Conference 7.286::digital

Whatever happend to the English language?

>    Four Quarterly Effective Dates for Increases--
>      -March, June, September, December
>      -Common Effective Date for Exempt and Non-Exempt Increases, the 	   
>      	  Second Monday of the increase month.

	In other words if your review is in the beginning of April
	rather than see your raise at the end of April you will see
	it the second Monday of June? Is that right?

			Alfred

    No doubt this new plan will provide a convenient excuse to push back
    everyone's salary increase one quarter.  It's only a matter of time
    before we go to yearly paychecks to reduce the cost of payroll
    processing.  They'll probably hold back a year, too.

    
    Re: .2
    
    By George, I think you've got it!
    
    
    	But not until June.  :^(
    
    Steve
    

    I guess it doesn't really matter -- soon our entire paycheck will go
    towards the cost of the medical plan anyway.  Frankly, I'm getting a
    little tired of bending over.

                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     07-Oct-1992 06:07pm EDT
                                        From:     Don Zereski
                                                  VP.ACCOUNT.SALES AT A1 at SALES at MRO
                                        Dept:     US Area
                                        Tel No:   

TO: See Below
 
Subject: SALES COMPENSATION                                                     

	 Some recent publicity, including an article in the current 
         issue of Business Week, has reported incomplete or inaccurate 
         information about Digital's Field Compensation.  Let me 
         summarize what is actually happening.
         
         The U.S. Team, working in conjunction with our Compensation 
         Group, has been developing a Sales Incentive Program. The 
         program is one of many steps designed to generate revenue and 
         return the Company to profitability.  One feature of the Plan 
         is substantially enhanced upside earning potential for Sales 
         employees.  Details of the plan will undergo one final review 
         at a joint management meeting to be conducted during the week 
         of October 12, 1992.  Assuming no major changes are required, 
         the full details of the program will be released by October 
         19, 1992.
         
         A few key points which will not be altered:
         
              o	   Everyone will get full credit for all orders 
                   processed for the fiscal year.
         
              o	   The sooner the orders are in, the better in 
                   terms of incentive payments.
         
              o	   The maximum reduction in salary for the 
                   remainder of Fiscal Year 93 is very small and 
                   is earned back with immediate payment based 
                   upon your percentage of performance to budget 
                   in January.
         
              o	   The upside for those who exceed budget is 
                   immediate and potentially very substantial.
         
         What we will introduce is not a commission plan.  It is 
         an incentive compensation plan with much better payout 
         for over-achievers.  We have been very cautious about 
         releasing the details which we want to have all Level II 
         Sales Managers review to be sure we did not miss 
         anything.  The plan itself was designed by a team of 
         some twenty-plus managers; the majority of whom were 
         Sales Managers!  It's a good plan, a great step forward, 
         and one which I am proud Digital's top management has 
         supported!
         
         Remember, sell it now!  You will get full credit for the 
         year!  It's in your and Digital's best interest.
         
         Good Selling,
         
         Don
         
                         DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY Document
         

re .6

I don't get it. The memo states what's going to happen, when it's going
to happen and what the purpose is. In addition, it's made available to
the general public the day after it's written. What's going on here?

	For those not privvy to the buzzwords of those deal with salary 
	programs, such as myself, it is opaque. Sort of like if I tried 
	to explain a software application to them by quoting the programming
	language code that the application was written in. I wouldn't
	do that to them, they need to speak to us in our language, too.

					Tom_K

    re .7
    
    What's going on here is that the base note has already been set hidden,
    so you were premature in your response.  Fortunately, I extracted the
    base note before it was set hidden, and I'm sure others did also.  No
    use closing the barn door after the horses have gone.
    
    Bascially, management wants to implement this plan, but they don't want
    us to know about it because it is a plan to delay salary increases.

    I have set .0 and .6 hidden as they contain mail messages.  Digital P&P
    prohibits the posting of mail messages in notes conferences without the
    permission of the author of the mail message.  As soon as a DIGITAL
    moderator receives a statement from the notes authors that they have
    permission to post the mail messages, the notes will be un-hidden.
    
