F. Find a better place to work that does not exploit weak staff
My office's OT policies start at anything above 37.5 (used to be 35) and I'm compensated for every-hour after at a set $/hr rate which is annual salary/37.5*52.
Josh Mings
May 18, 16 12:11 pm
Dang, 37.5 is nice. Ours start at 40, and we get straight time for it. Better than nothing, but definitely would have liked to get double time for all the hours I did above 60 a few weeks ago. At least I got something.
tduds
May 18, 16 12:21 pm
Time for a raise!
no_form
May 18, 16 12:55 pm
we get the rock solid promise that good employees are rewarded. lmao...time to start looking.
Fruehling
May 18, 16 2:15 pm
I wonder how many people, and indeed if many architects will be given the exciting opportunity to become 'independent contractors'
AdrianFGA
May 18, 16 2:37 pm
^
And those who can't make it as an independent contractor can start a successful webcomic like http://xkcd.com/
Everyday Intern
May 18, 16 2:59 pm
My first job was in an office that this will affect drastically. Hope he can afford to keep the doors open ... or not, the world wouldn't lose anything if he couldn't stay open.
My last firm was already paying time and half for overtime on hourly employees, so no difference there. I would suspect that their salaried employees are over the 47,456 threshold. They will probably see little to no change.
Currently, I'm making over the threshold by a good margin, so it doesn't matter to me (I also rarely need to work more than 40 hrs/week). If I was making $48,000 or something close, I might petition to get a salary cut so I could bank any overtime as extra ... but the office would never go for that. It does make me wonder how the office is going to handle this for current employees making less than the threshold.
Dangermouse
May 18, 16 4:05 pm
got the same thing going on in my office, no_form. its funny how fast that promise is rolled back when you ask for it in writing.
geezertect
May 18, 16 9:46 pm
Maybe they will just make everyone an "intern". Then they won't have to pay anything.
no_form
May 19, 16 2:01 am
@dangermouse,
seems like all people are quick to put in writing these days are invoices and disclaimers.
Driko
May 19, 16 9:50 am
@geezertect LOL
zonker
May 19, 16 11:53 am
So - is this going to work during the next recession? One firm I worked at - we were told to take the laptops home and remote login - but not charge OT
JeromeS
Jun 1, 16 6:24 pm
^^That was the beginning of the end at my previouys firm. Principal wrote an email to all employees grousing abouy why didnt work harder on behalf of the firm when he cut pay 20%
archeyarch
Jun 2, 16 11:46 pm
Anyone doing unpaid hours over 40?
gdub
Jun 3, 16 2:41 am
It will be interesting to see what the employers do. I would be careful how you bring this up to your existing boss, so as not to get on their bad side. Unfortunately, I have put in countless hours of overtime without getting paid for it over the years. Many of us make the choice to do so.
When you choose to work overtime without having a time in lieu or overtime rate in place, you are telling the employer you don't value yourself. The best way to get around all of this is to negotiate a fixed amount of salary hours per week and then negotiate for any amount of hours over and above that. If the firm is not willing to give you that, they likely intended to take advantage of you anyways and aren't worth working for. Negotiate up front and get everything in writing. If they aren't willing to put it in writing, you won't get it.
MinimalCrazy
Jun 5, 16 1:44 am
lol i wonder if this even matters. worked 70 hours this week no ot pay
Non Sequitur
Jun 5, 16 10:46 am
No OT pay Minimalcrazy?
Change offices.
MinimalCrazy
Jun 5, 16 12:38 pm
Unfortunatly not, it seems pay is the sacrifice which must be made to do interesting projects. Took a 50% paycut for this job lol.
Non Sequitur
Jun 5, 16 1:00 pm
^ that's rough and not something I'd consider worthy of announcing. No project is interesting enough or no name is big enough for me to entertain that level of compensation.
amenapi
Jun 5, 16 3:46 pm
is that $47,456 including all the benefits? because I'm a salaried person earning $40k a year,. However, during review, our Director show some computation showing my salary + benefits (their medical/dental part and 401k match) which total to around $44k - total compensation?
Currently working with a large company for 2 years now (first job out of school) and this year is pretty crazy! I've been working for 51hrs a week last 2 months and I'm a salaried person, even before I work minimum of 44 hours a week. AND IM SO BURNED OUT!
archie
Jun 6, 16 3:48 pm
It does not include benefits, although it can include bonuses as long as they are no more than 10% of the total. 401K contribution does not count towards the total.
MinimalCrazy
Jun 6, 16 11:17 pm
@Non, i think that depends on the current situation you are in life. If you have family/kids, the money is more important so you can actually feed them. Luckily for me, I just have to fund myself... so the salary is okay... for now. You could always switch from design to corporate for $$$ but not always the other way. I try to not let money define happiness.
Non Sequitur
Jun 7, 16 8:21 am
^fair enough, for now.
I remember the face of a high-end design firm principle when I rejected his job offer. It was less than 2 weeks post grad school and this chump offered me the what amounted to 3$ per hour above minimal wage at the time. My skills and time were worth far more than that even back then.
shellarchitect
Jun 7, 16 3:20 pm
min - i hope your getting awesome experience that will transfer well to other firms. Working that much gets old real fast when your friends are all making way more that you are. (my exp. at least)
shellarchitect
Jun 7, 16 3:41 pm
actually my friends still make way more than me... at least i only work 40ish hours though!
MinimalCrazy
Jun 7, 16 11:19 pm
@non I think i have the same situation as you. except I took what the chump offered :'D hopefully its the right decision. Hopefully the skills I am acquiring makes it worth my while down the line...
