Ok, all you guys have great examples of what NOT to do to encourage and motivate IT staff. It is kind of scary that the things you listed seem so prevalent but then that unfortunately seems to be how corporate (in my case - America) works!
Consider this as well - A number of years ago to be a salaried employee one had to fit certain criteria, specifically you had to be a manager or supervisor and this was determined by the number of employees you managed or supervised. Many IT staffers were made salaried employees because of the long work hours they ultimately would put in for support and maintenance on backend systems. Paying these techs an hourly wage might get expensive! (Let’s not consider fair compensation for conscientious, thoughtful and diligent work) Well, at least according to the then labor codes for the state of California this was illegal. So what did California corporations do? Well they talked to their lobbyist buddies in the capital and they helped influence legislation that changed those labor codes specific to salaried employee classification and guess what? (Really big surprise) IT staff are now classified as professionals (like doctors but without the prestige and pay scale) and are therefore exempt from not fitting the classification of ‘Salaried’ employee. (Like how they called it an exemption rather than to be concise and straightforward) So now it is perfectly legal in the state of California for IT staff to be salaried. (Maintenance window Wednesday night at 11pm, upgrade mail servers this weekend, support call after hours or fault monitor notification on my pager at 3:00 in the morning at a remote facility. You know all of these don’t you guys!)
A good supervisor or director will protect his team and reward them as much as possible. I remember paying out of my own pocket when executive management refused to pay for things like IT training, small gift certificates, team lunches for IT staff, etc.. These were small rewards and acknowledgements for staff members working long hours and unpaid overtime, but then that is precisely the reason there seem to be so many of the posts above (what NOT to do’s) because companies don’t get it! They generally cannot value the job that IT does and only see that department as a cost center, a drain on the organization rather than necessary to maintain the systems that they absolutely must rely upon to even do business. (by the way, I resigned from that company since they also saw fit to lie through their teeth not only to IT but the rest of the employees, breaking promises with contracts and the like…)
It doesn’t have to be expensive (just cost effective) but I digress, another topic another time!
All you IT guys out there, just know this, someone, somewhere appreciates what you do – it just probably isn’t your immediate boss!
Sb