    Bob - Co-moderator DIGITAL

    	My base note was set hidden because I didn't have permission of the
    author to post the memo here. Since it had a mile of forwarding headers
    when I got it, because it said to distribute to all line and HR
    managers, and because it affects us all, I didn't think there would be
    any harm in posting it here.
    	Instead of seeking the author's permission, I can quickly summarize
    the memo. Basically, instead of having salary increases possible 12
    times a year (each month), they want to reduce this to 4 times a year
    (quarterly) and do WC2 and WC4 together. This will reduce the overhead
    and lessen the burden on our overworked managers, who can now spend
    that regained time doing something more productive (use your
    imagination).
    	This is once again expected to lengthen the time between salary
    increases. The dates for salary increases will be March, June,
    September, and December (second Monday of the month). The spend number
    in the U.S. for 1993 is 4.4%.

My comments in .7 were refering to the memo in .6. I was being sarcastic. 
I guess I needed to put a smileyface on it. Hopefully, .6 will be made
available again to all; it's well done.

	Reply .6 is/was a memo detailing the proposed changes to the
	compensation plan for field sales people. Boiled down it said
	that it wasn't a commision plan really. Bookings (CERTS? 
	Something) that were part of the first half of FY93 would
	be figured in. Also that the drop in base pay would be small
	and would (mostly? probably?) be taken care of by normal
	sales. It was sort of a "don't worry. You'll be fine" sort
	of memo. It also said that people who really performed would
	get very nice compensation. More or less.

			Alfred

    re:11
    
    	The "over worked" part doesn't seem to make sense. If a manager had
    twelve workers under him, and each one was due in a different month,
    instead of doing salary increases for one person a month, they'll be
    doing 3 every 3 months. The net amount of work is the same. It's just
    all lumped together.
    
    	Ray

    .6 has been un-hidden.
    
    Bob - Co-moderator DIGITAL

    Further to .13, the .6 memo was prompted by an article in Business Week.
    I guess I'm surprised (am I?) that country-level management released
    the information only in reaction to an incorrect report in a
    mass-circulation magazine, rather than communicating the correct info
    quickly and openly in the first place.
    
    The other eyebrow-raiser for me was an attempt to reassure Sales
    IC's that this would be a really good plan, since a whole bunch of
    Sales Managers were on the committee that invented it. 
    

    Reply .11 accurately summarizes the content of the base note.  However,
    it does not convey the tone -- which is clearly to delay salary
    increases for a quarter under the guise of saving administrative work. 
    What a crock.  I wonder if Bob Palmer even knows about this.  

    	Lets say for the sake of argument that this is true and that what
    top management wants to do is in fact delay salary increases for one
    quarter..........Under the severe economic conditions (world wide) but
    more specifically under the red ink (lots of it .....addin up to $
    1 billion) that we're showing (will not argue who's falt it is !)
    I personally prefer to have a delay in salary, than to be looking for
    a job........If you want some actual facts and opinions, go ask the
    several thousands that are still looking for a job after the most
    recent TFSO's.
    

    re: .18
    
    Well, I think by now, we're all familiar with the sacrifices necessary
    for continued employment with Digital. You and many others have made
    their peace with that.
    
    That's not the issue, IMHO. The issue is using all this gobbldegoook
    and doublespeak to avoid saying "we are introducing a three month delay
    into the salary review process in order to save the corporation some
    money."
    

re .11 

I don't see anything in .11 that states that salary increase will be delayed.
I only see that they will be processed once a quarter.  I assume that as many 
will be pulled in as pushed out.  Since I didn't see .0 I can only look on
the bright side :*)  

    
    re .20
    
    Oh yeah... and don't forget it didn't mention that since your being
    pushed out the pay increase will be retroactive ;);).

