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female
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes: Hi!I would appreciate some help to prepare for a yearly evaluation at work.First of all, let me give you some facts:- I have a very bad contract. It's pure exploitation. Being a foreigner and a woman at that doesn't leave me a lot of choice, so I accepted it and was promised more hours and a better pay. I am paid only for the hours in the office and preparation is not taken into account 100%. They pay me a little bit more and that's that. There are many people in the same position.- I have to bring my own (private) laptop when I come to the office. (I'm planning on asking to have one at my disposal when I come to the office)- A few months ago I was asked to sign an annex to my contract and nobody was available to talk it over with me. So, I did a stupid thing and signed even though theoretically they have the right to reduce my hours for 25% without any penalties and without me having the right to ask for a "good termination of the contract" which would allow me to register for financial aid for unemployed.- The director is overworked and under pressure to save every penny. I’ve seen him do nothing to keep excellent workers because he would have had to pay them more. He just makes sure that the “machine is working” well enough not to fall apart. I have noticed something about him. He’s very hands on and no job is beneath him, likes to help people. However, when there’s a problem he cannot solve – somebody’s hours get cut (happened to me last year in May) or the firm cannot replace a piece of the equipment – he disappears! I have an impression that he likes to be “a knight in the shining armor” and that when he cannot be that he just vanishes and lets the situation plays itself out or somebody else deal with the fallout. Last May, when my hours got cut for no reason, my manager kept insisting I should seek explanation from the director. He never replied to the emails I sent him and the messages I left him, since he wasn’t answering my calls. And then the whole firm was closed for a summer vacation (I don’t receive any money for it, but people whom I will mention bellow do) and that was that. My manager quit saying that he couldn’t work in such conditions where people are exploited (and that’s’ when I learned that the director had come to the firm a few months before me and that he had changed a lot of things) . Now I have a new one who’s priority is also to save money and seems to be very well acquainted with the director. There would be no point talking to him.- I am a team player and whenever I am asked to replace someone who can’t come to work, I do it. I am paid for that, true, but I also kind of know that I’m not the firs person they call. Not because I am not good at what I do, but because “I’m not one of the boys” – and this has nothing to do with the gender. It’s a different kind of discrimination. I am a foreigner and I never get invited to go to lunch or for a coffee with people who work there fulltime (people who have paid holidays). I hang out with other people in my position (paid by the hour) at coffee breaks, who just happen to be foreigners as well. People who are employed fulltime are not foreigners. I’ve checked. (btw, I have my papers sorted out, I have the same rights just like them and if anything I am more educated than them). - There’s a lot of turn over at the firm. I’ve had clients who had been working with the firm since before my director came, saying to me that if I left, there would be no one who does the work well in my department. And they would always be shocked to learn that even though I have a permanent contract I do not have a fulltime job. I never tell them that, but they deduce it from my working hours – where I can and cannot make an appointment for them. So many of my colleagues have left.If the situation does not improve, I will have to leave as well even though the job market is not that great at the moment. I cannot spend another year working my derrier off for peanuts. So I have to prepare really well this meeting.How do I ask for a rise when I know that they are cutting every corner and allowing people to leave rather than paying them? How do I ask for more hours and what kind of a guarantee could I get?You see, if they get a whiff that I would leave, they are going to promise me anything and when they find another potential candidate to replace me they would tell me how the things really are.If you ask me why would I want to fight for such a terrible job, as I said I am a woman, foreigner, the job market sucks AND my husband has had health issues foe the pas 3 years (me too!). So I need to take care of him as well and cannot risk being out of work unless they reduce my pay to a pointless level.All the clients I work with have given me excellent reviews, which is not the case with some of my colleagues, unfortunately. Including some of those “fulltime people”. Anyway thanx a lot!
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (9 June 2023): I am sorry to hear about your and your husband’s health problems.
I will try to answer your questions, but please know that you MUST find another job.
I can relate to many things you have said, being a woman living in a foreign country that had jobs that were PAID far below my level of education. They required a lot of knowledge and skill, but my bosses (ab)used the fact that I was in a precarious position.
So… First of all, write down how many hours you worked and how much you were paid in the first two years, compare them and see if there was any progress, stagnation or even worse, a decline.
This will be your starting point. You need to have these facts. That will be your starting point. So, if they tell you that next year you will have more hours than this year, but you KNOW that it is less than the first year, you will have a solid argument of why this is not an improvement. Not really. You see where I am going with this.
You need to know exactly what your point of no return is. What is the least amount of money you are ready to work for. Maybe it is what you are earning today, or maybe you know that you should be earning more. So, make sure that you know that.
Make a list of “demands” and know which ones are dealbreakers. It could be the number of hours and/or minimum salary. I mean, it should be, but you are the only one who knows exactly what that means. It is obvious that they need to give you a company’s laptop you can use on the premises. It is unacceptable that you use your private equipment and carry it with you!
Make a list of questions and make sure that you know which ones are priority, meaning that you cannot make an informed decision without their answer. First thing should be the number of hours. I’ve had situations where they kept telling me it was impossible to tell. I worked in a school, so they kept trying to get some wiggle room until they knew how many groups they could create… basically they wanted to make sure I didn’t quit and then in September, they would just face me with the fact that I had bigger groups and less hours in the classroom. So, I can relate to what you’re saying.
You need to be able to LIE if necessary. Because they are lying to. Make sure that they do not know that you are looking for another work, if you are sure that this won’t have any influence of them giving you better conditions. I know what it is like to work in an environment where the bosses didn’t care about the quality, in my case, of the teaching. They would let people leave and then hire worse teachers, because the only thing that mattered was that they would show up for work. Student complaints were shoved under the rug.
Also, prepare yourself emotionally and psychologically. There is a good chance that they will negatively surprise you with something and you need to keep your cool. In your case, they could be nice and ask for your understanding while they drastically cut your hours. So, you need to be able to handle that and still get all the info you need. Just prepare for the worst, do not dream up an ideal situation. They will for sure make it look as if they were your friends. They are not. They just want to make you accept something you’re not comfortable with and something that is not fair.
You need to ask about that adjustment of your contract that allows them to cut your hours drastically. I know that even thinking about it might be horrible, but you must do that, because they will use it. I am sure of it! By asking them like this you will at least see their reaction.
And please, please try to find a steady job where you’d be paid more. Don’t stop looking and once you find it quit and NEVER look back.
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