Retention
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What really grabbed my attention in what Steve said is the following:
"My friend would seem to have a great place to work. Two weeks vacation off the bat, 3 after a year, 4 after 2. Not many places offer that"
Is this considered to be a "great" amount of vacation time?
What do US workers get in terms of public holidays?
This is a serious question. I'm not trying to poke fun or gloat but I am shocked if this is the case and there are not mitigating circumstances!
Jamie Thomson
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson -
I can't talk for USA, but here in canada, the standard when you start is 2 weeks, then 3 after 2 years, then 4 after 5 years. I know that in Europe you pretty much start at 1 month paid vacation... Wish I lived there.
Also we have about 10 paid Holidays/year.
Here at my job we hav 10 holidays, 2 weeks paid vacation plus 2 weeks at xmas (unpaid but you can put some time in a bank for those 2 weeks). Then we also have 5 sick days.
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Thanks for a really interesting thread-heres my bobsworth.
It seems to me that everything mentioned here is relevant to retaining staff, some of these things can be managed by an organisation and some cannot. I think a couple of the main reasons that I am thinking of moving on relate to autocracy and that fact that I am paid as an 'expert' in my field (I am not a SQl or even IT person I'm a researcher who has to use a little SQL).
The place I work in is autocratic-decisions are taken at chief executive level and then applied no matter what. These decisions are not always correct or even well informed, they are, on the whole, the CE's 'wish of the day' or a whim. No matter what I, or some of the other management team here think, the decision is carried through regardless of the fact that we are all paid very well to provide our professional opinions on the matter. When our (specifically mine) professional opinions are ignored on the whim of one autocratic person thats when the unease sets in. I studied for over 10 years solid for this job and still continue to now. Autocracy kills off enthusiasm for a job, I see my skills and knowledge going to waste. As a person who enjoys a challenging work environment, and by that I mean the subject of my work is challenging not the individuals that I work with although some of them are
, the autocratic style of a manager can destroy any challenge that may be there.I'm paid well, get 5 weeks leave, work flexi-time, have casual days, get to travel, like the people I work with on the whole, but I'm paid to do a job and I'm not allowed to do that job that's why I intend to move asap.
Then again managers probably know whats best
Rant over and many thanks for the thread
Mark
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The usual case here in Germany is about 30 working days. Usually right from the start. And Saturday is not counted as a working day.
Depending on your age you might get some additional. I don't count here in the public holidays. I guess around 10 or so.
Now guess why Germany's economy is down and out.
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
I'm not sure how to keep them but I found this great template for losing them... maybe not doing these things might help:
Top Ten Ways to Turn Off a New Employee
You want your new employee to experience his new job as a major turn on! Why is it that organizations so often act in ways that create the opposite result? These are the top ten ways to guarantee your new employee will start off on the wrong foot!
Make sure a work area has not been created or assigned. (Let him sit in a hall or share a cube!)
Schedule the new employee to start work while her supervisor is on vacation.
Leave the new employee standing in the company reception area for a half hour while reception staff try to figure out what to do with him.
Leave the new employee at her work station, to manage on her own, while co-workers pair up and head out to lunch.
Provide an hour in a noisy lobby for the new employee to read and sign-off on a 100 page Employee Handbook.
Show the new employee his office and don’t introduce him to co-workers or assign him a mentor.
Assign the new employee to a staff person ho has a major, career-impacting deadline, in three days.
Assign the new employee to (you fill in the blanks!) your most unhappy, negative, company-bashing, staff member.
Assign the employee “busy work” that has nothing to do with her core job description, because you are having a busy week.
Start the new employee with a one or two day orientation during which Human Resources personnel make presentation after presentation after presentation after presentation…
Copyright 2002 by Susan M. Heathfield
And I agree with Remi ... not enough personal time. Europe is much further ahead that way. Since I excel at it, I get a great deal of satification DBAing / Programming/ SysAdmining for the last 15 years but there is nothing that compares to some personal time wandering around at home for the day wearing only one sock and reading whatever.
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Blimey. Like I say, I'm shocked.
I get 23 days per year (3 of which I have to take between christmas and new year). This rises to 24 after 4 years. This is considered a bit tight - most people I know get better than this.
There are also 8 days of publc holidays (one of which is in 3 days time - wahey!!!).
I hear in Germany they get more than this (I live in the UK by the way).
Very interesting in itself. Thanks very much!
Jamie Thomson
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson -
Been in my job for 2 years and I get 25 days plus all the public holidays-working flexi means that if I clock up 7 hours over I can take a day off anytime I like
Mark
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The people in this business have a tendancy to reinvent themselves periodically, much like the technology we work with. People in any industry have life issues that force them into change. I believe we all agree that change, whether it be a new technology or a new life goal, is good as long as it's managed.
I believe a manager needs to decide on what they can and cannot control in terms of turnover. These two lists will differ depending on your environment but every manager should know and feel comfortable with them. Money may or may not be under your control; training may or may not be. Opening a vinyard or having a baby are most likely not under your control. Once these lists are well defined, then, when faced with change, a manager can proceed with confidence. Either they can attempt to retain the employee, or they can't. That's the easy part.
The hard part is knowing your employee well enough as a person that you can see a change coming far enough in advance that it can be managed. Perhaps the wine maker's supervisor should have upped the priority of cross training whe she noticed the "Wine Connoisseur" magazines replacing the "The SQL Server Standard" on his desk. The boss who was never available and apparently too busy to to check his in box should probably review his own work habits for potential improvement, or maybe discuss his workload with his supervisor.
Staff retention is not entirely unlike change management. It's just that you're working with a person, not a system as Andy Leonard so aptly put it. And people are not necessarilly logical.
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I hear in Germany they get more than this (I like in the UK by the way).
See my second(?!?) reply in this thread
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
God I'd hate to live in Canada.
A country that defines the great outdoors, and you have to spend most of it indoors doing the impossible for the ungrateful. Bummer.
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Hey Frank, no wonder you've had time to post 5098 times. You're never at work
Jamie Thomson
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson -
Or he posts while he's at work.
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Maybe they give 'posting' time in Europe as well for benefits.
And as for the slight against Canada. The cold up here lets our servers run faster, a natural overclocking. Further, we get our error pages and code in two languages. I really like the States, personally, only place where business can be done and innovation really occurs, everywhere else is mired in ancient convention and culture.
But, us canadians did win a war against you back in 1812, and once we buy Cuba and rename it Canuba, we will have you americans surrounded.
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Ya.. we'll do that as soon as we clear our national debt
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Debt is a good thing... be $50 in overdraft and a bank will escort you off the premises, owe $50 Trillion and the banks will offer you more and then buy lunch.
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