i work in a small 4 person firm that does pretty large scale projects. The pay is good and there is overtime. The projects are set up with the owner acting as the project architect for every project and there are 4 drafter/project managers working on projects separately. There is no control over scheduling and the schedules are usually kept secret and deadlines aren't shared until a few days prior. I noticed that my boss seemed to like this skeleton staff set up because we work so much faster stressed out. But two problems, you start to make a lot of mistakes working at 110% and are fully accountable for them even tho there is no back checking of drawings there just isn't time, also I get mad at missed weekends and overtime. Since I noticed that working the weekend to get ahead of a project meant you'd just be taken off of it to work on something else until that project reached crisis mode again, I started to not come in early, take my full lunch and peace out after an hour of overtime so my boss would still see that I worked late ( I don't think he notices when you come in early and work through lunch) However, the deadlines still don't really move and now it just seems like I'm missing deadlines. I do still offer to work weekends and offered this last weekend, was told no but then on Monday was told for the first time my project was being submitted Wednesday so I needed to do 2 16 hour days to meet the deadline. Obviously in this situation I can't just go home. I'm not quitting because A) I've worked in 4 firms of all sizes and from stories from other coworkers it's not any better anywhere else, mega firms might be a little bit better but the amount of surprise layoffs that happen every other month cancels out the benefit of leaving at 5 more often. B) I'm hoping to finish my IDP and a second degree this next year and say goodbye to working in arch firms forever. Until then any ideas on approaching my boss about this without getting fired?
curtkram
Dec 16, 15 1:46 pm
so, you're being set up to fail?
are you paying the odesk grunt, or does that salary come from your company? or is like a reimbursable? maybe you can charge your boss 10% overhead over the cost of the grunt?
StarchitectAlpha
Dec 16, 15 3:57 pm
Hell no I'm not paying them lol, it would probably just end with me getting replaced by somebody working for a third of my wage....
i work in a small 4 person firm that does pretty large scale projects. The pay is good and there is overtime. The projects are set up with the owner acting as the project architect for every project and there are 4 drafter/project managers working on projects separately. There is no control over scheduling and the schedules are usually kept secret and deadlines aren't shared until a few days prior. I noticed that my boss seemed to like this skeleton staff set up because we work so much faster stressed out. But two problems, you start to make a lot of mistakes working at 110% and are fully accountable for them even tho there is no back checking of drawings there just isn't time, also I get mad at missed weekends and overtime. Since I noticed that working the weekend to get ahead of a project meant you'd just be taken off of it to work on something else until that project reached crisis mode again, I started to not come in early, take my full lunch and peace out after an hour of overtime so my boss would still see that I worked late ( I don't think he notices when you come in early and work through lunch) However, the deadlines still don't really move and now it just seems like I'm missing deadlines. I do still offer to work weekends and offered this last weekend, was told no but then on Monday was told for the first time my project was being submitted Wednesday so I needed to do 2 16 hour days to meet the deadline. Obviously in this situation I can't just go home. I'm not quitting because A) I've worked in 4 firms of all sizes and from stories from other coworkers it's not any better anywhere else, mega firms might be a little bit better but the amount of surprise layoffs that happen every other month cancels out the benefit of leaving at 5 more often. B) I'm hoping to finish my IDP and a second degree this next year and say goodbye to working in arch firms forever. Until then any ideas on approaching my boss about this without getting fired?
so, you're being set up to fail?
are you paying the odesk grunt, or does that salary come from your company? or is like a reimbursable? maybe you can charge your boss 10% overhead over the cost of the grunt?
Hell no I'm not paying them lol, it would probably just end with me getting replaced by somebody working for a third of my wage....