Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with employee

Why Should You Use Social Networking at Work?

Jaybo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:06:47 -0800

Many workplaces ban social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on. What are some of the reasons workplaces should allow (and even encourage) staff to use social networking sites? I'm particularly interested in the case you would make to someone in the healthcare field but examples that are applicable to other areas, especially those that may ban social networking site for privacy or productivity reasons, are welcome as well.

How do I deal with a lazy employee?

cronholio — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:02:09 -0800

I am a team leader in an IT company. One of the guys in my team is giving me a headache because he turned lazy all of a sudden. He is a very good developer, though very geeky and a bit antisocial, you know the type. He's been on the team for 3 months now and he is one of the key developers in the project we're currently working on. For 4 or 5 weeks now he has been working maybe half as much as before, probably even less. He comes to work very late and leaves early. He surfs the web most of the time. In our company the atmosphere is very relaxed, nobody cares if you don't come in from 9 to 5 or if you play browser games or whatever. What counts is the work that you do. And this guy stopped doing more or less anything. I've had a serious talk with him about the issue and he apologized and said he didn't see it that way, but he would try to improve. Nothing has changed since, if anything, it got worse. I keep reminding him and he seems to be alarmed when I do but other than that doesn't seem to care much. When asked if there is anything about his work that he doesn't enjoy, something that could be improved, he doesn't give me anything.

Now it would be easiest to fire him and it probably won't be long before I do just that, but I was wondering if I could motivate him somehow or try something else to get through to him. As I said, he's one of the most valuable developers and though I don't like him too much personally, I would hate to lose him for the sake of the project.

Can my wife work for me?

teg4rvn — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:33:53 -0800

Is there a financially beneficial way to bring my spouse on as an employee in my consulting business? My wife has been a stay at home mom for 10 years and has been looking for part-time work for the last 1-2 years without luck. She is highly educated in her field, but most people simply want full-timers. As a result she has remained unemployed. I have an on-the-side consulting business that grosses 20-30K each year. Essentially, lawyers send me stuff to review, I provide an opinion, they pay me. Is there any way I could bring the spouse on as an employee and get some sort of financial benefit to the household (not to mention getting certain things done that I ordinarily don't have time for such as website updates and/or more sophisticated communication with my clients)?

What training and orientation does your workplace provide to new employees?

Jaybo — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:35:50 -0800

What sort of training and orientation does your workplace provide to new employees? I'm particularly interested in what libraries do with new employees - both front line and support staff - but would also love to hear what what other organizations, companies and sectors do as well in case I could adapt something for our library's new employee orientation plan.

I'm interested in anything from the type of training that new employees are given, how long it lasts, how formalized it is, who leads it, what it is comprised of (do you use manuals? Online modules? Are these developed in-house or obtained from somewhere else?) If employees receive one-on-one training or group training? How does it differ depending on the role of the employee (what does a front line public service clerk get versus a librarian versus a support staff member working in say, IT or Marketing?)

Dry Question Which Does Not Lend Itself to Catchy Title (Hey, Prove Me Wrong!)

HotToddy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:15:26 -0800

If an employee makes $9.50 an hour, how much is his employer out of pocket, per hour, once you add in Social Security, Medicare, worker's comp, etc.? Please assume the employee has no benefits and no retirement contributions. This is just hourly wage + other mandatory payments.

Like a boss

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:47:51 -0800

The owner of the company I work for, has made me his special project. How do I cope with a boss who has taken a sudden interest in my professional and personal aspirations? The Backstory:
There have been ongoing issues between the employees and the employers of a small (<15 employees) company. These issues have been addressed numerous times by more than a few of the employees to the employers. Each time, the employers take these suggestions as a personal attack, and subordinate. Nothing has been resolved, and these issues have made it VERY hard for every department to do their tasks and serve the clients in the best way possible, as a result tensions are high. Somehow, I've been there 2 years. At this point, I am the only one at the company that does this particular job, I am a one person "department." I work hard.

