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Subject:RE: Average Hours Worked From:"Sean Brierley" <sbri -at- haestad -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 2 Aug 2002 10:45:30 -0400
That's obscene.
I am not some slave, beholden to any company for unlimited hours based
on 40 hours of salary. I don't mind working overtime occasionally, but
it is abusive to expect persistent overtime without appropriate
compensation.
If the plumber is wrong in his estimate, I agree he can only charge his
estimate or thereabouts (I would expect small print on the estimate to
include a 10% variance, or some such thing.) However, your analogy is
way off base.
If the plumber shows up, gives an estimate on a job, does the job,
surely you do not think the homeowner should be able to keep the plumber
working on other jobs without compensating the plumber?
So, too, it is with technical writing employment. If the job is a
40-hour one, why should the technical writer be coerced into 80-hour
weeks without compensation? Now, if the initial employment agreement
said "80-hours per week," that is a different story. The truth is, these
employment agreements don't say "80 hours." They say, "40" or "45" hours
and refer to "occasional" overtime. If the employment agreement said "80
hours," then you, I, and the employer in question would expect the
employee's salary request to be appropriate. That is, if the employee
wanted $50,000 for 40 hours, one would expect them to ask for
$100,000-$150,000 for an 80-hour-per-week gig.
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Plato [mailto:gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 10:38 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: Goober
Subject: Re: Average Hours Worked
> So if I love to write I should be happy putting in
> 80
> hours a week in exchange for payment for 40 hours a
> week? I don't think so.
No. You just answered your own question Goober boy.
You are only willing to give 40 hrs a week to an
employer. As such you should seek employment in
organizations that are basically in-line with this
desire.
The downside of this, is that some jobs will not be
within your reach because there is an expectation that
you will work more than 40 hrs per week.
Exactamundo! And you are compensated for getting the
job done, not just showing up and filling a chair. If
a plumber comes over and says "have it done in an
hour" and it takes him four hours - a reputable and
reasonable plumber would only charge one hour
(assuming there was not some massive change in the
work expected).
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