OT: THE OT Thread: Grass mowing szn is here

[MarkusKetterer]

I'd wager you are in the minority as far as PTO goes. It doesn't accrue the way it used to, and any time a company wants to claw that agreed upon benefit back from contracted employees, a simple re-org, merger, or capital investment from any number of "asset management" companies are a simple thing to do

And on top of that internal culture you alluded to, unlimited time off (in the good ol' USA at least, no idea what it's like up north or overseas) is just a scam so a company doesn't have to pay out PTO when you're shitcanned for whatever flimsy reason (like taking too much time off).

At least here in Ontario companies have to pay out your PTO, either upon firing or quitting, and by the year’s end. They get around that though by including it on every paycheque. I’ve only worked two jobs where it wasn’t included on them, but it was irrelevant as I never took vacation.

 

[Ehran]

The PTO rules at my company haven't really changed in the 20+ years I've been here.

And my wife's employer isn't that all that different.

My PTO rules haven't changed and I've been working for a large company for 19 years.

And no, they don't pay out unused PTO (or vacation) at the end of the year. You're encouraged to use it all.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Speaking of the job search, I'm a big fan of NY requiring businesses to show their pay range for a job opening theyre posting. Businesses had an advantage by keeping their salary range secret. Also, people won't have to waste their time interviewing for jobs that sound like they'll pay a good rate but pay shit.

New York State Enacts Statewide Salary Disclosure Law: A 5-Step Compliance Plan

Governor Hochul signed into law yesterday an amendment to New York’s state labor law which will require private sector employers in the state to disclose salary ranges on job postings. With this…

www.fisherphillips.com

Shit, even at the U of R where I work, they make it extremely difficult to find up-to-date salary ranges for your pay grade. Im sure they were pissy knowing their employees can see the pay range within pay grades now.

 

[Ehran]

Speaking of the job search, I'm a big fan of NY requiring businesses to show their pay range for a job opening theyre posting. Businesses had an advantage by keeping their salary range secret. Also, people won't have to waste their time interviewing for jobs that sound like they'll pay a good rate but pay shit.

New York State Enacts Statewide Salary Disclosure Law: A 5-Step Compliance Plan

Governor Hochul signed into law yesterday an amendment to New York’s state labor law which will require private sector employers in the state to disclose salary ranges on job postings. With this…

www.fisherphillips.com

Shit, even at the U of R where I work, they make it extremely difficult to find up-to-date salary ranges for your pay grade. Im sure they were pissy knowing their employees can see the pay range within pay grades now.

This.

You want equity in America? Start by making all employers publicly post their pay grades and benefits so that employees have a better view of their options. Better companies with better pay scales will find plenty of qualified applicants. Nor will they be able to hide inequities on pay.

Companies have a lot of access to background info on applicants these days. Make it even out.

/rant off

 

[Mike McDermott]

So, the rotational development role I started in April which is typically 9 months to a year has gone off the rails. Through no fault of my own, so I am returning to my actual position on Monday. It has been a rotation very different than the usual way it happens for others since day one.

They are still going to work on developmental items with me, just in different ways, to help me be ready when posts come up for positions that true promotions in the future which is good.

I’ve also been told repeatedly since I was told earlier in this week about how much they appreciate what I’ve done in the time I’ve had and that they appreciate and respect the way I’ve handled the unusual course this has taken and the way I’ve handled the news since I was told earlier this week.

 

[Djp]

Welp, was laid off yesterday. Not a huge deal, getting a decent severance package. 3 months full pay with insurance, etc. My wife makes enough where we won't be in trouble even if I can't find something.

The worst part is having to apply for jobs again...and having to answer the phone when an unknown number comes in. Ugh.

What’s your field? How hard will it be to find another job?

 

[TehDoak]

What’s your field? How hard will it be to find another job?

I’m a systems/site reliability/devops engineer depending on whatever word salad the company is using. I don’t anticipate it being too difficult. But we will see. Lots of tech layoffs this year.