The situation came to a head recently and I became rather upset. About 2 weeks ago, I said a couple things to an account manager that I should not have said. I am very ashamed and embarrassed that I let myself get to this point. It was unprofessional. I have since apologized to the manager and the situation itself has been resolved. The manager told the owner of the company about the outburst.

Since then, the owner of the company (we'll call him O) has decided to "get to know me better" and build a relationship with me that will "foster more communication." He was not there at the time of the outburst. As the company works, he is not directly involved with my day to day activities at the office. I have another boss/co-owner (B) who works closely with me and he is considered my direct boss.

B and I work together great, while O rarely shows up to the office. Up until now, O has shown little or no interest in my day to day work. I honestly have no idea what O does in the office, other than "own the business." B praises my efforts and has given me a lot of responsibilities and has raised me from entry level to a mid level position in the company. Only problem with B, is he thinks O hung the moon. O can do no wrong. Therefore, I can't talk to B about this at all. Also, B hasn't spoken with me about my outburst or O's new found interest in my life.

O is intensely religious, and very politically conservative. The sense of entitlement that this guy has, it's unbelievable. I'm not exaggerating, and clients have made comments to me about his behavior.

His sudden interest in me has included scheduling weekly meetings in which we discuss my "aspirations." He said I should be "honored" that he can take time out of his schedule to visit with me, as I'm important to him.

These meetings start in two weeks. I am to write down my personal and professional aspirations in 6 months, in 1 year, and in 5 years. My goal is to be out of this company in 6 months, but I can't exactly say that. I have bills to pay, I need to keep this job-- Until I find something better. If I don't do this, surely I am going to get fired.

I really just want to continue to show up at 8am, do my work well, serve the clients and go home 5pm. I have been at this company for 2 years and never once raised my voice.

Obviously, I'm searching for a new job but so far, I have no offers. I really love what I do, I just don't like where I do it. My career does not have very many openings in this area at all. Moving to another market is not an option at this time.

How can I express some professional goals and aspirations that I DON'T HAVE?! Should I just lie? Are there some generic goals that could somewhat appease him? How do I express that I do not want to share my personal life goals with him? How do I continue to cope until I find something else?

Questions can be directed to: suddeninterestmefi@gmail.com

IT Contractor vs full-time Employee. Disadvantages to going the contractor route?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:49:02 -0800

I'm currently employed full-time for a large consulting firm and have recently been offered an opportunity to engage on contract as an independent consultant. I'm hesitant about the loss of stability that this may imply and request the communities feedback Background: Working for several years for a "Large IT Consulting Organization", which also sub-contracts with Contractors and Professional Services organizations to supplement existing in-house skills for our clients. I have a good relationship with these folks and have recently been offered an opportunity to leave my current organization and contract for an engagement of at least 6 months to a year.

The question of compensation, tax, and benefits I think I've got a decent handle on. I'm more interested in the stability aspects to going the contractor route.

I'm an IT professional, age 25-30, recently married, no children for at least another few more years. Wife has a well paying job, current medium term savings give us roughly 6 months cushion time if I'm not drawing a paycheck.

In my current organization, it's important to keep oneself 'billable'. At the same time, I'm salaried and so have a measure of guaranteed income which I find reassuring.

Does anyone have any feedback, or lessons learned one way or another about going this route? I'd like to know more about what everyone thinks about this from a long-term career growth perspective, as well as short term gotchas and things to be on the look out for.

You can contact me directly at itcntrctr5@gmail.com

How do I redesign my business structure?

Tavern — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:35:05 -0800

I am attempting to reorganize the structure of my business and was wondering if anyone had experience with this or could direct me to some templates. I own a small company that has 11 employees. There has never been a formal organizational structure to my business. Job descriptions are non-existent and each employee's role overlaps with other employees and there is no real chain of command. Everything flows through me (the executive) and I'm overloaded.

