About the Salaried Thing
My entire life, Iāve heard that what you want is to become a salaried employee. In theory, this means you get the schmancy job title and any prestige that comes with it, a higher salary, and better benefits. Corporate types always say, āyou get paid the same no matter what it takes to get the job done.ā Sounds like a great deal, right?
Slow down. Thatās only in theory. What it really means is they donāt want to pay you overtime for all the overtime hours they plan on having you work. Some folks say, āThe OT you wouldāve gotten is factored into the salary total.ā Well, in theory, thatās probably true.
The reality is something else altogether. And many companies abuse the status of āsalariedā and use it to pay less for more work.
And what about the opposite? I am a highly efficient worker. I think fast, move fast, work fast. I am always ahead of schedule and Iāve only ever had one boss who could keep me busy eight hours a day. Well, most of the time. Sometimes I even turned in her ridiculous amounts of assigned work early and they had to go find more for me to do. So letās say I fulfill the duties of the job I have been hired for, on average, in 30-35 hours a week. Letās pretend I have a counterpart who takes fifty five hours to do the same work. Now, we are both paid similarly and are salaried employees. But having fulfilled my responsibilities and turned in my deliverables, shouldnāt I be able to go home and still get paid the same? If it doesnāt take me forty hours or more, shouldnāt they be happy? And why should I have to hang around the office or do even more extra than I already do to fill in a forty hour time card?
Again, that stated purpose of salary is like the company saying āwe will pay you a flat rate to complete this work.ā Well, I completed it, so whatās with the evil eye when I leave on time, even though I really should be able to bail any time I want under this arrangement? I can guarantee you I wonāt be paid OT for working over forty hours, but I will most certainly be docked if I put in 32 and donāt use PTO, regardless of whether my work is finished or Iām way ahead of schedule on my assigned tasks.
I really donāt honestly get this, other than appearances or something. But I think āsalariedā should work in the same way for people like me who donāt need forty hours to get it done, and get it done right, as it does for someone who has to spend longer than forty hours to do the same thing. Everyone is different. Just because itās easier for me, I donāt think I should be penalized.
My hope is one day I will find a place that is happy Iām knocking the work assigned out of the park and who doesnāt care when Iām there, because Iām killing it and getting them what they need early or, at worst, right on time for when they need it.
Right now all I get is people staring at a clock and celebrating folks who do less in more time because they stayed at the office from sun up to way past sun down. Sure, they are missing their deadlines and turning in subpar work. But they put in 13 hours yesterday. By the way, weāre going to need you to pick up the work they arenāt getting done and fix what they did do, because itās wrong. Also, can you coach them up to your level?
Oy vey.
What I see is an inefficient worker who needs training or someone who works in an understaffed department. But what do I know? Everywhere I go, thatās whatās happening and I end up with yet another āsuper job.ā No raises or bonuses or anything, just taking the load off others and providing training. And still crushing it in under forty hours, leaving on time, and people gawking and not understanding how thatās possible even with the results sitting right in front of them.
Management reaction is usually this: letās not reward this guy or let him do his thing and leave early because heās always ahead of schedule. Never, ever pay him a compliment. Who cares if we reviewed it and had to grudgingly admit that itās really stellar work and people are thrilled itās happening so fast that it has far exceeded their expectations on time to deliver? Itās not like heās putting in fourteen hours a day. Only thing that matters is how much time you spend In the office, how much sleep you lose working, and how much danger your personal relationships are in.
Thatās commitment. Thatās sacrifice for the company. Doing a great job in forty hours or less means you are lazy and donāt work hard enough. You should be doing more, even though you ask for more to fill up the time and we canāt come up with anything else to assign you. So here, run these meetings we scheduled to start well past your usual quitting time. Donāt even think about coming in later to keep it to eight hours. We will have you in the office fifty hours a week yet! Ha ha!
Seriously, thatās actually happened to me. Many times. So hereās hoping that reasonable company with good management who rewards this kind of thing is somewhere out there.
In the mean time, Iām not holding my breath. It seems a reasonable expectation, but Iāve seen little at work to suggest that āreasonableā and āworkā go together in this world today. Or at least, here in the good old U S of A.














