Rant about pay

[dez1978]

I tend to think it's much more about what your job role is rather than a workplace culture.

None of the jobs I have held was I handing work to other employees, we didn't have that structure. My husband leaving his job it wasn't his place to just decide to hand off work to someone because the project leader was the one who determined who the work was going to sometimes they pulled someone completely new in. People were pulled off a project in a moment's notice too it happens. Even if you gave 1 day's notice you still can't just hand off work to someone because you don't know if that's what their role will be taking on what were your tasks. It's def. stressful picking up someone else's work though.

Professionalism typically dictates a 2 week notice but only in workplaces where shared work such that you're talking about exists should really any employee think about other employees like that. You could be the best of friends with someone but at the end of the day it's really your business that you're leaving. If you tell your immediate boss it should really be them who figures out the rest.

This is true as well. Here, there are some jobs that many people havee the same duties, so there are several ppl who can just jump in at the drop of a hat and help out or train the new person. My job is not one of those. Even my boss can only do a small part of the job I do bc I do things for several different areas. I also do admissions, so everything clerical starts with me, and then gets handed on to others. I am the only one who does admissions, so I have a person who is specifically trained as my back up person to be able to cover a vacation or illness. But there are lots of little things I do for other areas that aren't things that person is trained on. So in this particular job, it's helpful to have the person leaving the job be able to help the new person start. Or at the very least leave a comprehensive set of instructions or job duties so there is a starting place. I was fortunate that when I started the person who had this job before me is still here, just in a different area now, so she's always been here to answer questions. In the case here, there is no question that the program assistant will pick up all the clerical duties when any other clerical person in the program quits. As the program assistant, if I put in my notice, my boss would have me walk someone thru my duties before I left likely.

 

[Cheburashka]

There are no states in America where unions are banned.

Texas is a right to work state and it is indeed illegal for people in my profession to engage in collective bargaining here.

 

[jrmasm]

This is true as well. Here, there are some jobs that many people havee the same duties, so there are several ppl who can just jump in at the drop of a hat and help out or train the new person. My job is not one of those. Even my boss can only do a small part of the job I do bc I do things for several different areas. I also do admissions, so everything clerical starts with me, and then gets handed on to others. I am the only one who does admissions, so I have a person who is specifically trained as my back up person to be able to cover a vacation or illness. But there are lots of little things I do for other areas that aren't things that person is trained on. So in this particular job, it's helpful to have the person leaving the job be able to help the new person start. Or at the very least leave a comprehensive set of instructions or job duties so there is a starting place. I was fortunate that when I started the person who had this job before me is still here, just in a different area now, so she's always been here to answer questions. In the case here, there is no question that the program assistant will pick up all the clerical duties when any other clerical person in the program quits. As the program assistant, if I put in my notice, my boss would have me walk someone thru my duties before I left likely.

not having someone capable of stepping into another job is poor planning by the employer and not the employee’s problem.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Everyone in our household continued to work during the pandemic. A couple of our neighbors collected. Noticed recently both had new trucks, one a new boat, and the other did major home renovations. DH remarked to me, “We must be doing something wrong” (since we’re all driving older cars here and our house seems to be falling apart eta not to mention, exhausted ). I have a friend whose 20-something son never held an actual job who collected and used the funds as his “golf money”. When DS, the same age, heard that, he was really scratching his head thinking about the miserable job he was doing and the awful commute he had every day, etc. I hadn’t thought much about it until then.

Just an update on this. Watching the news this evening (Ch 4 Boston, if anyone else saw it) they mentioned that, in addition to unemployment, people also got $600/wk. Over 52 weeks, that comes out to $31,200 per year. Now this all makes more sense.

 

[MillauFr]

Texas is a right to work state and it is indeed illegal for people in my profession to engage in collective bargaining here.

That isn't what I said. I said there are no laws in Texas that prevent employees from forming a union.

 

[RamblingMad]

Just an update on this. Watching the news this evening (Ch 4 Boston, if anyone else saw it) they mentioned that, in addition to unemployment, people also got $600/wk. Over 52 weeks, that comes out to $31,200 per year. Now this all makes more sense.

One of my friends got the additional unemployment, but it was a pain here in AZ. So many hoops to jump through. When that went away, it paid only $250 a week. I don't know how any can live off of that.

The actual problem was the lack of child care. When the school went online, you had a lot of women that left the work force to take care of their kids. If we had government funded child care, we would have a lot more women back in the work force.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300002

 

[DisneyElite4]

Just an update on this. Watching the news this evening (Ch 4 Boston, if anyone else saw it) they mentioned that, in addition to unemployment, people also got $600/wk. Over 52 weeks, that comes out to $31,200 per year. Now this all makes more sense.

The extra $600/week was only for a few months in spring/summer 2020. It was not over 52 weeks.

 

[Cheburashka]

That isn't what I said. I said there are no laws in Texas that prevent employees from forming a union.

The whole purpose of a union is collective bargaining. If you can technically join a union but not participate in any real union activity, that isn't a real union, in the sense that the PP meant when he said that people should get a union job to raise their pay.

 

[MillauFr]

The whole purpose of a union is collective bargaining. If you can technically join a union but not participate in any real union activity, that isn't a real union, in the sense that the PP meant when he said that people should get a union job to raise their pay.

There are many unions in Texas that bargain for higher wages.

 

[kymom99]

The extra $600/week was only for a few months in spring/summer 2020. It was not over 52 weeks.

And in our state anyway, you couldn’t collect that without a job that you were laid off from. I’m surprised this is still news. It ended long ago.

