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Who Owns Your Overtime?
HughPickens.com writes: Fran Sussner Rodgers writes in the NY Times that a little-noticed change in the American workplace is about to occur. Later this month the Department of Labor is expected to announce an adjustment to the Fair Labor Standards Act raising the salary threshold for overtime from $23,660 per year to at least double that threshold. In 1975, the last year the threshold was significantly raised, 60 percent of salaried workers fell within the requirement for overtime pay while today, only 8 percent do. The new requirement should be a welcome change for millions of American workers.
But the change also speaks to an issue that affects everyone, whether eligible for overtime or not — the clash between the finite amount of time employees actually have versus the desire of employers to treat time as an inexhaustible resource. Employees in the United States currently work more hours than workers in any of the world's 10 largest economies except Russia. When everything over 40 hours is free to the employer, the temptation to demand more is almost irresistible. But for most employees, the ones exempt from overtime rules, their managers have little incentive to look for ways to use their time more efficiently. "We are a tired, stressed and overworked nation, which has many negative consequences for our personal health and the care of our children. As a nation, we work harder and longer than almost all of our competitors, and much of that work is uncompensated," writes Rodgers. "Time is our personal currency. We parcel it out, hour by hour, to meet the demands placed on us. We all pay a steep price, as individuals and as a nation, when we can't meet our most important obligations."
But the change also speaks to an issue that affects everyone, whether eligible for overtime or not — the clash between the finite amount of time employees actually have versus the desire of employers to treat time as an inexhaustible resource. Employees in the United States currently work more hours than workers in any of the world's 10 largest economies except Russia. When everything over 40 hours is free to the employer, the temptation to demand more is almost irresistible. But for most employees, the ones exempt from overtime rules, their managers have little incentive to look for ways to use their time more efficiently. "We are a tired, stressed and overworked nation, which has many negative consequences for our personal health and the care of our children. As a nation, we work harder and longer than almost all of our competitors, and much of that work is uncompensated," writes Rodgers. "Time is our personal currency. We parcel it out, hour by hour, to meet the demands placed on us. We all pay a steep price, as individuals and as a nation, when we can't meet our most important obligations."
Save money, as much as you can. Then tell your employers NO. No pager, no cell phone, no email, no overtime, no working late. Leave that as the legacy to your kids. The MBAs want to leave the piles of money they steal for other workers as their legacy to their kids. Don't leave your kids workplaces of fear and intimidation. Show these companies that they don't own you.
In Washington state where I am, the current value is $9.47 (pretty high in the country and our economy is great, thanks). This current cutoff is the salary equivalent of making a little over $11 an hour, IF they only work you 40 hours a week. That's...pretty low. It also means that if they work you something like nine and a half hours a day on average, you're making less than minimum wage by hour. There's a lotta low grade QA jobs in the tech industry with hours like that and pretty low pay...
If I call that a salary then it is a guaranteed weekly wage, but I can work that employee 60 (or 70 or 80) hours a week with no extra pay.
Fock me...There is no chance a system like that would be abused.
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Every once in a while some manager will try to discreetly broach the subject of fudging the books so I work longer one week, take some time off the next week and smooth it all out. To which I usually respond, loudly, with a beautifully crafted note of surprise in my voice, "You want me to FALSIFY MY TIMECARD?" They usually quickly deny it and scurry off to harass the salaried employees some more.
I'm quite wary of offers to come onboard as a FTE, as that usually means the company has a lot of overtime in the cards in the next two or three months, and a layoff cycle coming right after that. Fortunately their offers are usually so laughably bad that they're pretty easy to resist.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I remember when I lived in the States. It was the life of a slave. Working, working and more working. I was in a bilingual position in a school (it was a job exchange program between my country and USA).
One day, the principal gathered all the teachers and said:
"We have decided to help our students by giving them one hour more of tutoring classes after your (very long) school hours. These additional hours are strictly voluntary and they won't be paid. But please do it for the kids!"
Being a foreigner, I thought that everybody was going to reject such a clear exploitation. But all the teachers reacted with enthusiasm:
"Yes! We'll do it for the kids! For the kids!"
I said no and everybody look at me with hostility. Afterwards, I realized that I had tenure in my home country and was able to say no. All the American teachers could say no but the principal could fire them with no reason at all. Hence, they did anything that the principal said.
I went back to my home country and keep on working in my high school and, afterwards, in the government and the World Bank. I never worked as much as worked in the States (and the salary was not good).
As a Brit now living in the US I can clearly see the reason. Even though many companies in the EU won;t stop trying, this endless free overtime malarkey generally does not fly at all because most people there just won't go along with it.
