TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:FWD: Motivation for Overtime? From:Anonymous Poster <anonfwd -at- raycomm -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Tue, 14 Dec 1999 06:03:11 -0700 (MST)
> What most (in my opinion, the vast majority) of developers
> (AND technical
> writers) who play the "hours" game are saying is, "Please
> Mister boss-man, I
> know that I have not properly planned my work (and that
> therefore, its
> quality sticks), but I beg - by way of a ton of free overtime
> - for mercy."
> This is FEAR in its purest form!
And then there are companies like mine where the developers are PAID for
their overtime, anything over 40 hours (these folk are salaried and then
also get paid an hourly overtime rate based on their salaries). And we
technical writers...well, our boss won't approve any paid overtime for us
(according to my boss's boss, we're professionals so we're expected to
donate time). So while the developers dilly-dally (one group has been
working on an "innovative" new product for 4 years, but they still haven't
produced a working product; the technology changes before they can finish
the product, so they've been forced to redo things several times just to
keep up with the technology) and get paid for learning, making mistakes,
and redoing their work, the writers put in hours of overtime to document
these ever-changing products but don't get paid a lick for it. And let's
not even talk about the discrepancies in the base salaries!
Sure, it would be great to say that we writers here love our jobs so much
that we don't mind putting in the overtime, but we, like the developers,
tend to have family and friends who suffer when we're working late
evenings and weekends. Money doesn't make up for lost time, but it does
tend to boost morale. And it's somewhat demoralizing when two groups who
work closely together don't get compensated similarly for the extra time
they put in.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Forwarded anonymously on request. If you want the
original poster to see your response, you must reply
to the TECHWR-L list. All direct replies to this
message are automatically discarded. Contact Eric
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com with questions.