I want to pass out an employee questionnaire that will give me a feel for what people think their main tasks are, who they think they report to, what main problems they encounter, and so on. Are there any templates for such a thing, or should I design one myself? Essentially I want to have them explain to me what they think their job description currently is.

Is this the right way to start? Does anyone have any experience with this? Or can anyone lead me to some online resources about this?

Employment contracts are all take and no give?

tracicle — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:59:07 -0800

How do you balance employee rights vs company needs in an employment contract? (This question is on behalf of my husband.)

I'm looking at a contract that seems a bit one sided. The company wants a probation period, ownership of anything I do at work or at home, no out of hours work for anyone else, and a non-compete if I leave. This all seems like a bit much for a regular employee.

You can see the middle management point of view here - but this is a professional role that should involve trust.

What is reasonable to ask of a programmer these days?

How Can NASA Encourage NASA Employees to Innovate?

choragus — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:30:58 -0800

How Might the Personal Pet Projects of NASA Employees Provide Fuel For Innovation at NASA? The employees of Genentech, 3M and Google, along with other private sector companies, are encouraged to use up to 20% of their regular work week on personal pet projects to create innovative products.

As a result of a recent recommendation, the NASA Senior leadership directed its Agency Office of Human Capital Management and Center Human Capital community to begin researching similar models for NASA employees...unclear if this includes the Agency's contracted employees, too.

How might NASA achieve a goal that enables its employees to devote 20% their time toward innovative pet projects with taxpayer-funding throughout its workforce of educators, procurement and contracts, operations, legal, human resources, information technology, legal, financial, scientists and engineers?

Is this the right question?

Question about Highly Compensated Employees and 401(k) Contributions

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:21:32 -0800

Am I a Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) with regards to making 401(k) contributions? Here's what I know:

* A Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) is limited in his or her contributions to a 401(k) program.

* According to this page, (and others) if I made over $105,000 in 2008, I would be considered an HCE in 2009.

* My company will automatically limit the contributions I can make if I earn more than the HCE limit from them.

Here's my situation:

Last year I switched jobs from Company A to Company B in February. At Company A I was earning about $80,000 a year, at Company B I make $110,000 a year (Go me!). Company B would automatically declare me an HCE if I earned over $105,000 from Company B last year. Because I switched mid-year, I earned about $100,000 from Company B last year. However, I received about $20,000 from Company A last year (including bonus and unpaid vacation time). So, my total income last year was $120,000.

My question then is whether I am an HCE based on my total annual salary from last year (across both employers) or am I not an HCE because my salary from my current employer is less than the limit?

Throwaway email account: mefi.hce@gmail.com

[Asking as Anonymous to avoid awkwardness with my MeFi coworkers]

Hire a housekeeper with schizophrenia?

KWittman — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:42:59 -0800

Are we obligated to rehire a household employee with schizophrenia? For the past four years we have had a housekeeper (legal - we pay taxes) whose duties include watching our school-age kids. She had always been great, and we had no complaints at all. After her father died many months ago, her work started becoming increasingly erratic (one day I found she had put dirty clothes in the dryer, bypassing the washer completely), and her behavior seemed a bit odd. She seemed to sing to herself as she went from room to room (I thought she was wearing an iPod until one day I looked and she was not). She also seemed to be on her cell phone a lot, as I would hear her speaking agitatedly in Spanish to someone - only now I am not so sure she was always on the phone.

On her last day with us, a few minutes after she came to work, she had what can only be described as a major breakdown. She was crying, rambling in spanish, walking in circles, hugging our pets and telling us all she had to go home. We had never seen her in such a state (I don't think I have seen ANYONE in that state before.) I said I thought that was a good idea as she was not well, and she asked us, if she left if we would give her one of our dogs as a "present for her." This all happened in front of my kids, and they were quite afraid at the scene that unfolded.

