Salary and Bonus Issue

[northportlady]

Hello all:
I am hoping you can help me.  I work for a very prominent owner and CEO.  I have over 20 years of experience with top level CEO's in the NYC area.  I currently earn around $100K.  May seem like a lot but when I took this job I had 3 offers for 100K.  I took this current job because I was told by them I will have a quality of life by getting out on time.  I do not get overtime.   I started 3 years ago, and so far I have never left at 5, actually I dont think I have left before 8 pm.  I usually clock in around 20 hours per week overtime.  I estimate that over three years I have given them between $120,000 - $180,000 of free time or 40-60K a year.  So as you can see the salary I get is greatly watered down by my hours.  I also dont take lunch. Here is the dilema.

My boss gives me zero for Christmas which is unusual since i always got a Christmas bonus or gift even if out of the CEO's pocket and usually for the personal work, which this job has plenty of..  He also gives zero regular bonus telling me that assistants dont get bonuses.  However, I am only one of 5 direct reports to  him and the other 4 (not assistants) get between 50-200K in bonus plus up to $1,000 car allowance and food allowance).  The things I do are also unique in that I crossover and do many of the things that these higher priced people were hired to do, but because they have trouble doing it he only trusts me to do it.  The man is also very tempermental.  He is hard to manage and extremely hard to work for.  He had gone through a few assistants before I got here and he now tells people "he found gold". However, this "gold" again got no bonus, no overtime and no Christmas gift.  Last year at my review I asked for school to be paid as yes, I am doing that too. Again, in my other offers they all had full tuition reimbursement as well as a bonus and overtime, but again, i took this for the supposed quality of life improvement.  I also made it clear at the initial interview I wanted to go back to school and it was met with a tepid Ok that shouldnt be an issue.  well last year I told them the cost and they only agreed to pay half.  I wasn't happy but took it.

my review is coming up.  I want to ask for the other half of the tuition. The reason is I get absolutely no form of bonus and I would view this as at least some form.   I also dont know how or if I should ask for the bonus, if i should say  anything about not getting a xmas gift, or if i should mention the OT and ask for at least some of it to be paid.  I dont even know how to broach the subject.  Any help you give would be appreciated. thanks!

[misslynn]

I think the first question to ask is, would your quality of life be better or worse had you accepted one of the other three offers?  

Getting technical, is your position considered hourly or salary?  If it is hourly and you are not getting overtime, then that's a lawsuit (I'm from California, we're all sue-happy here).  If it's salary, then those extra hours are considered part of your pay and are not "free time" that you are giving. Legally, I don't think you can get into a situation where only some of your overtime is paid. It's all or nothing.

As for the Christmas bonus, do any other assistants in the company receive a bonus?  I don't get one with my company.  But my boss and I have a great working relationship so he and his wife buy me a Christmas gift (and I also buy a gift for them).  I would never ask for a gift, he does that on his own.

It sounds like you're in a tough situation.  Your boss clearly appreciates your value if he describes you as "gold" (although I prefer diamonds, lol) but doesn't know how to translate that into a manner which would make your working situation a positive one.  Do you have an HR manager that you could possibly talk to about it?

[Jackie G]

Replying from a UK perspective:

1.  You should take lunch
2.  My personal view is if you're clocking up that much overtime so regularly then there is too much work for one person and you need an assistant
3.  I would approach the paying for the other half of tuition by pointing out that your entire package doesn't include overtime or any other financial benefit, and them paying for that would be viewed by you as a financial benefit (though does this affect your tax?)
4.  Christmas - maybe your boss is simply a non-Christmas person and doesn't 'do' gifts.
5.  If people on a lower or similar level to you have a bonus and food/car allowance built into their package, you need to do some serious negotiating to build up your own package!

Don't mention the Christmas gift at your review, but do cover the issue of overtime/bonus/allowances that others are getting.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

[kellinm]

I have a question - are you non-exempt, as most assistants are meaning, hourly including overtime & not eligible for a bonus or are you exempt, meaning not eligible for overtime but eligible for a bonus?  I'm a NYC exec assistant and I understand - a going annual wage is ~120k and bonus or overtime.  You need to be up front and professional and get an honest answer.  Don't be taken advantage of, know your legal rights and don't be afraid to start looking elsewhere if your manager isn't willing to budge.  Find out what your company offers as far as tuition reimbursement, educate yourself on this and it will give you more leverage when you sit down with him. Once you start compromising yourself, it becomes a slippery slope.