrawf02 (3/6/2009)
Relocation benefits for expansions or transfers, to help cover moving expenses.
If the company is forcing the relo, then they should pay.
Not necessarily forced relo, my company has 9 states they operate in, if I wanted to tfer to Seattle from Ohio, I could get help; or particularly if they open shop in additional states (like they are doing right now in Florida), they could recruit good, established, savvy employees by offering relo benefits to get them down in the new shop.
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
March 6, 2009 at 10:46 am
I guess I'm lucky as I have a good Pension plan (of course nothing in it yet), a great chair and ergonomics, I get paid for overtime, vacation is poor because i just started a new job, 2 weeks to start and training time/dollars.
What is most important to me is flex time, to be able to work more hours when I have the energy and bank them to take a day off or shorten another day. This would make up for 2 weeks only of vacation.
I would also like to be able to telecommute as in our jobs we need to get away from the office an stay in our jammies once and a while.
Anyway, back to Kerberos.... why won't NTLM go away! 😛
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