    One other thing .0 said that is important. No longer will we be held to
    those ridiculous participation metrics (the 80/20 rule). Individual
    managers get to decide what the frequency is for pay raises. You can
    choose to peanut butter the 4.4% or you can push people out of the plan
    to wherever you want and hence give those in the plan bigger raises.
    
    I actually thought it was reasonable. If managers have the guts to do
    it it actually allows us to pay for performance. The 4.4% is pretty
    stingy, way down on this year but I for one am not surprised given the
    deep shit this company is in.
    
    By the way wonders of wonders I actually got the memo through official
    channels (from my manager).
    
    Dave

    
    re .20:
    
    The memo indicates that the raises that would have taken effect in
    January, February and March will now take effect in March; similarly
    for June, September and December. On average, I believe this means that
    all raises will be effectively pushed out one month; the memo also
    admits that a result of the change is "longer frequency intervals
    overall."
    
    The salary planning period, which to the best of my knowledge
    traditionally started in November, will now start in December.
    

    how many pay freezes have "older" deccies been through?  I've been
    through one, it hurt, but I got over it and kept my job.  Just think,
    they could implement a 12 month pay increase freeze!  I can just hear
    it now (halloween would come early with all the wailing and moaning
    that would cause! 8^) ).
    
    This is one feature that I actually like! It streamlines the
    corporation, it increases accountability, it promotes increased
    performance, it allows easier (and maybe more lenient) management of
    salary planning/budgeting.  A manager knows that they'll have x amount
    of dollars to work with 4 times a year instead of running out at the
    end of the year for those unfortunate few or (on the flip side) insures
    that those early in the year get a fair shake instead of being cut
    short becasue "we have to make this money stretch for a whole year."
    
    I hope the next change would be to pay us every 2 weeks/twice-a-month.
    
    Reg.

    
    
      I hope the next change would be to pay us 2 weeks/twice a month.
    
      Unless it's one week in advance,  and week in arrears (or 2 weeks
    	in advance)  it's illegal in massachusettes  unless it's part
    	of a  union collective bargaining agreement,  or the employer
    	in question is a "railroad parlor sleeping car corporation"...
    
      This was discussed significantly elsewhere at about this time 
    last year,  and somebody posted the applicable N.H. and Mass 
    statutes prohibiting it.
    
    
    							-al
    

    re .25
    
    I still say that DEC is missing an opportunity to pay its employees
    only once a year and hold back a year.  

re .24 and .25 and .26

>    I hope the next change would be to pay us every 2 weeks/twice-a-month.
    
My husband gets paid every two weeks, and it is not 1 week back and one week
forward.  He gets paid every 2 weeks for the previous 2 weeks he just worked.
I also used to get paid every two weeks, same deal.  Iworked 2 weeks, then
got paid the next Thursday for the previous 2 weeks.

In both cases they are high-tech companies, but smallwe firms.  Can someone 
explain?  Is it that smaller firms do not have the restriction?

Thanks,
Diane

    
    
      No - typically it is because they are in violation of the law and
    don't know it.  (Or the companies are unionized.)
    
      If I can find the applicable law,  I'll post it,  but in the
    meantime,  check back through here for the discussion on the
    bi-weekly pay proposal.  The law got posted here. 
    
    
    						-al
    

    
    I think one other possibility about the every two weeks paying may have
    something to do with where the home office of the company you are
    working for is located.  I worked for one of the Big 8 accounting firms
    and we got paid every two weeks.  There home office wasn't in Mass.
    though. 
    
    Faith
    

Al 
Please, please, please....

Don't post the law....

ALL OF THIS was discussed someplace else, just find that place and give
a pointer. Lets not debate this again....


- George

    raise, salary increase?*&#? Are we alll working in the same company??
    
    

    I would appreciate a pointer, if my question has been answered
    elsewhere...
    
    As far as salary increases go, I am sure there is a "cash flow" reason for
    delaying raises, but I have never clearly understood the difference
    between a 5% increase over say an eighteen month period versus the
    3.33% increase over a twelve month period.  I would have always
    preferred to get something small annually.
    