Basically, we made an emergency call to her daughter, who came to get her. She was then hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for several days. We understand that it is believed she had some kind of schizophrenic or bipolar episode and she was put on medication.

It has been three months now, and she came this week to ask for her job back. I said unfortunately we could not have her back, as part of her job is caring for our children, and we could no longer have that level of confidence in her work for us.

Her daughter then called us later, begged for her mother's job and said she needs the money, she can't find another job, and promised that her mother is fine with her medication. I said I was sorry but I just could not hire her back under the circumstances.

Her daughter has since called me back and has implied that she has looked into the matter and that schizophrenia is an illness and that she believes we are obligated to give her mother her job back "under the employment disabilities laws."

Does anyone know what she is talking about? Of course we feel terrible about this situation. We don't want to leave anyone without a job and know it is not our housekeeper's fault that she is sick. Still, I don't feel we could trust her with our children and house knowing by definition she may not be in control of her illness in the future.

Should I be less gregarious around my boss?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:33:02 -0800

Should I be less gregarious around my boss? I'm quite outgoing; my boss is more introverted and quiet. As a result, I naturally find myself participating in conversations much more than he does when we're in social settings with colleagues (e.g. group lunches/outings). I am concerned about the possibility of his being uneasy about having an employee who frequently draws more attention in conversation than he does (especially since I'm a fairly recent hire at the beginning of my career). However, I haven't noticed any visible signs of his being uneasy; he often laughs at my jokes and even sides with me in discussions. Nevertheless, I know that upstaging one's boss can lead to trouble, and I don't want to put myself in that situation.

Any advice on whether I should tone it down in conversation? For context, I work at a tech company in the US, and I'm in a job where being outgoing is seen as an asset.

(Anonymous so my boss doesn't trace this back.)

Who gets arrested when our "urban outdoorsman" sign holders break the law?

whiskey point — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:01:56 -0800

What are the legalities of utilizing a homeless person/vagrant/urban outdoorsman for marketing purposes? I've read up on "Bumvertising", but other than some negative feedback from homeless persons advocates (wikipedia) what happens when one of these "employees" happens to do something illegal? (Many people in our area make decent money holding "please help" signs at major intersections/interstate off ramps in our area during the summer)

To any of you Mefite lawyers, unorthodox employers, or anyone with vast amounts of knowledge: Who would be at fault if, say, someone holding a sign with a company's message on it were to break a law? I'm thinking like stab someone, etc. while being handed a coupon?

Who would be at fault?
•The marketing agency?
•The business being advertised for?
•Simply the person holding the sign?

The sign holder would be compensated with cash/gift cards/food, for the record.

Another question: What happens if this person is involved in an accident (being struck by a car, heat exhaustion, other job hazard)? What are there rules for this type of temporary, guerrilla employment?

Help my holiday gift stand out this year

ieatwords — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:53:51 -0800

I manage six ladies (I'm a guy) in my department and I would like to get them something for the holidays. I am looking for something $10-15 that is not candy, not a gift card and not an ornament. I probably don't have time to order it online so it should be something that I can find at a store. Any ideas? Did you get something cool this year? I want to give something memorable and different than the usual things employees find on their desks before Christmas.

Stuck On An Ambiguous Barrel

DU — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:34:11 -0800

How do I say "no, unless..." to my boss's boss? A tiny bit of background: The company I work for is medium sized (several hundreds, maybe a couple thousand employees) but broken down into autonomous groups. It's a research place, so we have some of the positives of economies of scale but also some of the positives of small tech startups. My own group is about 100 people in 4 layers from "CEO" (group leader) to "staff" (software worker bees like myself). Actually, while my official level is "software bee" I'm the only software person working on a fairly large, fairly high profile project. So I'm a bee, but not a monkey.