The problem exists in the US because for some reason, the average American employee's mentality is to just accept and give in to whatever employers do to you without any questions or push back at all. If US employees saw their employment contract as what it actually is, a business deal between equals that exchanges time for money at a fixed rate, The problem would end overnight.
People that complain about having to work endless unpaid overtime just need to grow a pair and stand up to being abused. Do exactly what you're paid for, then go home. Seriously.
We allowed ourselves to be convinced we are overpaid. We are extremely prosperous and have a large population. There is no reason not to go to the 6 hour day/30 hour week and employ more people. Overtime is supposed to be for unforeseen circumstances.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
And they probably produce these miracle outputs in intense 3 or 4 hour bursts followed by paid sit-on-your-ass mental exhaustion.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Oh, it's compensated all right, it's just not the poor bastard doing the overtime that's getting the dough, it's the directors and the shareholders.
If you work for free, that's called slavery and you're a mug. And American holidays are a joke. And the American health care system is a joke and the internet competition is a joke. Brainwashed.
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In 1996, ...Congress amended the FLSA to include a specific exemption, at Section 13(a)(17), for “Computer Professionals.”
1. The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
2. The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications; [or]
3. The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems;
http://www.generalcounsellaw.c...
FLSA: FUBAR.
meep
Professionals manage their own time, take breaks when they need to, finish their work, and don't use a time clock.
While it would be nice if this were true, many companies leverage the attitude in order to add unofficial overtime.
They are not demanding you work 50 or 60 hours. Instead the boss demands that workers finish a feature by a specific date. In order to meet that date the extra time must be submitted.
Usually that can be avoided by good interviewing and identifying those companies. I've had one job that had that mentality, and it lasted about six months (when the next job was lined up.)
If the workers are putting in unpaid overtime that is a symptom both of managers who abuse their workers, and workers who don't value their time. If the workers started to value their time they'd demand change within the organization and leave en mass if it didn't change. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they don't. Fear, fear of security, fear of unemployment, fear of change, fear of whatever, something is messing it up.
While a union is a terrible fit for computer programmers due to the wide variety of work skills, it is something that comes up in discussions every few years. If tech workers and programmers as a collective demanded the change, it could happen quickly.
TL;DR: Until a critical mass of workers demand better work conditions, bad businesses won't change. Good businesses already treat people with respect.
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2) News flash, most industries have competition "across the street", yet they still manage to train their employees. The trick is to ALSO pay them a decent wage. If it's worth it for the competition to hire them out from under you, then you're under-paying them. Training isn't a form of compensation, it's a capital investment that also incurs maintenance expenses.
The job market is a big place, and there's probably only a handful of jobs that demand all the skills you require. Why should I spend MY precious time training for your job, when that job will filled long before my training is complete?
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Perhaps we should ask why the average employment length is so short? I really doubt it's because the employee's skills are no longer needed, and it's probably not because the employee thinks a different work environment will be substantially more pleasant.
I suspect the usual culprit is an industry culture that doesn't give regular raises to employees to ensure that they remain appropriately compensated. If the only way I can get paid what I'm worth is to get a job at a different company, then what do realistically expect me to do?
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
They get paid for their hours in China though. Our software engineers in Shanghai always asked for permission to work overtime before doing it. Could you imagine the cultural shift in the US if Americans did the same compared with the current situation where there's no hard boundary?
Also known as "meetings".
Very true, but employers are often greedy and treat their employees like robots...
Most people's optimal concentration span is relatively short, so anything that isn't ridiculously mundane can only be done efficiently for a few hours and regular breaks are needed... Even mundane work that doesn't require much thought will suffer from longer hours, as people will get tired and make more mistakes.
And ofcourse overworked, unhappy resentful employees won't expend any more than minimum effort.
I've seen many employers institute highly unpopular policies in an aim to increase output, only for it to have the opposite effect. Ofcourse then they blame the staff and never even consider that their own policies were the cause.
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"A lot of countries work more hours"...
"Doesn't even make the top 10"....
Because your link included countries that somehow, amazingly, have even less worker protections than the US, and aren't our peers on the world stage.
Countries like Poland, Estonia, Greece, and Turkey.
Congratulations on making an stupid point with an improper comparison..
Meanwhile, among comparable countries (which, and this might be a shock to you, is the first step in making a valid comparison), we're among the most worked precisely because of our lack of time off, while other countries require more time off, yet manage similar output.
It's like excusing American gun violence by pointing to the murder rate in Somalia or Honduras.
And just as stupid.
Oh and you mocked unions again, even though they're the only reason for child labor laws, the 40hr work week, the weekend, holidays off, overtime pay, and a host of other worker rights. But again, your stupidity is nothing new. Leave it to a moron like you to act as though these are bad things.
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