Interests:Reading, writing, and searching for the next great adventure Expertise:Engineering, procrastination and how not to make decisions Occupation:Engineering Industry:Manufacturing
So, yesterday I sent off that e-mail. WouldBe Boss (WBB) had sent me an e-mail first thing yesterday morning with her cell phone number asking me to call her if I had any questions about the offer and that she hoped I was strongly considering the offer. So, I decided to call WBB during a break in class yesterday, and left her a voice mail. She called me a while later, but since I was in stupid macro class I had my phone on quiet and didn't see the call coming in. She left a message saying that she thought we could agree on all of the items, and that there were HR policies to deal with on the relocation and vacation issues, and that HR would be contacting me later in the day. She apologized that we wouldn't be talking yesterday, since she was about to leave for the day and she was about to host a sleepover for her six-year-old twin daughters.
Sure enough, HR sent me an e-mail about an hour later.
Hi Tyche,
WBB and has a chance to
discuss the questions and proposals that you've stated below. Here are our
responses:
For the base salary, we can meet you at (halfway between original offer and what I asked for). We feel
this amount will be very competitive within the Bay Area market and the
structure of the team.
I've emailed you an attachment earlier that summarizes
the health and benefits information. Let me know if you need more
clarification.
We will request the 120 hours annual vacation accruals for
you. Even though we don't have any issues, we still need our HR Chief of
Staff's approval. That should be resolved on Monday.
Generally, MBA courses are eligible for tuition reimbursement,
but the Benefits group will have the final approval.
Relocation assistance would be offered, but the Relocation
group would need to make their decisions based on IRS rules and policies
that they must follow. Although they will not have your information yet
until you formally accept the offer, you may contact them for some
information. If you like, I can provide their contact information.
WBB is supportive of you completing your MBA program. She is
willing to work with you to set up on a schedule that will best fit your
studies and business operations. She will factor in client and operation
needs to coordinate this MBA/Seattle schedule. Please understand that the
cost of travel between Tree City and the Bay Area is your own expense.
WBB is OK with your vacation from 3/6 to 3/14. Please note
that your vacation accruals may not cover those number of days.
We can start you in early Jan '10 to accommodate your finals
and vacation. However, there will be occasions which we would fly you down
to meet the team and direct reports. This expense will be covered by MEC, and WBB will coordinate with you on these meetings.
I think your questions
and proposals have been addressed, but let me know if I missed anything. Feel
free to contact me for any questions.
Of course, there are things that need further work. For one, the time off in March is wrong (and I thought I was clear). Second, the relocation language is bullshit. There is no way I'm going to accept an offer and then find out what the relocation benefits are. So, I guess I will be talking to relocation, though quite frankly I think the HR dude should be doing that for me. Of course, if I have to do it, they're going to have to wait until Wednesday, since I am travelling with Caruso to Tennessee on Monday and not coming back until Wednesday afternoon.
Rick did not like the e-mail from HR at all. He thought it was very impersonal and borderline insulting (and typical of HR in this type of business). I felt better about it after I read it this morning, but I think the relocation language is weasel language at best.
I got another e-mail from WBB this morning, which I think is much nicer.
Hi Tyche
Just want to clarify. I am fine with the schedule of going home to attend your
classes. - not a problem. And Tuition Refund is available to you as Will
mentioned.
I'm also open to working a week off-site every 4-5 weeks. It just needs to be
scheduled and not impact the operations.
For December. I'm ok starting after the 20th or the first week of Jan but I
would like you to come down for a all-team meeting and to meet your team. So
maybe one trip lasting 2 days. I haven't scheduled the team meeting yet so we
can work together on dates. It's just such a new team, that I'd like them to
meet you.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Please excuse spelling errors in this email...I have 7 6 year old girls running
around! :)
WBB
I'm going to call WBB tomorrow. I think that will be more productive than trying to deal with HR.
Working on an audit during the day, fielding the official offer letter from MEC, trying to read it at the airport, taking the flight from MileHighCity to Tree City, being picked up at the airport by Rick and being driven straight to study group, which lasted until 11. Hmmmmm. I wonder why I didn't get chance to post an entry yesterday?