@shuellmi... I am getting insanely good experience that I would never expect to get... thought I was gonna be a cad/render dummy... But the real question is, will I be paid well at other firms for my skills, we are in architecture after-all. Yeah some of my accounting/finance friends express their disgust in the architecture profession cause the pay is terrible for the hours this profession works. But I rather be excited for work everyday than hate my job even if its a paycut vs other professions.. Try not to let money define happiness! Human instinct will always crave for more! My way of living is to be happy and thankful for what I have, but of course, I will try and do better. Of course everything changes if you need to feed your family...
Mandatory overtime includes hourly AND salaried workers making less than $47,456 a year. Let your bosses know so that they can either:
A. Start paying you time and a half after 40 hrs.
B. Give you a raise over that amount and continue working you to the bone.
C. Make you work only 40 hours a week.
D. Some combination of above, or...
E. Fire you.
http://www.dol.gov/featured/overtime
Ha.
F. Find a better place to work that does not exploit weak staff
My office's OT policies start at anything above 37.5 (used to be 35) and I'm compensated for every-hour after at a set $/hr rate which is annual salary/37.5*52.
Dang, 37.5 is nice. Ours start at 40, and we get straight time for it. Better than nothing, but definitely would have liked to get double time for all the hours I did above 60 a few weeks ago. At least I got something.
Time for a raise!
we get the rock solid promise that good employees are rewarded. lmao...time to start looking.
I wonder how many people, and indeed if many architects will be given the exciting opportunity to become 'independent contractors'
^
And those who can't make it as an independent contractor can start a successful webcomic like http://xkcd.com/
My first job was in an office that this will affect drastically. Hope he can afford to keep the doors open ... or not, the world wouldn't lose anything if he couldn't stay open.
My last firm was already paying time and half for overtime on hourly employees, so no difference there. I would suspect that their salaried employees are over the 47,456 threshold. They will probably see little to no change.
Currently, I'm making over the threshold by a good margin, so it doesn't matter to me (I also rarely need to work more than 40 hrs/week). If I was making $48,000 or something close, I might petition to get a salary cut so I could bank any overtime as extra ... but the office would never go for that. It does make me wonder how the office is going to handle this for current employees making less than the threshold.
got the same thing going on in my office, no_form. its funny how fast that promise is rolled back when you ask for it in writing.
Maybe they will just make everyone an "intern". Then they won't have to pay anything.
@dangermouse,
seems like all people are quick to put in writing these days are invoices and disclaimers.
@geezertect LOL
So - is this going to work during the next recession? One firm I worked at - we were told to take the laptops home and remote login - but not charge OT
^^That was the beginning of the end at my previouys firm. Principal wrote an email to all employees grousing abouy why didnt work harder on behalf of the firm when he cut pay 20%
Anyone doing unpaid hours over 40?
It will be interesting to see what the employers do. I would be careful how you bring this up to your existing boss, so as not to get on their bad side. Unfortunately, I have put in countless hours of overtime without getting paid for it over the years. Many of us make the choice to do so.
When you choose to work overtime without having a time in lieu or overtime rate in place, you are telling the employer you don't value yourself. The best way to get around all of this is to negotiate a fixed amount of salary hours per week and then negotiate for any amount of hours over and above that. If the firm is not willing to give you that, they likely intended to take advantage of you anyways and aren't worth working for. Negotiate up front and get everything in writing. If they aren't willing to put it in writing, you won't get it.
lol i wonder if this even matters. worked 70 hours this week no ot pay
No OT pay Minimalcrazy?
Change offices.
Unfortunatly not, it seems pay is the sacrifice which must be made to do interesting projects. Took a 50% paycut for this job lol.
^ that's rough and not something I'd consider worthy of announcing. No project is interesting enough or no name is big enough for me to entertain that level of compensation.
is that $47,456 including all the benefits? because I'm a salaried person earning $40k a year,. However, during review, our Director show some computation showing my salary + benefits (their medical/dental part and 401k match) which total to around $44k - total compensation?
Currently working with a large company for 2 years now (first job out of school) and this year is pretty crazy! I've been working for 51hrs a week last 2 months and I'm a salaried person, even before I work minimum of 44 hours a week. AND IM SO BURNED OUT!
It does not include benefits, although it can include bonuses as long as they are no more than 10% of the total. 401K contribution does not count towards the total.
@Non, i think that depends on the current situation you are in life. If you have family/kids, the money is more important so you can actually feed them. Luckily for me, I just have to fund myself... so the salary is okay... for now. You could always switch from design to corporate for $$$ but not always the other way. I try to not let money define happiness.
^fair enough, for now.
I remember the face of a high-end design firm principle when I rejected his job offer. It was less than 2 weeks post grad school and this chump offered me the what amounted to 3$ per hour above minimal wage at the time. My skills and time were worth far more than that even back then.
min - i hope your getting awesome experience that will transfer well to other firms. Working that much gets old real fast when your friends are all making way more that you are. (my exp. at least)
actually my friends still make way more than me... at least i only work 40ish hours though!
@non I think i have the same situation as you. except I took what the chump offered :'D hopefully its the right decision. Hopefully the skills I am acquiring makes it worth my while down the line...
@shuellmi... I am getting insanely good experience that I would never expect to get... thought I was gonna be a cad/render dummy... But the real question is, will I be paid well at other firms for my skills, we are in architecture after-all. Yeah some of my accounting/finance friends express their disgust in the architecture profession cause the pay is terrible for the hours this profession works. But I rather be excited for work everyday than hate my job even if its a paycut vs other professions.. Try not to let money define happiness! Human instinct will always crave for more! My way of living is to be happy and thankful for what I have, but of course, I will try and do better. Of course everything changes if you need to feed your family...