I'm also a contractor. The place has great benefits (both financial and social, such as being able to use on-campus stuff) but only for regular employees. When I was hired, 4.5 years ago, I was told that sometimes people get "converted" to a regular employee and though I was never promised anything I did hold out hope. Occasionally I made noises to my boss (B) who brought it up with his superiors (he has no power to make those decisions).

About a year ago I decided to bring it up with the next level myself. (Our small size made this not a faux pas (I think).) My boss's boss (BB) was very...."encouraging" isn't quite the right word because it connotes that he encouraged me when it was really the things he did that made me feel encouraged. For instance, when I emailed him he wanted to talk right away and didn't put me off. He needed some information and set a date only a few days in the future for me to provide it, which I did. I walked away from that experience feeling like my "conversion" was imminent.

6 months later, I asked again what was up with it. He told me not to lose hope, it wasn't a dead request.

Today, I got instructions from BB to do a 15 minute presentation in front of the 100 person group. My first instinct is to say "Sure I'll do this extra work that I really, really hate...once I get the full benefits that any regular employee gets." But I don't want to burn bridges by starting a fight. And BB is a genuinely nice guy who may even have my interests in mind by doing this.

The reason it might be in my best interests to give the presentation: I told B this morning that "I don't think it's fair to ask me to do extra work when I'm not getting full, let alone extra, benefits." According to B, giving occasional briefings is something the company considers regular staff should be able to do. So perhaps BB is standing me up in front of everyone to bolster his case that I should be "converted". Then again, B told me this same thing last time I was asked to give a talk. BB has never said anything like this, at least that I remember.

So basically, the question is this: How do I break the news to BB that I am angry and frustrated without being angry and frustrated? I don't want blow this up into an "I'll quit if you don't convert me" thing. I just want to express the fact that I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, but without implying that HE is taking advantage of me, if you see the distinction.

Managerial woes

engling — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:13:43 -0800

My department is seriously understaffed. How do I effectively present a case to add more employees? Resources, tips and advice? What are some key elements to this request/plan? A bit more information: I work as a manager in the healthcare industry, at a very large urban hospital. Arguing the need is somewhat straightforward due to all of the new regulatory requirements placed on my industry (e.x. increase in reporting to state agencies) and the penalties associated if non-compliant.

Since the budget for the hospital for 2009 is set and included no $ for additional staff, is it even feasible to think this is a possibility? I have been in this position for 5 months, so I had no way of getting this on the budget for next year. However almost immediately, I noticed the need and verbally brought it up to my director/VP, and was shot down. The person who held the position prior to me also wrote a formal plan/request, which was denied. I learned recently that this lead to him leaving the position. With the demands of the job and the lack of support for resources, he had enough. I can understand why.

Thanks!

Domain stealing with a twist

Lame_username — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:52:31 -0800

A friend of mine has a small business breeding and training horses. They asked an employee to help them create a website and she did. They later fired the employee, but the employee holds the registration to their domain in their own name. Is there any way to wrestle it away without going to court? Somehow as the most technical friend they have, I'm the designated expert. However, I don't know much about it. They have an employment attorney to pursue other aspects of the failed employment relationship, but that attorney is not particularly tech savvy.

The domain is in the exact name of their Florida corporation. It hosted a web site describing their horse business until the employee was fired, when the employee replaced it with a page looking to sell the employee's personal horse. After a nasty letter from the farm's lawyer, the employee replaced it with an ugly "under construction" page. I'm given to understand that a peaceful resolution is out of the question at this time.

The domain is hosted by Yahoo domains, who are listed as the admin and tech contacts on whois. The actual registrar is "MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE" if that matters.

Is the only process for overturning a registration the UDRP appeal? I think he has a problem with that approach because the domain is a name of a corporation, but not a registered trademark. Is there any value in appealing directly to the registrar?

