Re: FWD: a question about "atmospheric" benefits

[Marilynne Smith <marilyns -at- qualcomm -dot- com>]

This sounds like a nice place to work.  I get a lot of freebies at my work 
place as well.  Your freebies are not "atmospheric," but pretty common 
these days.  Times are changing and this is one of the nice ways they're 
changing.

I think your company should bite the bullet and pay the wages needed to 
attract good workers who will stay.   You can talk about the nice freebies 
all you want, but the fact seems to be that you have high turnover at your 
company.  The freebies are not effective in tempting people to stay.

Perhaps there is not a clear path for advancement and your beginners feel 
they need to change companies in order to continue their careers.

Use the STC salary survey to give an idea what you should be paying.

Marilynne

At 12:41 AM 11/7/00 -0700, you wrote:

I supervise a group of four tech writers at a medium-sized software
company.  We have always hired entry-level or junior people at rather low
salaries, spent a lot of time training them, and then (no surprise) seen
them depart after a year or two for better-paying jobs.  I'm currently
preparing a documentation salary-analysis report to present to my
superiors in the technology division and in HR.  (I'm suggesting boosting
standard salaries by several thousands.)  We'll then have a meeting to
address my findings.  It's been a rough year for us and reducing staff
turnover is becoming a big priority, so I think this is a golden
opportunity to address a long-standing problem.

What I need help with is the following.  One of my superiors has always
insisted that certain company traditions like flexible work hours, casual
dress, and bi-weekly free lunches go a long way toward making up for our
low salaries.  A quote:  "You're not wearing a suit right now.  That's a
company benefit."  However, aren't these perks so ubiquitous right now in
software that they don't really constitute an exceptional work atmosphere?
I know he will bring this up during the salary-discussion meeting, and I
would like to be able to have a more effective response than my usual,
"Well, I don't think that's true."  (I would prefer, "I asked a lot of
very reputable professionals and they thought. . .")

The only perk I think we offer that really is worth some money is the fact
that we very rarely have to work more than 40 hours a week.  There are
maybe six times a year when I have to come in over the weekend or do work
at night.  This is worth a certain amount of money to me, since I'm aware
many people in software work much longer hours.

This is a list of our "atmospheric" fringes:  can you all let me know
whether you think any of these (and which ones) make up for lower pay?

free lunch every other week
free coffee, tea, and cocoa
flexible work hours
occasional telecommuting acceptable (once a week is the standard)
casual dress
a standard 40-hour week

I would appreciate any responses as soon as possible--I'm mailing out the
salary document and scheduling the meeting today.

Many thanks.
~!~  ~!~  ~!~  ~!~  ~!~  ~!~  ~!~
Marilynne Smith 		
Sr. Technical Writer       	
QUALCOMM
marilyns -at- qualcomm -dot- com	
(858) 651-6664	
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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