No more overtime...

As it turns out, the quote above is kind of what happened. I pitched a fit over the OT pronouncement after getting back from Christmas (plus some other gripes), and my bosses quickly backtracked from their "absolutely no overtime" stance.

They sat down with me for more than an hour (a paid hour!) to say that while OT isn't preferred, there really isn't a way to avoid it completely. They would understand if I'm over 40 hours and a big game still awaits on Friday, that i have to cover that game, etc. And since we're currently short-staffed on the news side, we're all going to have to use some OT until positions get filled ...

So there you go... I feel a little better, but it doesn't change all that much my overall view of Heartland (and most corporations in this biz), that the product and taking care of the folks on the front lines of putting out the product are way, way down the list of priorities, while making lots of $$$ for the fat cats at the top is.

I guess that's the root cause of my continuing uneasiness with Heartland, with the OT thing being the last straw. I understand a company no matter the profession wants to make money, and as much as they can. But it seems Heartland seems to want to make its money without any thought of rewarding those who help them get there.

The fact is, I've gone backwards financially since they took over. My insurance has gone up. My mileage re-embursement has gone down. My workload has increased as they push using the Web more and more (something that another department handled before the takeover). This year none of us (to my knowledge) got Christmas bonuses. And this year, I didn't receive any bonus $$ for winning three press awards (my old bosses at least threw a little cash my way when I'd luck out and win an award in years past). And now the OT mandate, plus a tight, tight stringer budget and barely any money to upgrade equipment for 2008.

Eventually, you've got to throw some incentives to the employees, especially if what you are asking out of them increases and increases. I do love this job, but as others have said, I have no desire to get played like a fiddle...

 

The next step is they will find someone younger than you to do your job for less money.

 

Write-brained wouldn't lie to you ;D

 

I think I contribute enough that they'd want me to stay. But I don't think I have any leverage whatsoever to ask for a raise for this very reason. If I left, they'd probably rejoice that they'd get several thousand dollars off the books in salary because they could hire a young kid and pay him $17K a year...

 

Do the young kids who accept those $17K a year positions (or even $27K) not see what lies ahead for them? Do they think they can milk 45 years out of this business, and that their raises will somehow a) make a comfortable life affordable, while b) not putting them in jeopardy of layoffs, buyouts or terminations, when the boss wants someone younger and cheaper?

Maybe that's the future of journalism, to be practiced only by those under 30 or those of post-retirement age who aren't working for the money anymore.

 

You have to get your foot in the door somewhere, Joe. Those kids probably don't have an idea of just how much value management places on the bottom line, but it's hard to get that perspective if you're fresh out of college.

 

making an excuse for stupidity isn't really an excuse.

 

When I first arrived at my last shop, OT was "not allowed," but you were expected to produce at least 6 stories a week, put in at least 20 hours a week on the desk and there was a dictate that we cover "non-traditional" sports -- e.g., non-prep sports -- in addition to our prep coverage.

If you worked over, you could take "comp time" that you were never really allowed to take.

If you don't get your work done, brush up your resume.

If you do, you're lying through your teeth when you fill out the time card.

Someone complained to the state ... and very suddenly, the policy changed. Now, they pay OT, and they watch their reporters/deskers' hours *very* closely.

 

What is this overtime that is being spoken off so often in this thread?

And if anyone coming out of college just docilely accepts 17K as an annual salary, they are idiots. I had three job offers out of school, all within a few hours of each other and all in similarly sized markets. One offered just under 20K, the other two in the 25-30K range. When I asked the 20K people if they could go higher, they said that living in such a beautiful area made up for the small salary. I told them I could live in the same beautiful area and make 10K more at a different paper.

 

Last time I flew, I was sitting next to a guy who was apparently traveling home after being in Montana on business. He flew from Billings to Salt Lake to Atlanta ... to Houston.

I asked him if he minded. He said nah, he was getting paid for the time spent flying.

Though I sincerely doubt he was a writer.

 

A few questions as this topic diversifies some:

• is paying time and half once a person goes over 40 hours a legal thing or is it just standard business practice that most use to pay more for OT?
• same thing for holiday pay - If I worked on Christmas Day or another holiday, for example, should I expect to get time and a half for that by labor law or is that up to the company I'm working for?

thanks ...

 

Time 1/2 has gotta be legal because I know companies that have paid it who wouldn't have paid it otherwise.