We all have days when things are a bit slow. Perhaps your job requires you to run around nonstop for 8-10 hours every single day, but most people have periods when they’re sitting on their hands for a variety of reasons.
Personally I’d rather be too busy than too lightly loaded. Usually when I’m busy I feel like I‘m accomplishing something important, as long as it’s not just busy work. But when I’m bored twiddling my thumbs I feel like I’m wasting my time as well as the company’s, and not adding any value. And then there’s that nagging feeling that upper management is also aware of it, much to my detriment.
So at what point does boredom become a serious issue? If it’s a chronic problem, ask yourself why you don’t have more work assigned to you. Are you truly blocked in your work due to forces beyond your control, or does your manager not assign tasks to you?
If you are idle because of external factors, you should try to make effective use of your downtime. Perhaps the most productive thing you can do is to read technical books or browse technical web sites. Your employer may not be willing to spend money to send you to training, but by leveraging your downtime you can still learn new skills on the company’s dime.
If on the other hand you find yourself asking your boss for more work, and your boss pushes back, then you might want to be concerned. Perhaps your manager fears that you might not be able to handle important or complex assignments. In such cases it’s important that you go out of your way to earn your manager’s trust, by demonstrating whenever you get the chance that that you are reliable and can accomplish demanding tasks.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Probationary Hiring
Some people claim that the traditional interviewing model is broken, that it is inefficient and has a poor track record of identifying top candidates. They advocate the idea of probationary hiring. i.e., try a person out for 30 days, and if they don’t work out, just say good bye.
Another way this idea is presented is as a “Contract to Hire” position. The employee works as a contractor for the first X days, and then are presumably converted to perm status if the company finds it agreeable.
Personally I think this is a terrible idea regardless of how you label it. First of all, you could argue that pretty much all hiring is already probationary, especially in an “Employment at will” state like California. Under such conditions a company can let an employee go at any time for any reason (aside from those reasons barred by law, of course). Hence having a 30-day probationary period is just a fig leaf.
Secondly, 30 days is hardly enough time for someone to prove their worth. Unless a person comes into a job with exactly the skills and experience needed for the position, there will inevitably be a ramp-up time involved, which can take from a few weeks to a few months. Plus the person will need to establish a rapport with the team and other stakeholders. This is not something that can be done overnight, and it’s questionable whether 30 days, or even 90 days, is enough.
My advice? Give a new employee at least six months to settle in and prove themselves. That’s enough time for them to learn the ropes and make a real contribution. And if they are still struggling at the six month point, make it clear to them they need to shape up or ship out. And if they still have not improved by a few months after that, there is sufficient justification then to show them the door.
Another way this idea is presented is as a “Contract to Hire” position. The employee works as a contractor for the first X days, and then are presumably converted to perm status if the company finds it agreeable.
Personally I think this is a terrible idea regardless of how you label it. First of all, you could argue that pretty much all hiring is already probationary, especially in an “Employment at will” state like California. Under such conditions a company can let an employee go at any time for any reason (aside from those reasons barred by law, of course). Hence having a 30-day probationary period is just a fig leaf.
Secondly, 30 days is hardly enough time for someone to prove their worth. Unless a person comes into a job with exactly the skills and experience needed for the position, there will inevitably be a ramp-up time involved, which can take from a few weeks to a few months. Plus the person will need to establish a rapport with the team and other stakeholders. This is not something that can be done overnight, and it’s questionable whether 30 days, or even 90 days, is enough.
My advice? Give a new employee at least six months to settle in and prove themselves. That’s enough time for them to learn the ropes and make a real contribution. And if they are still struggling at the six month point, make it clear to them they need to shape up or ship out. And if they still have not improved by a few months after that, there is sufficient justification then to show them the door.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Stuck at Above Market Pay?
Believe it or not, if you find yourself making above market pay for your position, that may not necessarily be such a good thing.
For instance, we’ve all heard stories about college seniors receiving six-figure offers straight out of college. Personally I’ve never seen this happen, but it’s not inconceivable. Still, it does point out that for whatever reason salaries can sometimes get out of whack.
Perhaps you’re really good at what you do, and perhaps you have a deep knowledge and understanding of your company’s systems that no one else has. Either way, your company has seen fit to reward you with generous raises. And now you think of yourself as having decent, but necessarily stellar pay.
So when you realize that your company doesn’t want you to grow beyond your currently very essential role, what happens? You’re surprised when you talk to recruiters and they only mention jobs with significantly lower pay than yours. And the jobs that do pay in your salary range are ones you’re not qualified for.
So what do you do in this case? It just so happened that while the great raises have fattened your wallet, they have also limited your career mobility. If your pay is too big for your britches at this stage in your career you have relatively few options. You could stay at your job, where your pay will eventually plateau and the market will catch up with your pay. Or else you could make a lateral move to another job that pays less than what you’re making, in the hopes that you’ll grow in that position and catch up to and exceed your previous pay level.
In my case, I once had a great job where I got double-digit % raises for several years in a row. Unfortunately all good things had to come to an end, and this company enacted a pay freeze (probably to make up for being so overly generous before). So when I decided to look around for new opportunities, I found that my pay was around 20% over market. I was a bit miffed, but there was not much I could do about it.
After much soul searching, I ended up taking a new job that paid about 10% less than what I had been making. And I did eventually catch up to my old pay level, but it took a couple of years.
For instance, we’ve all heard stories about college seniors receiving six-figure offers straight out of college. Personally I’ve never seen this happen, but it’s not inconceivable. Still, it does point out that for whatever reason salaries can sometimes get out of whack.
Perhaps you’re really good at what you do, and perhaps you have a deep knowledge and understanding of your company’s systems that no one else has. Either way, your company has seen fit to reward you with generous raises. And now you think of yourself as having decent, but necessarily stellar pay.
So when you realize that your company doesn’t want you to grow beyond your currently very essential role, what happens? You’re surprised when you talk to recruiters and they only mention jobs with significantly lower pay than yours. And the jobs that do pay in your salary range are ones you’re not qualified for.
So what do you do in this case? It just so happened that while the great raises have fattened your wallet, they have also limited your career mobility. If your pay is too big for your britches at this stage in your career you have relatively few options. You could stay at your job, where your pay will eventually plateau and the market will catch up with your pay. Or else you could make a lateral move to another job that pays less than what you’re making, in the hopes that you’ll grow in that position and catch up to and exceed your previous pay level.
In my case, I once had a great job where I got double-digit % raises for several years in a row. Unfortunately all good things had to come to an end, and this company enacted a pay freeze (probably to make up for being so overly generous before). So when I decided to look around for new opportunities, I found that my pay was around 20% over market. I was a bit miffed, but there was not much I could do about it.
After much soul searching, I ended up taking a new job that paid about 10% less than what I had been making. And I did eventually catch up to my old pay level, but it took a couple of years.
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