5/31/2009 9:46:13 AM

Quote :

"Reasons for leaving: My hours are irregular, the pay does not compensate fully for the amount of productivity and sacrifices the employees provide, and the excessive wear-and-tear on my vehicle (averaging 200-500 miles of driving per week during the busy season). There are plenty of others, but these are the big ones."

These are all good reasons for concern, not so sure they are good reasons to quit. You see things from a unique perspective and bringing these things to your upper ups attention could be a way to spark some internal change.

Reason #1: The hours are irregular.
What you could do: It sounds like the clients dictate this schedule. Maybe you could propose to have a rotation of who works late nights, weekends, etc so everyone can plan ahead at least when they are going to work extended hours. I dont know exactly what irregular hours means and the details of why but maybe there is a way you can come up to combat this. My girlfriends small firm lets their clients know they take off every first Friday. Its pretty nice knowing once a month she has an extended weekend. Not saying that would work for your firm but it was something that they did to sweeten the bruise of the irregular hours there.

Reason #2: the pay does not compensate fully for the amount of productivity and sacrifices the employees provide
Have you addressed this with your boss? A little research could be done on your competitors and the industry standards to find out pay, compensation types, benefits that correlate with the work you do and the experience you have. Its one thing to tell your boss that your not paid enough, its another to show them evidence with numbers.

There are many great books on this out there. A great read that shares a spot on my bookshelf: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875848087/hrvillage0d-20


Reason#3: and the excessive wear-and-tear on my vehicle (averaging 200-500 miles of driving per week during the busy season
Are you paid mileage reimbursement? The standard rate should abide by the Federal rate.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=200505,00.html My company was paying us the 2001 rate until about 6 months ago. All the employees made some noise about it, our client agreed to pay the going rate, and now I bank on mileage (about 2000 miles per month) to cover my gas, car payment, insurance, wear and tear, and then some. Is it possible that your boss is not factoring this cost into your pricing? If not, this could be your time to suggest they include the mileage as a billable activity.

It sounds like these reasons are legit for concern but I think you'll be surprised at how receptive your boss may be if you present these problems and at the same time, have suggested solutions. If the boss does not see these your way or blows these off then you'll know its time to leave and their "family" atmosphere is really a smoke screen. Of course doing so diplomatically is key but that is the great thing about numbers and a little research... they take some of the emotional aspect out of arbitration.

Your plan could be: Identify the problems --> Create a list of facts for each --> Propose solutions for each --> Show pros/cons of each for the employees and the overall company -->Suggest how to implement each.

Three other random thoughts about this. 1) My company has this understanding that "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"...
2) If this is an employee owned company then shouldn't you have a voting right for how decisions are made and strategic direction of the firm? Please explain a bit more about how this is employee owned.
3) If I am interviewing you after you have left the job, specifically behavior based interviewing, I would cover your reasons for leaving heavily. Attrition is the death of many companies and if I dug deep enough to find out you left without manning up, voicing the concerns openly, suggesting rational change, and also giving management rational time/measure to make these changes I might be concerned for several obvious reasons. The first and foremost that you may do the same thing at my company. The second that your interpersonal and conflict resolution skill set is deficient. The third that if you were put in a management role you may lack balance of having the required spine and tact to handle conflict. The fourth being that you may be leaving for reasons outside of these. Be straight up honest with yourself, if your management bent in your direction on all three of these things, would you still be content doing what you do?




[Edited on May 31, 2009 at 11:38 PM. Reason : forgot a good read]

5/31/2009 11:19:50 PM

^ The only clients are schools, so the company is inherently seasonally-based and operates solely during the day, with the hierarchal structure based on seniority and sexual-favor politics. If you can last for 20 years, then you can retire quite nicely, but it takes forever to get to a point to where you can support yourself at this company.

5/31/2009 11:58:36 PM

Quote :

"The only clients are schools"

And at one time google was just a search engine...

Why not churches? Sport teams? Corporate photographers? (at our biannual summit a cheesy guy with jokes takes our corporate picture, I bet he makes bank taking 4 pictures and printing 300 of them).

Or, if ^ is the norm then its probably

Quote :

"The fourth being that you may be leaving for reasons outside of these. Be straight up honest with yourself, if your management bent in your direction on all three of these things, would you still be content doing what you do?"

Someone needs to challenge the status quo here



[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:12 AM. Reason : .]

6/1/2009 12:06:59 AM

I know for sure that I don't want a promotion in this company, there's no incentive.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:08 AM. Reason : ^we have underclass/senior/sports/churches too]

6/1/2009 12:08:15 AM

Quote :

"I know for sure that I don't want a promotion in this company, there's no incentive."

Why would you get a promotion if your job scope stay the same and your not making the company more profitable by you being there? Sounds like your a commodity wanting a bailout.

Ill be fair and ask, what do you do at this firm that makes you irreplaceable or deserving of a promotion (where promo = +$) ?


[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:20 AM. Reason : .]

6/1/2009 12:16:44 AM

I do a great job. My boss pulls me aside once every other week to tell me how I rock.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:22 AM. Reason : makes me downright awkward in fact]

6/1/2009 12:21:55 AM

Quote :

"I do a great job. My boss pulls me aside once every other week to tell me how I rock."

Sounds like a reason to keep your job, not get a promo. It sucks but in the end you play a piece of the companies financial equation where the reality is, your value = the profit you bring the company that no one else could bring. If you don't differentiate yourself this way then your going to be treated like a commodity with respect to your pay band.

In going back to my original post, have you considered bringing your concerns to him/her?


[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:31 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 12:32 AM. Reason : could be a female boss, right?]

6/1/2009 12:26:51 AM

i really thought i had won this page

6/1/2009 12:48:14 AM

I've got two main bosses that I report to, and most of the bolder employees do complain on a regular basis, so I didn't think it would make a difference.

6/1/2009 7:11:42 AM

^ If you gave me that response in your interview I would interpret that you have an entitlement complex and your a sit on your heels type of employee. Probably best that you do quit and go to your next job to find out the issue was not so much your employer rather you need a change of venue or challenge. That kind of work would rub me down, sounds like a lot of the same all the time and I could see how after a few years you need something different.

[Edited on June 1, 2009 at 9:55 AM. Reason : .]

6/1/2009 9:52:03 AM

Wow. That was easy. They were very understanding and professional.

6/9/2009 11:29:34 AM

Quote :

"i really thought i had won this page"

Oh you did, Brandon, you did.

6/9/2009 11:58:47 AM

The technical manager found out I was quitting, then just asked me what I was doing tonight ...

6/11/2009 8:24:21 PM