    Charles M. Norton

    If I'm not wrong, the law that applies is where the company got
    incorporated, not where the main offices are located.    The
    Certificate of Incorporation which contains the Charter has the state
    where it was originally incorporated and the 'binding' laws that
    'controlled' that incorporation.
    

Well, considering the amount of time that has passed since my last
salary increase, I too would prefer to get "something small annually."
Actually, I would prefer to get anything annually. But, alas, no suck 
luck.

;^)

Bob.

Well, if the raise is on an annual basis, it still beats the rate of 
inflation ...

        Re: .35

>    Wang is another company pay twice a month.  Wang
>    was and still is not small company.  Wang is headquartered
>    in Lowell, MA.

        Yes--my wife used to work for Wang.  The paychecks for the first
        half of the month were mailed (and direct-deposited) before the
        fifteenth of the month so Wang didn't pay two weeks in arrears. 
        My wife has been out of Wang for over a year, but my memory is
        that the Wang pay schedule complied with Massachusetts law.

        Massachusetts law places limits on how late salary can be paid. 
        Digital currently pays employees on each Thursday for the work
        of the week before (e.g., on 15 October 1992 for the week of
        4-10 October 1992)--a delay that is allowed by the law.  If
        Digital held pay for an extra week and paid on 22 October for
        the period 4-17 October then the delay would be too long. 
        Digital could pay on 15 October for the period 4-17 October (one
        week on time and one week early) but Digital would lose interest
        by paying the money earlier.

        					B.J.

    Re .24, .25 et al, I am not sure what Mass. law you are referring to,
    however, all of my non-union friends who are employed by Raytheon are
    paid once per month.

As a manager I have received a mailing which states that the metrics for 
this year for participation and timing have been removed to give
flexibility for planning.

See - I told you guys to look on the bright side  :*)

    I used to work at Raytheon ('78-'81) in Mass -- once a month was the
    ticket.  I believe we were paid at or near the 25th for the entire
    calendar month.
    
    Sure made that first month after graduating rough....
    
    RE: other issues
    
    Speaking of the "yearly" raise thing -- I thought it's already a
    "policy" that raises are given anywhere from 12-24 months apart, based
    on performance, and that the "average" in an organization should be
    around 18 or so.  At least that's what I remember being told around
    where I work.
    
    There have been TWO 6-month freezes since I've been here.  The first
    was during my first year here, so my first increase wasn't 'til 18
    months after I was hired (that was '82ish).  Of course, most folks got
    yearly raises back then.  The second was somewhere between 7/88 and
    1/90, so that one wasn't too long ago....
    
    Also, if they do hold raises off 'til months 3/6/9/12, it'll randomly
    force an extra month or so on various folks, depending on when you
    would have gotten your next one.  I'm "up" for one in January.  If I'm
    scheduled to get another 12-month increase, it'll automatically be 14
    months for me.  If someone else was due in March anyways, they could
    get it in 12.  That in and of itself doesn't seem all too fair on the
    surface, does it??
    
    -- dg

These Pay Raise things everyone is talking about sound pretty
interesting.  Where do you find one?

Dennis 'Once-a-DECade' Slough

re: .24 ... only one pay freeze ... you're lucky.  With my last employeer,
in 7 years, I got NO raises two years, less than 5% three years, and
about 10 % one year.  (I left within a couple of weeks on my 7th salary
adjustment to join DEC.)  So, IMO, if a person has only had one "delay"
in a DEC career of any lenght ... that's no too bad.

re: the "mass" law about paying every week ... hmmm.. out here in the
midwest, we don't much give a hoot about Mass law, but I will admit
that the idea of a state law governing when people get paid is pretty
interesting.  Until now, I always figured that the weekly pay thing
stems from the fact that we're a mfg company.  Paying weekly (or is
that weakly ?) is VERY common in manufacturing and construction.  One
of the reasons these two industries pay this way is so they can hire
up and lay off quickly without the workers having to wait for a) their
first check or b) last check.  At the same time, our company (a steel
mfg company) paid everyone execpt the plant people, bi-monthly.