Should I warn another employer about an ex-employee?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:22:06 -0800

I had a seriously unpleasant experience with a former employee in the aftermath of his termination, and I have since learned that he is employed at a similar business in another city. Is it my place to warn them? This person stole money (which led to his termination) and then after being fired, attempted to retaliate in various ways, including destruction of property. There is much more to the story but let it suffice to say that the person proved himself to be unquestionably a bad news character, perhaps even sociopathic. I do not, however, consider him a danger to anyone (at least in terms of a physical threat).

Upon learning that he was employed at a similar business elsewhere (he left town after all the aforementioned went down), it occurred to me that perhaps I should warn the relevant people at this other business. They hadn't called for a reference. I don't believe my motivation to be vindictive, but rather, for the reason that I would have appreciated such a warning from a credible source before hiring the person. Still, I can't decide if it's the right or wrong thing to do. What Would Metafilter Do?

Can Nonprofit Founder Board Members Obtain Salaried Positions within Same Organization?

franklen — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:28:40 -0800

Board Members who founded non-profit want to obtain salaried positions within the same organization. How is this handled? A friend and myself recently started a non-profit organization. It is incorporated and has 501(c)3 status. We currently serve as two of the initial three required Board of Director members as per the application process.

The thing is that we want to be able to make a living from doing the work that we started this organization to do. We would like to have salaried positions within the organization, but we would also like to be able to have major input into the direction the organization takes as it is still young (9 months), and we are trying our hardest to get funding for salaries (among other things) within the next year.

What is the best mode of moving forward in this situation for us as individuals and for the vision of the organization that we created?

He's the employee from heaven AND from hell.

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:45:39 -0800

One of the folks on my payroll is somehow both the best and worst employee ever. How can I better manage his occasionally bad attitude in order to make my life and the lives of the other employees less traumatic? Prologue: I am the owner and general manager of a small business. We employ less than 10 people, and only half of the employees are full time. Our business is part retail sales and part service. The service side of things involves both set-up before a retail unit is sold as well as post purchase maintenance and upgrades. The retail and service areas are in the same building, but are not in contiguous spaces. My office and the retail area are on one side. The service space is on the other side.

The head of the service side of my business is amazing at what he does. He fixes the unfixable. He keeps the place sparkling clean. He trains current employees and new ones on technical matters large and small. He understands our product inside and out, which means that we can help customers more efficiently and with a higher standard than any other biz doing similar stuff. While I wouldn't say he is irreplaceable, it would be incredibly difficult to do so, especially since we're having our busiest year on record by leaps and bounds.

There is of course another side to this story.

Meeting deadlines can sometimes be very difficult for him. He's a perfectionist, which sometimes leads to him having what I can only describe as separation anxiety--he really doesn't like to declare a long-term project finished, ever. A long-term service project can mean a 6 month wait or a 2+ year wait, so the customer is usually MORE than antsy...and then he simply doesn't finish. Any time he does take a little time to focus on the final details, he becomes immediately frustrated with some tiny detail and then stalls doing any further work on the project. Generally the customer ends up demanding his stuff back, whether it is fixed or not, whether it is finished or not. The thing is that my employee does such an amazing job with the fixing that the customer should be actually ecstatic about how awesome his stuff, and instead the customer is pissed because he had to basically wrestle his stuff away from my service department head. This is unacceptable for the business. We should be able to say "Talk to this customer and he'll tell you about the incredible custom work we did for him", and instead I'm too busy trying to make the customer feel like we weren't slacking off on his project.

The obvious solution to the above problem is for me as the GM to set more specific and reachable deadlines for small goals within the larger project. This works when he is in a decent headspace. But if he's already gotten himself in a crap mood, the additional stress caused by the deadline will make matters worse in terms of his productivity, not better. In addition, my work load makes it difficult for me to have the time available to constantly micromanage his individual work load.

