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Do I have a beef?
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[Aaron Cadieux] “leads me to believe that most of you are the boss.”
[Aaron Cadieux] “I tend to think that most of the people telling me to ‘suck it up’ have probably dumped personal crap on their employees at one time or another. “
To tell you the truth, I’m job hunting right now (which is why I’m spending so much time on the COW). So, that’s kinda the opposite of what you assumed. The only employee I have to dump personal tasks on is my dog, and he won’t even make Starbucks runs for me. I was just trying to help you with your situation at work by giving you my opinion.
Now that I understand that they’ve got paying jobs coming in, which makes your situation pretty bizarre.
But –
I think Todd Terry nailed it – you’re an employee. Their bottom line is of no concern to you. They can ask you to do anything you want, and you don’t have much say in the matter. Sorry.
I’ll wrap up with this – use this grief and frustration that this is causing to fuel your job search. And, of course, learn from their mistakes. Hopefully, six months from now, you’ll look back on this and laugh.
oh, and
SUCK IT UP.
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Since Aaron is also running a business on the side on top of his full-time job and has a website http://www.bigoperations.com to promote this and get new clients, what do you boss/owners think about your full-time employees having a side business in the same field as your business?
Aaron, are you getting full benefits or any other perks? Does the owner know that you are running that side business?
Randy
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Yes, they are fully aware of my business. I actually handle their DVD duplication. Thus far, there haven’t been any conflicts.
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[Aaron Cadieux] “In the end, I guess I’m just shocked that so many people find it acceptable that someone should have to work on personal projects for their bosses at work.”
I think we’ve come to the point where we are beating a dead horse here, as you feel the way you feel and there’s going to be no changing it. But you are being very myopic and perhaps not looking at the big picture.
About ten years ago, as a new company owner I was excited to get my first employee… she was a combination of many things: office manager, personal assistant, secretary, etc. Her job was to run the office, and although I didn’t define her job as such she took it upon herself to include just “taking care of me” as needed. The first time she said “I’ll pick up your dry cleaning after lunch” I was like, “Uhh.. you shouldn’t do that. That’s not your job.” The same with “Do you want me to make you a haircut appointment,” or “Should I pick your dog up from the vet?”
Personal work? Sure. Very personal. But you know what? It helped me, freed me up to do the work that brought the money in that paid my salary and hers, too.
Maybe you don’t see the value in editing the bosses kid’s wedding video… even though it’s on company time and you’re getting paid for it (by the way, if the company’s speciality was wedding videos you’d be doing that every day). But then again, maybe that helps your boss… frees him up to go after business… or just takes a weight off his mind and something off his plate so can better concentrate on building the company. At least the work is within your area of expertise… it’s not like he’s asking you to go out back and dig a ditch.
[Aaron Cadieux] ” I think the bosses are giving me boss answers and employees are giving me employee answers”
Probably true. But I guarantee you that every one of us who are currently “bosses” have been employees as well. You’re only seeing the view from one side of the fence.
[Aaron Cadieux] “majority of the people on this forum (the bosses) will think I’m a snot-nosed spoiled-brat punk”
Not completely… but I’m not sure you appreciate the dynamic of the employer/employee situation.
[Aaron Cadieux] “I would NEVER ask an employee of mine… to work on a personal project of mine without additional compensation… no matter if it’s office hours…”
Why not? If you own the company there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, it’s perfectly ethical, and your duty to do as your employer requires. And it has nothing to do with “being nice.”
[Aaron Cadieux] “most of the people telling me to ‘suck it up’ have probably dumped personal crap on their employees at one time or another.”
For the record, I was a decent employee… but I’m a great boss. My employees will tell you so, unprompted. They’ve worked on personal projects on occasion, but i’ve never “dumped crap” on any of them. Most of them would probably tell you the personal stuff was a lot more fun and creative than the “real” work and they enjoyed it. And got paid for it.
[Aaron Cadieux] “But believe me, I’m always looking.”
Well, good luck, hopefully you will find an employer you think is more fair and have a long, happy, and profitable relationship with them… sincerely.
Probably should hope they don’t read the COW.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well, thanks for your input, and I appreciate your point of view. And if any potential future employers of mine read the cow, and my posts prevent me from getting hired, it’s probably for the better. If they don’t like my point of view, it would save them and me from an unpleasant working relationship. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t really care if my current employer saw the posts. After all, it’s better to have someone venting to strangers online than causing a scene in the workplace (which I have never, and will never do).
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Aaron,
It’s true, a lot of people in this forum are managers or business owners (it IS the “business” forum) so maybe their view is a little slanted by that. BUT, all of these people started at the bottom and worked their way up. I have spent enough time in this forum to know that every single person replying to your post is an honest, hard working, kind employer who knows their sh*t and has walked the fire. I think that earns them a little room to call it as they see it.