Since we're a global company, why don't we tell Mass to take hike (not
a tax hike) and pay white collar people like the others ... twice a
month.  I have to believe we'd save some money on 1) printer ribbons
2) clerical help typing the "@start_payroll_again_this_week" command
3) wire transfer charges

But then .... I like to get ANY kind of paycheck these days !

    Well, if I'm getting raises above and beyond everyone else (and the %'s
    aren't up there by any means), then I must be doing something right for
    DEC.  Must be all that team playing, etc that others think I wouldn't
    be good for.  FWIW: I am now just making over what I was making when I
    left the Army 10 yrs ago and for the first 3 yrs of my life in industry
    after service, I saw minimum wage and the for the next 3 I went without
    a raise or bennies (because I liked the contracting route).  I went
    permanent for DEC and had offers from mulitple org's and chose the 1 I
    really wanted to work for and I'm still here still doing a great job
    and still reaping the benefit of an almost annual payraise.  Definitely
    NOT part of the I've got mine club (except in the realm of raises), but
    I must be doing something right.
    
    Reg.

    
.40>    Speaking of the "yearly" raise thing -- I thought it's already a
.40>    "policy" that raises are given anywhere from 12-24 months apart, based
.40>    on performance, and that the "average" in an organization should be
.40>    around 18 or so.  At least that's what I remember being told around
.40>    where I work.
    
    In the past, any of the above could have been spouted as "policy" -- or
    anything else, for that matter. It's easy to be fast and loose with
    "policy" when only a select few are privy to the actual information.
    
    See, that's the absolutely astounding thing about the memo posted
    (and since hidden) in .0. It specifically states that there are no
    participation and frequency metrics for the coming year. Quite simply,
    each salary planning organization is allowed to dole out an average
    4.4% raise through 1993. These organizations are still allowed to do
    what they will with this money; they can give each and every person
    exactly 4.4%, or they can give some less and some more, or even push
    some people out to the following year to give others even higher raises.
    The point is, they are no longer being forced to push people out by a
    corporate mandate. If people are being pushed out of 1993, it is solely
    based on a decision by their management, and cannot be attributed to a
    salary planning metric.
    

Here's what one book says about the Massachusetts weekly wage law:

"Under the Weekly Wage Law, employees paid by the hour, by the piece, or by
commission must receive weekly paychecks. This provision of the law does not
cover agricultural workers. Payment every two weeks or monthly is illegal, even
if an employee 'agrees' to such an arrangement.

"Employees who receive regular salaries, that is, so much per week, month, or
year, may be paid weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly. Salaried employees may be
paid monthly only if the following conditions are both met.

   "1. The employee elects to be paid monthly.
   "2. Paychecks for the month are tendered at the end of the second week of
       the month. Payment at the end of the month violates the six-day rule
       described earlier."

I interpret this to say that the company could pay wage class 4 employees in
Massachusetts every two weeks (or twice a month) if it wanted to.

I highly recommend the book quoted above:

Your Rights on the Job: A practical guide to employment laws in Massachusetts.
Author: Robert M. Schwartz
The 3rd edition was published in 1992
Publisher: The Labor Guild of Boston
           883 Hancock Street
           Quincy, MA 02170
           (617) 786-1822

The book is written in standard English, not legalese, and covers virtually
all the legal rights Mass. workers have. I have the 2nd edition (already out of
date in some respects), which cost $19.95 in 1987. I don't know the price of
the 3rd edition. 

None of the Digital libraries have this book.

Vicki Meagher

    I see no problem with that, just make us all salaried!  After all, when
    I was employed they told me my _salary_ (and in writing) was x..., even
    though I'm paid hourly.  However, my group rarely sees OT to a point
    where we ask: "What's OT?".  I know most of what's expected out of
    WC2's in my neck of the woods equates to WC4 work to the point where
    the WC4's take our work away from us (and vice-versa).
    
