I got my paycheck last night. It included a bonus. A bigger bonus than I anticipated. All of my concern that I didn’t feel excitement when I heard people get their bonuses unless they’re on an improvement plan completely faded away because I am PUMPED! I know lots of job search disappointments and life disappointments have conditioned me to not believe something until I see it, until it’s in my hand. And I think that’s what happened here. I didn’t believe I would get a bonus. I didn’t necessarily believe that new HR person knew what she was talking about. I didn’t necessarily believe that bonus was a part of my compensation package. But it is. And updating my spreadsheets last night was glorious. Continue reading “Bonuses and Making Things Real”
Category: Jobs
Bonuses…and a Shocking Lack of Excitement
I had lunch with our new HR/recruiter person at work the other day. In addition to wanting to get to know her since she’s new to town I had a few questions for her of course 🙂 . What I learned about our job over the course of our lunch was extremely helpful. For example, I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but my pay structure at this job is unlike any I’ve had before.
Previously I was given a set salary and that was it. In ad agencies they don’t really give you raises or bonuses so that wasn’t ever expected. I did receive $1,000 from one of my ad agencies because I planned the company holiday party (which I did the next year as well without payment 🙂 ).
They told me not to tell anyone about it. Since I am a strong believer in financial transparency I totally told people. You shouldn’t tell your employees not to tell others when they get a raise or a bonus. I understand why companies do it – to keep them in complete power – but how about we actually pay people fairly so they are not angry when they hear a colleague got a raise or bonus and are instead happy for them? I’m getting off topic. The lack of transparency in most aspects of the American jobs could take up multiple books. Continue reading “Bonuses…and a Shocking Lack of Excitement”
Unraveling The Knot
The knot that has been in my chest nonstop since I started working is surprisingly gone. Since moving to Seattle and away from the pressure and stress of NYC, for the first time it is well and truly gone. I think the reason is a combination of things. At Company #5 that involved: Continue reading “Unraveling The Knot”
Dodging Bullets: Work Edition
It might be the tumultuous nature of ad agencies, but I seem to have accidentally dodged some serious bullets in my career. In the moment a lot of situations have looked less than ideal, but in hindsight (like most things) they look amazing. My Mom truly believes there’s a reason for everything and each step is pointing you in a positive direction. I’m less optimistic, but it’s a nice thought and looking back at my career it seems to be very true. Continue reading “Dodging Bullets: Work Edition”
No Sunday Blues
Something strange has been happening since I started my new work from home job. I no longer get the Sunday Blues. Sunday just feels like a weekend day instead of a countdown to another work week. I actually used to get Saturday blues in school because we’d have to do all our work on Sunday before classes started on Monday. College was better since we set our own schedule and I usually did all my work during the weekdays so my weekends were truly free. Since entering the working world the Sunday Blues has been very real. It feels like Saturday is the only real weekend day. Even if I felt the Sunday Blues to a lesser extent Sundays were usually spent doing chores: laundry, cooking for the week, errands etc. But now things feel different. Not only do I not get the Sunday Blues, weekends hold less magical appeal than they used to. Because now I work 8 hours a day on my couch, usually with my partner nearby while taking breaks to cook or take a walk. Weekdays feel less like weekdays. They don’t involve being away from home for 10-12 hours or commuting or being around distracting people. It involves comfy clothing and the time to think. Another unexpected benefit of working from home.
The Power of an Emergency Fund
“I heard there might be layoffs” my colleague said to me, her eyes wide. “Cool” I replied while turning back to my computer. She looked at me in shock. Apparently that wasn’t the normal response. I’ve worked in ad agencies all of my career and I have been laid off three times in five years. The shortest time I’ve been at a company is two weeks. The ad world is extremely turbulent. We are at the whims of other companies (our clients) and their budget. It’s a service industry and if big companies are tightening their belts in response to a recession, for example, there is a lot less ad money and agencies have almost yearly layoffs as a result. And who gets laid off? The newest, youngest hires AKA me 🙂 .
Funemployment Helped Me Find What’s Important
My 4 months of funemployment in 2016 was the longest I have been funemployed in my career. In previous years I had only been without a job for about a month at a time, which was exactly enough time to network, find another job and do little else. This longer stint originally frustrated me. One company claimed to want to hire me before I even left my previous job, but was then put on hold. Then I went traveling. Despite my schedule rarely having me in Seattle for more than 24 hours another company a few weeks later said they wanted to hire me, but it fell through. I kept traveling. Another company inexplicably worked around my busy travel schedule and let me do several interviews over the phone claimed they wanted to hire me. And this too fell through in the end. There were several less serious disappointments along the way. Continue reading “Funemployment Helped Me Find What’s Important”
Day In The Life Of A Worker Bee
As a reminder to my future-retired-in-her-30s-self, I wanted to catalog a typical day in my life while working. This is an example of a not stressful day where I didn’t work late. And you still don’t want to do it do you 🙂 Continue reading “Day In The Life Of A Worker Bee”