I GOT THE PAYRISE!

Wow I haven’t posted in a while, mainly due to the fact I’ve had nothing significant happening - it’s just been the same old bullshit on different days.

However, I thought it was about time for an update, and for something new for people to comment on, so I said “I’mma post a blog entry”, and here I am.

So the other day at work, we all received an email from our General Manager, letting us know that the company’s minimum wage was being upped to $34,000/year ($16.98/hr) including leave loading. Previous to this, I was earning $33,500 incl. leave loading, or $16.72/hr, so I was happy about this. Additionally, there was also mention of a payrise for those who’ve been employed for over 12 months or more, but that was still in discussion.

However, I thought about it for a bit longer, and became pretty disappointed with it. I have been employed in this company for almost two years now (21 months, to be precise), and it struck me as odd that I was still on minimum wage (despite my being there for over 12 months and being one of the top processors on the floor). I did realise that there might be an extra bonus since I was over the 12 months employment, but even without that, I shouldn’t still be on minimum wage! I mean, for God’s sake.

So, I took it to my Team Leader, who then took it to our Operations Manager. Our Ops Manager pulled me aside and said that she agreed with me, and that she’s been pushing for a payrise for me and four other (young) girls on the floor, but it’s fallen on deaf ears basically because one of the girls she was pushing for is, incidentally, her niece. She said I would need to take it to our General Manager myself, if I felt I had a strong enough case, as all her calls were, as I mentioned, not being heard.

So that I did. I wrote an email to our General Manager, as follows:

Hi T*******,

I’d like to put forward a complaint about my pay. I am sure that many other people in the office must have my same concerns, but unfortunately when it comes to pay I cannot speak on their behalf, as deserving as they are of the same treatment.
Additionally, I am putting this forward in writing as a) I then have record of sending this to you, and b) I tend to express myself better through writing than speech, and it also allows me to get my point across. I am happy to come to speak to you about it if you would like to discuss this further.

I read your email in regard to the decision you’ve made regarding [company]’s minimum wage. Whilst I don’t want to seem ungrateful for that, because I have a job I love and am surrounded by awesome people, it seems incomprehensible to me that I am still on the [company] minimum wage, when I’ve been here for over 18 months. Before your announcement, I was earning $16.72/hr (whether that was the minimum wage previously I am not sure), but I would think that with nearly two years service here (21 months), I should be at least above minimum wage now that the $16.98/hr has been put into place. I also don’t think it should come down to previous experience – at this point in time, any experience I had prior to this position should be irrelevant to how much I am being paid, considering I have the experience in this position, and I do my job well.

I understand that you have plans to introduce the second tier wage for employees who have been here for 12 months or more, but even without that I believe I should still be at least above the minimum wage at this point. I apologise for the upcoming language, but I work my butt off in this place, and without the recognition that I deserve, I’m soon not going to have a choice but to leave (and as I say, I don’t want to do that because I love my job) and, not to talk myself up, but [company]’s productivity would drop significantly without me here.

For your reference, here are my statistics for last week alone as provided by S**** (team leader), in terms of my productivity:

Mon 24th Mar: nil
Tue 25th Mar: 110.67%
Wed 26th Mar: 120%
Thu 27th Mar: 97.33%
Fri 28th Mar: 160%

As you can see (bar the 24th where it was a public holiday) I am consistently above our goal of 80% productivity per day, and at every appraisal I have been reaching and exceeding my KPIs. I can provide my statistics for the week before last (but unfortunately nothing previous to that as S**** only started sending these out two weeks ago – however, I’m sure you could get any of those details from reports).

I hope you can understand my standpoint on this. As I say, I am happy to discuss this further, and I would definitely appreciate your input.

Regards,

Terri Hyland

I received a reply about half an hour later:

Hi Terri,

Yes I do get your point and I will review your situation as you’ve asked me to.

I’m sure you are a valuable employee and I can appreciate that you would like to see that reflected in your pay. Decision about wages are based on equity and I will do whatever I can based on fairness across both [parent company] and [sister company] staff.

Thank you for raising this with me. I’ll get back to you with my decision as soon as possible, - hopefully by the end of this week.

Kind regards

T*******

So I let it sit there for the time being, since she said she’d get back to me by the end of the week, and I didn’t want to rock the boat or push my chances any further than I already had.

So today, as I stayed home sick, my colleague and one of my best friends messages me on MySpace with the following email from our General Manager (and I’ve underlined the points of interest, or relevance to me):

Hi Folks,

Earlier this week I sent an email outlining the new entry rate of pay for [company] staff. In that communication I also indicated that a rate for completing 12 months of service would be introduced, and other performance-based incentives.

I’m pleased to outline the following new structure:

Entry rate of pay /first 12 months of employment $34,000.