    It's a stupid law (like ALL laws!) and one that should be rewritten so
    that if the employee prefers to elect weekly, bi-weekly, monthly they
    should be able to do so.
    
    Back to regularly scheduled programming...
    
    Reg. 

U.S. News                         LIVE WIRE

                                1993 Pay Program 
    
  The 1993 Pay Program has been approved.  The Pay Program will include a 
  number of changes designed to reduce cost and improve management 
  productivity, while continuing to reward employee performance.  
    
  The most significant change will be the movement to quarterly implementation
  of increases from the current monthly implementation schedule.  Salary 
  increases are currently implemented twice monthly, once for Wage Class 2 
  and 3 employees, and again for Wage Class 4 employees.   Beginning in 1993, 
  salary increases will be implemented only four times during the year, the 
  second Monday of the month in March, June, September and December, for all 
  wage classes.
    
  The company has been exploring a move to fewer implementation dates for some
  time.  Making the change now will reduce cash flow expense during FY93, 
  allow the company to provide competitive salary increases, and provide 
  increased management productivity. 
    
  The new schedule will result in changes to some employees' salary review 
  dates.  Some may be extended or shortened.  Others will remain the same.  
  As in the past, managers will decide the frequency of increases for 
  individuals based on performance.  In addition, the annual salary planning 
  process will occur in December, January, and February instead of the October
  and November timeframe of past years.

    Of course this is still not in the clearest language. Hopefully someone
    will explain it to my boss and he'll be able to tell me in English what
    it means to me.
    
    			Alfred

    
    I guess we weren't supposed to see the memo in .0.
    
    The VTX announcement discloses the only part of the 1993 pay program
    (and of that memo) that absolutely had to be explained to us -- the
    fact that we'll see salary adjustments at 4 quarterly intervals rather
    than 12 monthly intervals.
    
    The 4.4% spend number, the 15% promotion metric, the removal of
    frequency and participation metrics -- in short, all the information
    that would allow individual contributors to guage for themselves the
    appropriateness of their salary actions -- seems to have been meant to
    stay under the kimono.
    
    To bad. I'd held hopes that we were seeing a new wave of openness. I
    guess it was just a mistake after all...
    

Reminds me of the old days in some aread of the field, where you rushed to
do something at the end of the quarter to make the "numbers" look good.

Now, if you don't give raises til the end of the quarter, the "expenses"
look lower.

Looking at the change in salary planning time, I wonder if they are going to
shift the fiscal year.  That can be done to advantage also.

    
    Re: .48
    
    Alfred,  What it means to each of us is simple:  In the past salary
    increases could become effective in each month of the year.  In the
    future, they will become effective only during four specific months
    of the year.  Practically speaking it means that some of us will
    be granted salary increases and not see them become effective for
    as long as three months.
    
    Steve
    
    

	RE: .51 I figured that much, what I want my manager to tell me is
	if that means a 1,2 or 3 month extra wait for me.

			Alfred

    ... wage class 2, 3, 4 --- uh - I think that does not mean the managers
    -
    just us little Peons. Yup - another 3 month postponement. I wonder what
    the VPs would do if they were told that their increase was going to be
    postponed for a couple of months. yep ---- I just wonder.

FWIW, the Compensation changes here in the Field seem to be going over like a 
lead balloon. So much for motivating the Sales Force.

We in Sales Support have the opportunity to move to a Sales Rep job code and
then share the risks (10% pay cut) and rewards (up to $50K above base salary).
If this company had its act together where we here in the Field had the right
messages and the right products, I might be willing to make the change. As
things stand now, I'm quite happy right where I am. 

Regards,

Jim
Sales Support Consultant II

    Did anyone save the memo in .0.  If so, would you please mail me a copy
    at:
    
    Dalip Raheja @CPO or
    POBOX::RAHEJA
    
    Thanks,
    
    Dalip