 

[BB79]

I'd wager you are in the minority as far as PTO goes. It doesn't accrue the way it used to, and any time a company wants to claw that agreed upon benefit back from contracted employees, a simple re-org, merger, or capital investment from any number of "asset management" companies are a simple thing to do

And on top of that internal culture you alluded to, unlimited time off (in the good ol' USA at least, no idea what it's like up north or overseas) is just a scam so a company doesn't have to pay out PTO when you're shitcanned for whatever flimsy reason (like taking too much time off).

Add to this that in many jobs taking "too much" time off is looked at in a negative light because they intentionally keep their staffing lean to work everyone to the bone so they can save money on labor costs, and in other cases sure you can take time off as long as you know your pile of work from your vacation days off will be waiting for you when you get back on top of your regular work. Whoopie!

Now, to define what "too much" time off is...depends on the talking heads that you report to.

Unlimited time off sound just like "salaried employees"...oh sure, you get paid your annual salary for working "40" hours a week. Crock of shit, it always ends up being more than that.

 

[Chainshot]

Add to this that in many jobs taking "too much" time off is looked at in a negative light because they intentionally keep their staffing lean to work everyone to the bone so they can save money on labor costs, and in other cases sure you can take time off as long as you know your pile of work from your vacation days off will be waiting for you when you get back on top of your regular work. Whoopie!

Now, to define what "too much" time off is...depends on the talking heads that you report to.

Unlimited time off sound just like "salaried employees"...oh sure, you get paid your annual salary for working "40" hours a week. Crock of shit, it always ends up being more than that.

My second last corporate gig, the one I had for 15 years, had a mandatory 2-week "core leave" where we were required to take 2 weeks straight off. And in that time, there was to be absolutely zero contact with the company - no emails, no pages, no texts, no emails, no remote sign on... NOTHING. And so one year, I go on core leave and at the end of the first week, I'm at the beach in another state about 1500 miles from my workplace when my work phone starts going off. I had left it off for about five days, but had plugged it in to charge on the drive to the ocean. So it starts buzzing and I notice I have a couple dozen messages from my manager. And while it's charging, she calls me - so I answer. They are having a production problem and everyone else on the team is pulling the "oh, I don't do that, that's Chain's stuff" without even TRYING to figure out what it was nor looking at any of the doc I'd created on any of it.

So, I'm in the parking lot at the beach, I answer the phone. My manager goes into the problem and then ends it with "well, you're on core leave, you shouldn't have answered your phone". WTF. Call me and text me over a dozen times and then say THAT? WTF. I'm still shocked but not surprised that A) they hired that person to be a manager and that they were consistently promoted despite not only not knowing or adhering to internal policies, but being bad at both leadership and management.

Granted, I would take working in that level of tomfoolery again just to get the steady pay and the bennies.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

Personally I hardly ever took time off, at one time I sold back 3 months of leave and I retired with 3 months paid leave. Now I regularly got 2 weeks or so of down time after deployments but leave never worked out as I generally got called back early

 

[Old Navy Goat]

Now on a better more patriotic topic I ordered 43 Star Spangled Banner swim suits for the 4th of July, at the princely cost of $450 with shipping. I have 16 extra small, 22 small and 5 medium to fill out my Soi 6 bars. Still working on food but thinking sheets of cheeseburger sliders with beans, macaroni salad should suffice

 

[Mike McDermott]

It's actually quite the opposite, younger hires will work for less and are easier to manipulate. Also it doesn't pay to stay in one place anymore. Change jobs and change often. They aren't going to increase your salary much once hired. Companies no longer give AF about loyalty or experience.

I’ve been with the same company for 4 years and make significantly more than when I started. I know this is just me, but there are companies who take care of their own. But I will agree they are more rare.

 

[EichHart]

I'm in several discord servers and have been seeing tons of layoffs happening the last few months. Mainly in data analyst/IT/finance field. I just started new role as management in banking, so far so good. I get 27 PTO days next yr, 11 paid bank holidays.

