oh lordy here we go

actually, many arch. firms that i know (certainly those i've worked for) have vacation packages similar to what you described -- once you've been somewhere a while you start to increase your vacation time. the top non-owner at my firm gets 4 weeks a year, not that she uses it

35 hour work weeks happen only in france. perhaps you personally know someone at booz allen, bearing point, mckinsey, bain, etc who works only 35 hours a week. when i was in chicago the people who i knew who worked at those places were working, oh, double that. and don't even imagine they're hourly. of course they ain't hurtin' for cash, but $80K per year doesn't necessarily translate into happiness

and finally, a lot of firms are dying for people what with the tidal waves of projects being generated right now.

believe me, people don't stick around bain & co. for long (of course, they're not supposed to) -- and most architects don't need golf, adultery, or fantasy football to fulfill themselves at the end of the day

count yourself lucky, you have a cool job

i'll add to what ochona said by saying that i feel it's a mis-perception among architects that we are one of (if not the) hardest working professions. having spent time in a couple of non-architecture jobs, i can tell you that there are plenty of people of their busting their asses and giving 12+ hours/day to their respective companies. i have also been in plenty of architecture jobs where i have been able to witness many of my colleagues doing the bare minimum of work per week (whether it's 40 or 60 hours/week).

moreover, benefits such as retirements (either benefit defined or contribution-defined, i.e., 401K matching) and health care have been decreasing for all employees across all sectors for years. ultimately, you are responsible for you ownself and globalization is increasingly forcing companies of all kinds to take this stance with their employees or risk peril (see GM & delphi as exhibit A)

and although i can't speak for all archinecters, i probably spend 30% of my day at the office archinecting. in other words, having been around a bit, i'm not convinced that our situation is as bad as we like to assume it is.

Hmmm .. actually I dont have it too bad ..

These were the benefits I had in my contract:-

1) 2 day weekends
2) paid annual leave for 30 days + the weekends that comes in between. two way (economy) airline ticket provided.
3) Full medical insurance ( my firm is part of the "norfolk")
4) yearly bonus
5) a fantastic gratuity pakage.
6) travel allowance ( i'm working on site currently)

and to top it all ... my firms designs are brilliant and is one of the top firms in the world !! .. so my CV's gonna look good too .... hehe ..

anyway ... i think it's all about getting into the right place at the right time. but of course i had it real bad before i joined this firm... the last firm i worked for paid me pittance !! ....so i kindda think that i deserve this.

Oh ... i forgot ..

7) 10 sickdays..

Believe me you don't want a job where you sit arond IMing 30% of your time. You get so bored it makes you want to blow your f-ing brains out. Even one or two days like that, particularly if the weather's nice out, drives me insane.

As far as benefits I don't have it too bad either...

-Health/vision/dental insurance paid 100% by firm
-401k with employer match
-10 days paid vacation (increases to 15 upon 5th year of employment)
-6 days paid sick leave
-3 days paid personal leave
-Free parking
-Frequent free lunches/dinners
-Fully paid attendance at almost any conference or workshop I wish to attend
-Almost never work more than 42 hours a week

i'm so tired of ppl complaining about their jobs. don't you get tired of doing it?

sure there are aspects of your job that suck. but you know what? there are aspects of every job that suck, and you have it so much better than the majority of ppl who have job. shit, be fortunate you have one to start with. be fortunate that you like what you do. that is if you do.

if you don't like it, go try another job and see how that works for you. a garbage collector gets great pay, but you have to pick up everyone else trash all day long. that sounds fun. go try to be a doctor. you'll get great pay there too. you won't have a free moment to spend any of it or see your wife, but you'll have the money, but only if you are smart enough to get through all of those years of med school and if you can deal with the insane insurance you'll have to pay so that you are protected once you get sued.

i love what i do, and i'm fine with my pay and benefits. are the ideal? hell no, but life isn't either. i love what i do, and most can not say that. to me, nothing worse than spending all day doing something i despise. i love what i do and everything that comes with it. if you don't, i hear walmart is hiring.

thanks e. I'm right there with you.

