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Subject:RE: Exempt status for Tech Writers From:"Downing, David" <david -dot- downing -at- fiserv -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:54:17 -0600
From: "Adrianne Mora" <AdrianneM -at- envipco -dot- com>
Subject: RE: Exempt status for Tech Writers
I do not want to be hourly, either. The output of my brain cannot and
should not be measured in hours but rather by the quality and the
quantity of the work that I produce. Hourly pay makes sense for
professions which require that the employee be on site for a certain
number of hours to make widgets or answer the phone, for example.
However, it doesn't make sense when the employee's primary output is the
content of the brain, and that content can be filled and poured out at
any time of the day or night. If forced, we'd charge for overtime, but
I'm sure we wouldn't be paid more overall. We'd just have to deal with
more paperwork.
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This makes perfect sense, but then how do you figure what to pay someone for a contract job? Do they get paid by the deliverable? The problem with that is that if it takes long enough to produce a given deliverable, you could end up getting paid at what comes down to something like 2 cents an hour.
David Downing
Senior Technical Writer
Credit Union Solutions
Fiserv
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