Re: Where is the ceiling in TW?

[John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Jo...this is not always the case.

The department where I'm contracting was in a situation where they'd
lost all of their writers (3 FTs) and I was the only one left
(contractor). Is so happened that my contract was closing, I'd
interviewed, and had two offers (and my manager knew about them). My
supervisor asked me if I would renew for awhile...they brought it up,
not I. I said yes, only under the condition of 10% rate increase and
the option to telecommute 2 days a week.  They accepted it (within
the hour).

Two weeks later, my supervisor was fired (for performance), but I was
kept with no changes in rules or added work.  BTW...yesterday, about
10% of the company was layed off to cut expense and I'm still there,
with no change in rules or work load (and yes, I've spoken to the new
manager that was brought in 2 weeks ago and no change is
anticipated).

I think the issue is not whether you placed them over a barrel, but
whether at the new level, are you still as valueable as you were at
the previous level (and didn't rub their noses in it).

The person you gave as an example. If she had looked at it
objectively, she would have seen the increase as not their paying her
too little, but her not knowing her value from the beginning and
having negotiated for it. That was HER problem, not theirs. Now, if
during this piling on of the riches, she had turned to them and took
less than the maximum she could have gotten (maybe only double the
salary), not only would they have carried her out on their sholders,
but they would have understood that she was a class act and have
treated her so. 

When you have your employer over a barrel, take a little less than
the maximum they are offering. You'll get it back in spades later on.


> This exact situation happened to a woman at a company where I was
> contracting.
> It so happened, she knew the software program better than almost
> anyone there, but they didn't appreciate her or reward her
> adequately. Fed up, she found another, better, job, and gave
> notice. Panic. Complete and utter panic. They
> hauled her in, made all sorts of promises, offered to raise her
> salary to three or four times its current level. Greed almost
> worked, but then she suddenly reflected: why is it I'm worth all
> this money only now when I've given notice?
> Then she got mad, stuck to her guns, and accepted the other offer -
> even though it was for considerably less money than her current
> employer's last offer.
> 
> I always felt she made a wise choice: they would have milked her
> for her knowledge, then found some excuse to ditch her.


=====
John Posada, Senior Technical Writer
"How to be happy in life: Never impose your beliefs
on anyone else and never fry bacon in the nude."
 -- Anon
mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com, 732-259-2874

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. 

http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17)
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001 
Conference East, June 4-5, Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.
http://www.pdfconference.com or toll-free 877/278-2131. 

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.