I try to go on 3/4 vacations a yr and at least 1/2 internationally. Travel is my favorite thing to do, there is an entire world to explore! I would never take less than 4 weeks pto a year.

 

[TehDoak]

In my experience, that is not exactly true in every instance.

My wife has bounced around a lot. I have been with the same company for over two decades.

I make significantly more than she does and I have a ton more vacation than she does. If you are going to bounce around, that works well for people that are good at negotiating things that companies will not immediately give out in a lot of cases. For me, that vacation time (5 weeks currently and I think 6 weeks starting in 2024) is huge. And few companies will offer that to start. At least not in any of the job postings I have looked at recently.

And most companies that say they have unlimited vacation actually have an internal culture where taking significant time off is a bad thing.

Where I work, they do not roll vacation over and the culture is that people use every last day off before the end of the year. As such, we know that December, and even late November, we will be working at far less than all hands on deck.

For the most part, changing your jobs often is the path to higher salary, especially at the lower/mid levels. I worked for the largest MSP for almost 5 years and got one (3%) raise, even after moving to a different position internally.

My (previous) company, I saw a 7% raise after year 1 and a 13% raise and promotion after year 2. I was actually planning to stay there long term because it WAS a good company (Good PTO, benefits, etc) ....then I got laid off on Wednesday.

Once you start hitting the upper end of your pay scale, then your only way up is typically internal. I will probably end up taking a slight drop (10% or so) because i was making near top of the market.

The issue, especially in the US, is people are severely underpaid and companies are happy to let you sit there in perpetuity if they can. The advent of remote work, at least IMHO, has done the most to increasing salaries as companies in low cost of living areas will often be the only employers in certain fields and can keep people at bad wages because they didn't want to move.

Typically the most leverage you'll have at a company is at hiring, it's where companies have the most flexibility. After that, even a normal COL raise is tough to get.

 

[oldgoalie]

For the most part, changing your jobs often is the path to higher salary, especially at the lower/mid levels. I worked for the largest MSP for almost 5 years and got one (3%) raise, even after moving to a different position internally.

My (previous) company, I saw a 7% raise after year 1 and a 13% raise and promotion after year 2. I was actually planning to stay there long term because it WAS a good company (Good PTO, benefits, etc) ....then I got laid off on Wednesday.

Once you start hitting the upper end of your pay scale, then your only way up is typically internal. I will probably end up taking a slight drop (10% or so) because i was making near top of the market.

The issue, especially in the US, is people are severely underpaid and companies are happy to let you sit there in perpetuity if they can. The advent of remote work, at least IMHO, has done the most to increasing salaries as companies in low cost of living areas will often be the only employers in certain fields and can keep people at bad wages because they didn't want to move.

Typically the most leverage you'll have at a company is at hiring, it's where companies have the most flexibility. After that, even a normal COL raise is tough to get.

one of my fellow managers had a favorite saying; "your starting salary is your albatross..." changing companies began to be the only way you'll get that salary boost.

 

[Gras]

For the most part, changing your jobs often is the path to higher salary, especially at the lower/mid levels. I worked for the largest MSP for almost 5 years and got one (3%) raise, even after moving to a different position internally.

My (previous) company, I saw a 7% raise after year 1 and a 13% raise and promotion after year 2. I was actually planning to stay there long term because it WAS a good company (Good PTO, benefits, etc) ....then I got laid off on Wednesday.

Once you start hitting the upper end of your pay scale, then your only way up is typically internal. I will probably end up taking a slight drop (10% or so) because i was making near top of the market.

The issue, especially in the US, is people are severely underpaid and companies are happy to let you sit there in perpetuity if they can. The advent of remote work, at least IMHO, has done the most to increasing salaries as companies in low cost of living areas will often be the only employers in certain fields and can keep people at bad wages because they didn't want to move.

Typically the most leverage you'll have at a company is at hiring, it's where companies have the most flexibility. After that, even a normal COL raise is tough to get.

I went up 58% in my last job change.