I did get the letter in hand (well....pdf) from MEC yesterday. That had absolutely NO other information in it other than salary, offering two weeks vacation, and the typical language about at will employement. Relocation benefits were mentioned in a link. That was broken. (I e-mailed them and got a Word version within ten minutes.)
What's more, they gave me until TODAY to make a decision.
Hence, MEC received this e-mail earlier today:
First of all, thank you for the offer to work for MEC. Understandably, I have several questions and requests in
response.
I have been in MileHighCity until last night and am in class all
day today. Last night upon landing I went straight to a study group
team meeting, and so have not had much time to discuss the offer in detail with
my husband. Additionally, there are a few other things I would like to
know about. I was wondering if it was possible to take the weekend to
consider the possibilities and respond formally on Monday, November 16.
This is obviously a very important decision for my husband and me and we
want to make sure we make the correct decision with all the information
available. I am copying Would-be Boss on this e-mail as I suspect she might be
the person who has the answers to some of these questions.
I’ll put these in bullets to make it easier to read (and for
me to write!)
·Salary -$XXX is very generous, however, as I
mentioned during the interview, I do have concerns about the differences in
cost of living between Seattle and the San Francisco area. According to
the cost of living calculators I have worked with, the equivalent of my current
salary in San Francisco is $XXX. I believe this is still very competitive
for environmental managers, particularly for one who would have a number of
environmental professionals reporting to them.
·I would like to see more information on the
401(k), pension plan, and health benefits (this is mainly due diligence on my
part, but I would like to see this expressed in writing, as it wasn’t mentioned
in the letter).
·As a seasoned professional, I would like to
start with 120 hours (three weeks) vacation annually.
·As you know I am currently enrolled in classes
to complete my MBA. Would I be eligible for tuition reimbursement?
·My husband and I currently rent a house; however
the reason that we do so is because we sold our house earlier this year (we
suspected we would be in this situation, and so took steps to make a transition
easier). I would like to be extended the relocation benefits as a
homeowner, except, of course for the Home Sale portion.
·It’s my understanding that MEC would be
fully supportive of my attending EMBA classes on alternate Fridays (roughly two
business days/month) at the University of Tree State until my graduation in
June 2010.
·I did discuss portions of this offer with my
study group, as it will affect them (and we had a study group meeting last
night). Until my graduation in June 2010, I would like to be able to work
a schedule where I will be in the Bay Area from Monday – Thursday afternoon
each week, and then fly back to Tree City to meet with my study group Thursday
evening and attend class on Friday or Saturday (for those weeks where class is
on Saturday, I would work remotely).
·Similarly, with my current employer I have an
arrangement that (again, until my graduation in June 2010), where every 4-5
weeks, I would stay in Tree City and work remotely during that week.
These weeks would be scheduled well in advance so there would be no
surprises. Obviously, I understand with this position that there
might not be that flexibility, but I would like to at least explore the issue.
·Part of my MBA program is an international study
seminar. My class will be going to Santiago, Chile and Buenos
Aires, Argentina from March 6-14, 2010. Also, since this is a
unique opportunity, my husband and I have planned to take some time down in
South America for approximately two weeks following that. I would
like the opportunity to keep these plans.
·The letter does not mention a start
date. My last class of the quarter is December 4 with term projects
being due in that time frame; finals are due December 9, and then my husband
and I are taking a vacation from December 10-20. With the holidays,
my preference would be start after this time frame, but of course in that
respect I am willing to be flexible to whatever situation works the best.
I believe that summarizes most of my questions to
date. As I mentioned earlier, I want to make sure I have not forgotten
anything and that is the main reason I would like the weekend to make a final
decision.
I want to stress I am willing to be flexible according to
the needs of the position and MEC, as well as my own.
If we can come to agreement on these items, I would be more
than happy to accept the offer from MEC. I am excited about
the opportunity and am looking forward to taking on the challenges of this
position.
Again, I am in class today, but can get away to discuss
further.
Kudos to AtomBlonde, who seem to be the only one who got my cryptic title reference yesterday.
So, MEC did come through with a job offer, and for the most part it's a pretty good one. It sounds like they cover a significant portion of health care benefits, they have a 401(k) matching plan (75% up to 6%) as well as a pension plan, sick leave, vacation time, etc. etc. When the recruiter made the offer he started talking about all of that up front, leaving the money until the end.
