lessons

We all continue to learn lessons, or at least as sentient rational beings, we should. The lesson I keep relearning is that things aren't always as bad as they seem, to wit:

I was hired at my current job in September of '06. I was brought in in a temp-perm capacity, a three month probation, if you will. I was told at the end of three months that the budget had been frozen for permanent hires. However, my boss and the department manager were impressed with my diligence and work ethic, and told me to write a long-term contract proposal that would essentially compensate for all the benefits I wouldn't be getting.

That, I did. , and ended up with this:

(you'll have to excuse the formatting, I don't feel like fucking with it to get it perfect, no one's going to read this shit anyways)

_____________________________________

This proposal doe not include any fees or rates x may be obligated to as part of a contractual agreement with any contract or staffing agency. Those fees must be negotiated between x and the aforementioned agency, based upon the hourly wage due to me as proposed below.

This proposal is based upon a permanent employee rate of $x/hr or 62400/yr, 40hrs/wk for 52 weeks.

Annual Hourly

Base Salary - $x $x/hr

The hourly wage will be recalculated for billable hours for a standard 40 hour work week for 52 weeks, minus time normally afforded to a permanent employee for vacations, holidays, and sick time.

40 hrs * 52 wks 2080

Time off

Vacation and sick 120

Holiday 72

Actual billable hours 1888

Base salary adjusted for time off ($x/1888hrs) $x/hr

Health Insurance – based on quote supplied by Demar Associates (available upon request)

Basic premium – $x/yr (note: hourly line items are calculated $/hr
Accident – $x based on the annual rate/1888 billable $
Ambulatory care – $x hours per year, then rounded to the $
Emergency room – $x nearest $.01) $
Doctors office visits– $xx $

Dental care – $x $

Eye care – $x $

Life ins. Premium – $x $

Disability – $x $

Total annual medical benefits $/yr $/hr

( the discrepancy in total Medical Benefits Annual versus Hourly rates exists due to rounding the line items)

401K match - 3%/yr $x/hr

Proposed Total Wage $x $x/hr

(proposed Annual Wage based upon hourly rate * 1888 billable hours/year)

Increases to this proposal

The Proposed Total Wage will be subject to an annual increase based on the boston-Brockton-Nashua region Core Consumer Price index increase plus 1 point as published by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The minimum increase shall be 1%. The proposed wage cannot decrease under any circumstances, excluding the termination of the contract.

_____________________________________________________________


It ended up being what amounted to to a 25% pay increase. They bought it with no trepidation, and little question.

Well, here I am a year later. I'm told that the permanent budget is still frozen. So I submit this:

_________________________________________________
Accomplishments
In the past year at x I have come up to speed well on the technology and mission of the organization. Although I feel I could be contributing significantly more towards the success of the Andover R&D group, my personal impression is that my impact has been successful, acknowledged, and appreciated.

Specific achievements -

(laundry list, won’t bore you with details)

Wage Increase Rationale
The following data was gleaned from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics website (http://www.bls.gov).

The Consumer Price Index change for the period of august '06 to august '07 in the Boston-Brockton-Nashua region was 3.1%

The average wage increase for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls in the professional and business services industry sector, Boston-Worcestor-Lawrence region, from aug '06 to aug '07 was 5.9%

Based on my successful assimilation into the x environment I feel a merit increase of 6% is not unreasonable, and well justified by the industry average. In order to keep pace with inflation, an additional 3% is necessary.

Therefore, I request a total wage increase of 9%.

Feel free to discuss this with me at your convenience.

______________________________________________________

My boss replied with this:

"Your new salary rate will be $x/hour (a 12.8% increase), effective Tuesday, October 9^th.
We really appreciate your hard work and excellent performance."

_________________________________________________

"they like me, they really like me!" - sally field when winning her academy award.

Since I've been hired here, my salary has increased 50% from my last job.

So what is the lesson that was re-learned? Things aren't always a gloomy as they seem. When I was told they couldn't hire me after taking a position on the _promise_ of a permanent job, I felt screwed, lied to, had visions of losing my job and not getting another one, going bankrupt, etc, yadayadayada. Now, I see people around me, having emotional, financial, and health issues firmly beyond their control. I have to keep relearning how lucky I really am.

REally, Really lucky. But, I'll forget again. Because I'm a spoiled selfish brat.

Somebody slap me.