 

[oldgoalie]

I went up 58% in my last job change.

Your prior employer was absolutely screwing you (Unless this was a huge promotion as well).

 

[TehDoak]

I went up 58% in my last job change.

For the first....i dunno, 7 years of my career or so, i was stuck on the entry level salary treadmill. Whether is wanting to switch cities or getting laid off, bad luck, etc.

In about a 2.5 year stretch i was able to triple my salary with a promotion and two job switches

1. Took night shifts to get a senior title (30% raise or so)
2. Left that job in about 7 months for another 30% raise.
3. Left that job in little over a year for a 50% raise on top that.

However, what the CRAZIEST thing I've seen in regards to my career and salary, I started working in 2005 for a call center doing 1st line tech support work. 18 years later, the pay for the entry level job is STILL THE SAME. That is just nuts to me. Wage stagnation is out of control in this country, it hasn't even kept close to inflation. I've been laid off 3 times and gone through two economic downturns and I feel lucky I can't even imagine coming out of college now with how expensive everything is and how low entry level jobs pay. And to have massive debt on TOP of that. Oof.

 

[yahhockey]

Going out a legend, lol. I didn't realize how many comments have been made. Time for bed but maybe it will be worth a scroll tomorrow.

James Loveless Obituary 2023 - Pulaski Funeral Home

View James Loveless's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

www.pulaskifuneralhome.com

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Going out a legend, lol. I didn't realize how many comments have been made. Time for bed but maybe it will be worth a scroll tomorrow.

James Loveless Obituary 2023 - Pulaski Funeral Home

View James Loveless's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

www.pulaskifuneralhome.com

I kinda want to get boxers like that.

 

[Gras]

For the first....i dunno, 7 years of my career or so, i was stuck on the entry level salary treadmill. Whether is wanting to switch cities or getting laid off, bad luck, etc.

In about a 2.5 year stretch i was able to triple my salary with a promotion and two job switches

1. Took night shifts to get a senior title (30% raise or so)
2. Left that job in about 7 months for another 30% raise.
3. Left that job in little over a year for a 50% raise on top that.

However, what the CRAZIEST thing I've seen in regards to my career and salary, I started working in 2005 for a call center doing 1st line tech support work. 18 years later, the pay for the entry level job is STILL THE SAME. That is just nuts to me. Wage stagnation is out of control in this country, it hasn't even kept close to inflation. I've been laid off 3 times and gone through two economic downturns and I feel lucky I can't even imagine coming out of college now with how expensive everything is and how low entry level jobs pay. And to have massive debt on TOP of that. Oof.

I got laid off 5 times in 6 years, all but one I ended up with new job with higher pay anyways,

 

[Chainshot]

Boy dog morning vet annual handled, girl child delivered to her off-season weight training session, vehicle fueled... now just waiting on the older child to notify me that it's go time for moving his friend's stuff into their new apartment.

 

[Jim Bob]

Boy dog morning vet annual handled, girl child delivered to her off-season weight training session, vehicle fueled... now just waiting on the older child to notify me that it's go time for moving his friend's stuff into their new apartment.

Nate has a busy day with orientation this morning for his summer job and then a double header in Syracuse for his summer league lacrosse team.

I have the day off and a long To Do list. I have crossed three things off the list, the second, and last, load of laundry is in the dryer, and I will be mowing the weeds soon.

Plenty of more stuff after that, too.

 

[Chainshot]

Nate has a busy day with orientation this morning for his summer job and then a double header in Syracuse for his summer league lacrosse team.

I have the day off and a long To Do list. I have crossed three things off the list, the second, and last, load of laundry is in the dryer, and I will be mowing the weeds soon.

Plenty of more stuff after that, too.

After moving him and his BFF into their new place, I will be continuing to move things into what was his room upstairs - shifting because the downstairs bedroom is too small for two adults and 1.5 doggos.

 

[Chainshot]

Move of the spawn complete. Glad there were some younger hands to sling some things, that couch was so much easier with five of us instead of just two.