The salary isn't bad. Actually, it's more than not bad. If I was staying in Tree City, the salary would be quite excellent. However, the job is in San Francisco area, not Tree City, and the bump that they're offering me won't cover the change in the cost of living. However, if they were to bump that salary number up by say, between 5 and 10 percent, then I think we would be in business.
They also offer a bonus plan, which is based on personal and company performance. The target rate for the bonus is 15% - meaning 15% of annual salary would be a bonus. The last few years, the company has performed at above target levels (have to love the energy sector). The offered salary plus that 15% would have me doing cartwheels - but as we all know, you can never count on a bonus. So I'm not.
The recruiter made an allusion that I was supposed to get something in writing today. I didn't. They were off today, so perhaps that's why. I've also found out from one of my references that while they've been playing phone tag, they haven't connected directly. MEC wants to know about my leadership style and behaviour under pressure. She plans to tell them I'm a tyrant who dissolves under the first hint of stress. That's a friend for you! Meanwhile, back at my current day job, today I got to do an audit with Caruso and Charlie Sheen. I enjoy doing audits. I like going out to a facility and talking to the people there, finding out what they do, how they do it, what works well for them, what doesn't, and so on. It's fun wandering around all the nooks and crannies of a plant and finding obscure pieces of equipment that many people forgot.
I also get to find fun signs.
Okay, maybe they just amuse me.
We turned a corner and found this really old press machine. So old that all the controls on there were knobs - no electronics at all. This thing must have been at least 50 years old. So of course, both Charlie Sheen and I wanted to take a picture.
So, it looks like an old machine. If you look closely you'll see something sticking out of the left side of the machine (the boxes serve as background). If you look closer, you'll see that it's someone's hand. Or specifically, someone's finger. Do I have to tell you who it belongs to?
And that, ladies and gentlemen, tells you everything you need to know about my boss.
Today, I had meetings with Caruso for most of the afternoon, primarily about "homework" that he had given all of his direct reports to do. Quite frankly, it was analysis that I'd last done about 10 years ago, so it was kind of a good refresher. However, it's not exactly value-added work, and so most professionals either farm this out to consultants or have junior level staff do this, with the senior level folks supervising to make sure nothing obvious gets missed. Caruso expects this to be part of our normal work - it's an example on how he hasn't quite made the adjustment to being a manager or letting some of the little stuff go. He was in his element, however, reciting all the ways he believed that we had erred on the analysis. The subsequent conversation took an hour and a half.
When I got back to my office, there was a message waiting for me on my cell phone.
Yes, sadly enough, Lulu is wearing blackface. According to the captions, Lulu is trying to be Michael Jackson, and Dan is supposed to be - well, it's just mentioned as "Ann Mazon" in the pictures. Personally, I would have thought that Ann Mazon wouldn't have had quite as colourful hair, but then again, I'm not a costume consultant.
I don't think Lulu is the sharpest tack in the box, and so has no idea why her costume would be offensive. What puzzles me is that Dan knows better. Or rather, the Dan that I was married to knows better. He's in several pictures, in every single one of them he is holding a different glass of wine/beer/other alcoholic beverage. Lulu even mentioned in her pictures that "Halloween was worth the hangover".
And for the added "ick" factor.....I didn't notice until I came back to the site today that in order for those pictures to turn out how they did, Dan must have shaved his chest. Ironic, don't you think?
Rick has already told me that there's not enough alcohol in Safeway for me to get him to dress in a costume like that.
I had something else to write about, but seeing those pictures again have just driven it straight out of my head.
Oh.....Caruso moment of the day:
In a meeting with Caruso and Charlie Sheen, Caruso says, "I'd ask you guys to do this, but I know you won't, so I won't bother."
"Hey," I said. "you don't know that I won't do that. I don't think I deserve that kind of skepticism."
Charlie Sheen just sighed. "This is what's called guilt by association, Tyche."
"No," Caruso said, "what this means, Tyche, is that there isn't far to go to rise about the trash heap you usually see here."
I'm just looking forward to going home in three days.
True
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