 

[mrodgers]

One of my friends got the additional unemployment, but it was a pain here in AZ. So many hoops to jump through. When that went away, it paid only $250 a week. I don't know how any can live off of that.

The actual problem was the lack of child care. When the school went online, you had a lot of women that left the work force to take care of their kids. If we had government funded child care, we would have a lot more women back in the work force.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300002

You already have government subsidized child care. My wife stayed home and we struggled so she could raise our kids instead of a stranger or grandma and all the while I worked and paid taxes to pay for the child care tax credit that everyone else claimed.

 

[leebee]

There is always the risk of alienating existing employees when there is a partial across the board raise.

I can't wait to see the screaming that will occur if the activists fighting for student loan forgiveness win. Hundreds of thousands of people who paid for their education or their child's education getting slapped in the face for not getting loans. It will be very entertaining...

Yeah... or those of us who scrimped to pay our loans because we signed on the dotted line, weren't sucked into borrowing more than we knew we'd be able to afford, and didn't buy the "pay less at the beginning and more at the end as your salary grows" trap. We paid mine, we paid DH's, and we paid DD's loans, doing with less because we needed to meet our obligations. Man, who's the sucker here?

I was on the public elementary school's union contract negotiating team when the hourly minimum wage in Maine went from $7.25 to something like $9 or $10, with mandatory $1/hour increases over three years. Managing that was a nightmare, but everyone got some sort of increase over what was in the prior contract. For some people, it was several dollars an hour; for me, with 8 years experience, it was 10 cents an hour. Yup... I was the one negotiating and I was the one in the worst pay-crunch. I tried to comfort myself by saying at least it showed I was negotiating for the good of the membership and not for myself, but it kinda stunk.

Salary compression is an issue everywhere. At the university level, new faculty are starting at almost twice what my husband, who is a full professor, started at 12 years ago. Of course no institution can afford to give everyone a proportional raise when the starting pay levels increase, but boy, it's annoying to learn after 12 years one only makes about $10K more than brand new hires, with no post-doc experience, no teaching or research experience. It's an issue, for sure.

 

[Moliphino]

Yeah... or those of us who scrimped to pay our loans because we signed on the dotted line, weren't sucked into borrowing more than we knew we'd be able to afford, and didn't buy the "pay less at the beginning and more at the end as your salary grows" trap. We paid mine, we paid DH's, and we paid DD's loans, doing with less because we needed to meet our obligations. Man, who's the sucker here?

I paid mine off, but I still support student loan forgiveness (or at least wipe out the interest, that's what's drowning most people). There needs to be an overhaul of that whole system, too.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I paid mine off, but I still support student loan forgiveness (or at least wipe out the interest, that's what's drowning most people). There needs to be an overhaul of that whole system, too.

I'm with you on the interest part. I don't think forgiveness is the answer but most of the student loan issues stem from just how upside down the payments are. One of my private loans is like that. The majority of the monthly payment goes to interest not the principal so it's hard to pay that down. The other private loan is not like that. Federal loan on the other hand the vast majority of the payment did go to the principal so the issue wasn't there.

When you have loans that the interest takes up so much of the monthly payment you understand more how people get bogged down with payments, it's like a debt that seemingly won't go away despite paying what you're supposed to pay, on time, every time for years on end.

Some part of me is thinking that a set time frame for how long the interest is charged for would be a more happy medium.

 

[dez1978]

not having someone capable of stepping into another job is poor planning by the employer and not the employee’s problem.

I don't disagree. But it tends to be fairly common in state government jobs. Esp when staffing is at a dangerous minimum to begin with.

 

[RamblingMad]

You already have government subsidized child care. My wife stayed home and we struggled so she could raise our kids instead of a stranger or grandma and all the while I worked and paid taxes to pay for the child care tax credit that everyone else claimed.

The child tax credit is not subsidized child care.

 

[kymom99]

I don't disagree. But it tends to be fairly common in state government jobs. Esp when staffing is at a dangerous minimum to begin with.

Yeah there are no extra workers. We had 3 people quit from this school in the past month. There are no extra teachers hanging around the school.

 

[jrmasm]

I don't disagree. But it tends to be fairly common in state government jobs. Esp when staffing is at a dangerous minimum to begin with.

I work for state government. And I was screwed recently by a departing employee that gave 2 weeks notice because it wasn’t long enough due the nature of the work that needed to be picked up. If management doesn’t plan for employees leaving and doesn’t have a good cross training plan in affect, it doesn’t matter if someone gives 2 weeks notice or 2 minutes notice.

Despite the mess that I had to deal with, I still say you don’t owe anyone anything and do what is best for yourself and your family.

 

[nancipants]

The child tax credit is not subsidized child care.

Yeah, it was also $300, which didn't even pay for one week of our part-time daycare for one kid.

 

[RamblingMad]

Yeah, it was also $300, which didn't even pay for one week of our part-time daycare for one kid.

Yep.

I think, this is the number one reason why so many positions go unfilled. Women left the work force to take care of their kids when schools went virtual. As schools start to go back to in person learning, I expect some of the unfilled positions to get filled. However, after spending two years at home taking care of their kids, I expect some will stay permanently out of the work force. This is on top of the early retirements by the baby boomers.

And the magical $15/hr means so much less now that we're experiencing 7+% inflation rates.

Employers are out of touch with how much stuff costs. People also spent time evaluating what is important to them. Times have changed. People aren't lazy. They have reprioritized what's important to them.