That said, there is truth in some of these responses. As long as your employer is paying you for your time, and the work is within the job description agreed to when you were hired (i.e. editor/videographer) then there is no moral issue in asking you to work on whatever project they deem fit. This is especially true if there is no profit sharing situation, as this means there is no financial reason for you to be upset. Outside of that, it seems you are upset because you only want to work on higher-profile gigs. It is not an employer’s responsibility to provide fun, career-boosting projects for the personal pleasure and advancement of their team. It is only their duty to keep everyone gainfully employed, and since you have stated several times the shop is up to its eyeballs in paid work, your bosses seem to be doing their job.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Not to protract “beat up on Aaron day,” but I will pipe up —
I think this obviously just comes down to a personality conflict. You don’t respect (or probably like) your boss or his work — ergo, you don’t like working on his personal projects.
Consider this —
Imagine that it wasn’t his son or daughter’s wedding. Say it was a paying client that brought the wedding video in to edit. You would be doing EXACTLY the same project for EXACTLY the same pay.
Imagine that it wasn’t a personal windmill project. Say it was an outside paying client that had a vendetta against the windmill and contracted with the company to produce the video. Again you would be doing EXACTLY the same project for EXACTLY the same pay.
I think Brendan’s right. You don’t like being shuffled off onto the grunt work in favor of the higher-profile (and possibly reel-building) jobs.
Unfortunately, that’s life — and that’s business. You may indeed have a beef with your boss regarding compensation. Address that with him. Get paid what you are worth, or move on. You do NOT have a beef with your boss regarding the jobs you are given. Do them, do them well without complaining — or move on.
A
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[Aaron Cadieux] “I tend to think that most of the people telling me to ‘suck it up’ have probably dumped personal crap on their employees at one time or another.”
Why would you think that? (Because you do it and you judge others by what you know of yourself?)
It is clear that you do it and you probably attribute that motivation to others. In all the years that I have had employees, not one has ever quit. I fired one but only after years of carrying them and they proved that they had no motivation and never progressed an inch in all their training and craft. But even they were kept for years, three to be exact. Two of those years Kathlyn and I were scratching our heads asking why we were keeping them on staff. Finally after three years it became quite apparent that no tactic to inspire or motivate them was going to work. So they are gone. The rest? They love working with us. (I am NOT the warmest and fuzziest human being you will ever meet. But I am very fair and try to treat our people with respect.)
You jump to too many conclusions and make illogical statements like…
[Aaron Cadieux] “I would NEVER ask an employee of mine… to work on a personal project of mine without additional compensation… no matter if it’s office hours…”
If I am paying people and they are on the clock and I want to throw a personal job at them — say like coding one of my favorite rock musician’s websites (because their lawyers and accountants ran off with all that the publishing company and record execs didn’t screw them out of and so they don’t have the money to do it) — then that is the job I want them to do. It has nothing to do with the COW, but I want it done. They are getting paid. They are on the clock. They are on our team and we expect them to play as a part of it.
You clearly are not a team player and that is your real problem.
Oh, and you haven’t figured out that it is well past time for you to move on. You’d be doing yourself and your boss a favor.
Ron Lindeboom
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I’ve sat quiet here for three years and completed every task that has been thrown at me (business and personal projects alike). I have never once complained to my bosses, and as far as they’re concerend, “I’m the best editor they’ve ever had”. And I know, if I’m not happy, no one is “forcing” me to stay. But in today’s day and age, full-time jobs are few and far between. Despite my rantings, I am very thankful to have a job.
Thank God for places like the cow. Venting my frustrations here has prevented me from losing my cool at work. 3 + years working somewhere without even a cost of living increase is enough to make anyone bitter.
I do respect the diversity of opinions here.
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I completely agree with what has been said so far, and what I have to say was already said, but seems to have been glossed over by the rest of the discussion. Sit down with your boss, in a non-confrontational manner, and discuss what sort of time limits are included in your salaried pay. If they’re paying you for 40 hours a week of work, bring that up and ask how they’re going to compensate for that extra Saturday. If it is a 40+ hours per week scenario, how are you being compensated for that extra time? Overtime pay? A higher base salary than you otherwise could have been given? It could be that they think you’re already being compensated for it, and they shouldn’t have to offer anything extra for your services.
Bring it up. Talk about it, ask questions about it. Make sure that they’re thinking about how to repay you for your extra time. Do you get a bonus at the end of the year for your work? Do you have some flexibility in the hours you put in while you’re not working on projects like these? You aren’t a slave, so make sure there is open discussion about payment and compensation. Unless you don’t want to be working on his side projects at all, in which case, well…the options have pretty well been laid out ^^^
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