After 12 months of employment the rate increases to $35,500 on the anniversary date.

Two wage categories for staff who’ve complete 12 months of service; either ‘Good’ performance or ‘Very Good’ performance. Staff who’ve achieved the level of ‘Very Good’ performance during their performance review will have their base rate increased to $37,000.

All these rates are inclusive of leave loading.

I will be sending an email to each of you letting you know your new rate of pay if applicable. For the past performance review I rated all staff who achieved a total score of 9 or above as Very Good performance. In the email I send I will let you know your rating if applicable (not for staff less than 12 months).

The rating system will be changing for two reasons; firstly we have introduced our SMART productivity tracker so we can gather more accurate statistics; and secondly we are moving to a different and better performance development review system. Don’t worry too much about this right at the moment, as I will be running detailed workshops on how our new systems will operate.

In addition, I am also introducing an up to 5% performance-based bonus system – beginning from July and incorporating performance from 1 March – and I will provide the mechanics of this shortly. Sorry for the info being broken up, but the main point is that all staff have the opportunity to increase their income.

Please wait for your personal email to be sent to you prior to asking me any questions. This may take me a bit of time today so be patient.

I’m aiming for these pay adjustments to be reflected in your next pay – but, as it’s quite a bit of work, if this doesn’t happen you will be back-paid.

T******* J*******

So, since I wasn’t there today, I don’t know if I’ve got the payrise to the $37,000, but there is a good chance of it, since my stats are so high.

Basically, cross your fingers for me. I’ll let you know when I know

So, I haven’t had a chance to blog at all since a couple of weeks ago, and I apologise for that. I’ve been working, and having school work to do, it cuts into my internet time significantly. So to fill you all in, especially in regards to older posts. I managed to come up with a new net username, which is neither mature nor two words like I thought I wanted, but I still love it, so around the net if you see anyone by the name of ‘pinkcowsgomoo’, you can presume its me - I haven’t seen anyone else about with it. So hand-in-hand with that, I’ve made a new Loowa, a new MySpace and changed my Twitter name, so you can find links to all those in the sidebar under “About”.

Additionally, I put together a new layout, so I hope you like it. No, it’s not Valid CSS or XHTML, simply for the fact that if I put in a doctype, it ruins the header tabs hover thing I have going on - if you have a solution for that at all, so that I might be able to validate my site, PLEASE let me know!

But finally to the actual reason for this post - due to my time being so busy, I haven’t had a chance to blog about the Ozzy Osbourne concert we went to last Saturday.

I’ve loved Ozzy for years - he’s one of my favourite musos, and the chance came up to go and see him, since he was coming to Melbourne. The last time he was in Australia was in 1998, too fucking long ago. So when we heard he was coming, I went to look at ticket prices. It was $99 a ticket in the nosebleeds. So at the time I said no, because we didn’t have the money. But things changed in about late December/early January, when I got my credit card. I worked it out - 10 years since Ozzy was here last, Ozzy turns 60 this year - if it’s another 10 years before he might even come here, he’ll be 70 and probably too old to perform. This might be the last time he tours, at least globally.

So I thought about it - $200 ain’t that bad to see a guy who you’ve loved for ages and probably won’t get a chance to see ever again. So, I whipped out the credit card and bought tickets in the nosebleeds.

We headed out there on Saturday the 15th, got there at about 6pm (the show was due to start at 8), and bought a t-shirt each (since it’s now my new hobby to collect band t-shirts!). We waited… and waited… and waited… and finally they opened the doors to the arena. We made our way inside, found our seats and sat taking in the surroundings and atmosphere - it was pretty electric. Then the supporting band, Sevendust, came out - they were pretty awesome, did a great job of riling (sp?) up the crowd, but the magic happened after Sevendust and an intermission; there were some funny clips played on the big screens of Ozzy in movies and TV shows, like The Office, The Queen, Pirates of the Caribbean, that kind of thing. And then the curtain in front of the stage fell… and there was Ozzy. Oh Em Gee. I SCREAMED until my voice gave way. This guy is incredible! For a near-60 year old guy to get up on stage like that, and perform like he was 20 years old, holy shit he was awesome! And Zakk Wylde, his guitarist who is a celebrity in his own right, was so totally crazy!

So I’m stupid for not remembering the set list, but he played “Mama I’m Coming Home”, my favourite song, and “Crazy Train” (of course). And then, right at the end of the show, Zakk throws his guitar INTO THE CROWD! There’s this HUGE scramble for it, and finally one guy gets it and has to be escorted out by security so he doesn’t get nabbed or beaten up (I’m sure they would have had to get a taxi or something for him to get home!).

All in all, it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE! I can’t wait for my next arena concert!