And as a mother, I look at cashiers at Target who are working moms and wonder how in the hell they manage to do it. I'm so lucky.

sporadic supernova:

You are lucky to have those benefits, mind I asked which firm you are in? Let me guess, are you in NBBJ?

bryan4arch:

You definitely not in Gensler or SOM. right? Since no more than 42 hours/week sounds unlikely for most architects, but if you work as a project manager, that might be another case.

a bit dated but a good read for you all. working by studs terkel.

terkel conducted interviews with many ppl regarding their work. the ppl he interviews tell of their anecdotes, adventures, aspirations, and failures of their jobs and thus their lives. he has collected the stories from about 100 individuals. the stories are provided by miners, receptionists, hookers, janitors, doormen, housewives, coaches, gravediggers, industrial designers, lawyers, and steelworkers to name a few. sorry, no architects though. it's a good dose of reality for us all.

the benefits at our firm are quite decent i think:

- 2-weeks of paid vacation for everybody
- employees with 5-years of service get 3-weeks of paid vacation
- employees with 10-years of service get 4-weeks of paid vacation
- 5-days of paid sick leave
- 7-days of paid holiday
- health / dental coverage is 100% company paid for employees
- flexible spending account (FSA) to help with non-reimbursed medical
- long-term disability coverage
- short-term disability coverage
- $30k of life insurance
- $200 / year per employee for outside education expenses
- tons of in-house T&D -- enough to meet my aia lu requirements
- company paid aia dues
- company paid annual license dues
- company match on 401(k) deferral
- profit sharing plan - to supplement retirement savings
- regular annual cash bonuses - in the 5% - 12% range
- every-other friday off (whole day)
- flex-time, to facilitate schedule shifting
- employer subsidy of health-club dues (to keep us healthy)

i really don't think most of our staff understand just how strong this package really is

babs' package is really awesome. But $30k of life insurance is kind of low. And 'company match on 401(k) deferral'? How much really?

benefits at my job:

- no paid vaction.
- no paid holidays.
- no paid sick time.
- no health / dental coverage.
- no 401k matching.

- what benefits do i have? i work for myself and can guide the ship as i see fit. worth it's weight in gold and then some.

Ha ha nice, e. I like the one befefit that you do have much more than those you don't.

thx garpike. it's all a give and take. there are always trade offs.

sporadic, what do you mean by "my firms designs are brilliant and is one of the top firms in the world !!" - sounds funny

My benefits are also along the lines of "babs"/with some variations. ex: our company does not have "vacation/sick/personal time", they prefer (and me to) to call them PTO (personal time off). This allows the employee to use that time however they feel.
You and only you are to blame for your "shitty benefits"...change!
Sure, if I choose to work for mr.smallguy, or mrs. star...then I have to understand that they cannot match the beneffits that a company which grosses 300m/yr can!

my benefit...or should I say to my benefit....a wonderful wife who happens to also be an architect....we work for our dogs, and the rest
of suffering humanity.

clearly sporadic works for zaha hadid.

i get none of the above now as also self-employed, but when i did hava real job had the insurance, 2 bonuses a year, travel expenses covered (of course!! what company wouldn't cover this?), weeks of vacation time etc etc. but we were so busy it was impossible to take a holiday and i didn't have more than a day off at a time for moren three years (except for new year). it was fun, but in this country at least paper benefits and real benefits are often enough different things...not like that in NA?

jlxarchitect ... my firm provides a match of 25% for every dollar i defer, up to 16% of my salary ... as i understand the deal, this is the max. available under current law

some other firms will match 100% of the employee deferral, but there's still the 16% of salary cap ... either way, the match is the same, but i realize the cap is reached much sooner with the 100% match.

Based on federal guidelines your limit on what you can put into a 401k is not based on a percentage of your salary - it is a set amount regardless of your salary:
2004: $13,000
2005: $14,000
2006: $15,000

If you're over 50 you can defer more than this (an additional 4k for 2005), under the "catch-up" rules.

Your employer is not actually limited in how much he can match - but if he matches more than 6% of your salary per year then it starts to count toward your maximum. In other words, for 2005, if you contribute 14k, your employer can still contribute 6% of your annual salary and this will be above and beyond the 14k that you put in the account. But if your employer exceeds 6% of your salary then your employer's additional contribution will start to decrease the amount that you yourself can contribute (in other words it counts as part of your 14k limit.)

formerly ... thanks for the additional detail ... i didn't understand that very clearly before

babs:

Your employer's match is much better than mine. They only match some portion of our salary. What type of firm you are in( design firm or AEC )? How many people there?

i'd kill for a 35 hr work week...

awhile back, i interviewed at a very small firm and they offered me two salary packages; one was half-day Fridays at a little less pay. i took that one and never regretted it.

there's something about a third 'type' of work day that really relieves the tension caused by getting stuck in an 'all or nothing' mindset. ('i'm either working today or i'm not working today' instead of 'i'm working half of today')