We have procedures set up for taking in service jobs, scheduling services, talking to customers, etc etc. One of the pros of this business of this size is that we can change those processes whenever we feel that there is a better way to do things. We experience a problem and we find a possible solution, and then we try it out and make adjustments as necessary. However, this employee takes both sides of that equation to an extreme in order to explain his bad behavior. He makes constant changes to what is acceptable, so it's tough for an employee to know what to do and for a customer to know to expect. He'll also be extremely stubborn about a process that doesn't work, not wanting to change it *just because*.

I'm not good at being a hardass boss, but these problems are only getting worse and I need to do something. Other employees are reluctant to talk to him because they are concerned that he'll react poorly and have a tantrum. Obviously I can't let customers talk to him. Sometimes it goes incredibly well, but it can just as easily end up impossibly bad.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! If you have questions, send them to tangerineseeds@gmail.com. Thanks.

Bitch better have my money...

Fupped Duck — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:11:45 -0800

Negotiating Filter: Please help suggest a way to negotiate with tight fisted mgmt so they will recognize an above the call of duty sale with an above the call of duty commission above the existing commission structure A friend is a national Sales Mgr for a small company that manufactures a unique (patented) device for boats. The company is owned/operated by the husband (inventor of the device) and his wife. Sales have been good with steady growth in the 5 years since they started up.
As sales manager, he routinely sells to dealers and the occasional distributor, and is compensated for this with salary, + a small commission plus bonus if certain goals are met.
Some owners are very much enlightened and cognizant that its a team that makes their company a success and it comes across in the way they share the spoils of success.
These owners, not so much. Their attitude is more akin to "we thought of it, and the employees are here to help us capitalize on our continued success".
The last sales manager quit after he missed his bonus by less than 1/4 of a percent (in large part due to production probs caused by the owners). They declined to pay his bonus, and pulled up in his and hers Mercedes the next day. He left over this not long afterwards.
At issue here is my friend the sales manager, at a trade show, has opened up a very large new account with a very large boating mfr, and at higher pricing than they give distributors (for scale, a distrib account is usually a bit smaller than the value of this new deal with the snow mobile mfr).
So this is a home run for the SM, and now that the deal has been cemented, he'd like recognition in the form of a higher commission than he normally gets since this is far and above a larger account than he's expected to land.
He feels quite certain that if he doesn't ask for more, they won't offer more on their own initiative.
Asking outright seems like a sure path to sore feelings / expectations on both sides of the table. I suggested that he present the deal with pride to the owner along with an explicit pledge to repeat this performance if the incentive is there, but even that message presents a real risk of being poorly received and generating acrimony . Is there a better way to broach the topic?

How to determine the last working day for a laid-off employee

binocularfight — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:20:51 -0800

I work for a very small company that has to lay off an employee due to budget restraints. I have heard that in firing someone, the day of firing should be the employee's last day in the office. This protects the company from any harmful backlash. Does this rule hold true for layoffs as well?

Meet Fido, Head of Document Destruction Services.

invisible ink — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:03:41 -0800

Inspired by this thread, how do I go about finding an employer that allows its employees to bring their dogs to work? For those of you fortunate enough to be in this type of situation, how did you find your job? I am a patent prosecution paralegal and open to the idea of relocating.

Applying for a government job (what to reveal in the application and more)

mintchip — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:19:52 -0800

Applying for a government job (what to reveal in the application and more) I'm interested in applying for a government job. The job application asks you to reveal any time you were let go from a job within the past five years.

I had been let go from one job, but I was only there a short while and considered the decision "mutual" since they one let me go after I told my supervisor--twice--that I was unhappy with the position. I was able to collect unemployment. I realize it might seem "wrong" to hide it, but frankly the position just didn't work out and I don't want it to hinder me going forward.

1. If I don't reveal this, how likely is it to be found out?
2. If I do reveal this, is it likely to keep me from being considered for the position?
3. Any tips for getting into a state/local government job? Does it help to have connections? The application process seems quite formal so I'm not sure how having connections would help.
4. Anyone here have a state/local government position? How do you like it?

Thanks!