Justification of raise

[KENAT]

Sorry for the ambiguous title but I set this account up with the work email and internet usage is monitored (to some extent).

Does anyone have any tips/suggestions for ‘justifying your position’?

Hypothetically say they are looking at adjusting resource and you want to give your manager some bullet points to help justify yours, or perhaps you just want a raise. I know there have been some posts on the raise issue but what about the other?

One obvious thing is a list of recent tasks and a list of anticipated future tasks.

However, it seems that it would be as if not more useful to try and give some metrics.

In an ideal world this would be how much money you’ve made and/or saved the company this year but these figures may be difficult to estimate for my position.

What I am thinking is listing things like, number of ECOs prepared, number of drawings created/released, number of drawings checked since I took on the checking function, number of other documents released/revised (various reports, internal standards etc).

Any ideas/suggestions?


KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[MikeHalloran]

A checker's value resides in his ability to prevent foulups from reaching the customer. The volume of documents he must process in order to do that may not be a good measure.

If everything is going great (yeah, right) and you're just as good as the checker who preceded you, I can't think of a thing to measure.

If you're making a difference (either way), it should be reflected, without a lot of phase offset, in warranty and service costs, and in production rates, unplanned overtime, scrap and rework costs. Surely your outfit tracks a few of those.









Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MintJulep]

The old "value of avoided costs" question.

A good checker increases drafting cost with redraws, hopefully offsetting scrap, rework and delays in the shop.

Can you come up with some "If I hadn't caught this we would of had to scrap this really expensive part" examples?

 

[KENAT]

Thanks Mike & Mint,

I can certainly come up with examples where I've found mistakes/tolerance clashes although I've only been doing it for 3 months so not everything is far enough thru to get hard numbers. Plus I've no idea how I'd get those numbers from our ERP system, I suspect the data's in there but SAP is not my friend!

I maybe wasn't clear enough in my first post, especially as many posters know I've recently been handed the checking role.

I've got to come up with everything of note that I've done this year so the first 6 months were more Design/Engineering.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[MikeHalloran]

That's where you refer to your accumulated chron files, where you wrote down briefly what you did each day, and who said what to whom, etc.

Start now.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[GregLocock]

Another approach would be, how would you describe the past year on your resume?



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[PSE]

I generally have a couple of listings/logs. One entails specifically assigned tasks/projects from my boss. The other is a "catch all" in which I record all the other stuff that pops up which requires my intervention.

When review time comes, I have a document that allows me to show how I addressed or accomplished the requirements given to me by my boss and another that shows all the "hidden" things that happen day to day. If I can capture monentary values (good or ill), I will do so.

In my opinion, "justifying your position" is irrelevant as it is the responsibility of management. The fact that they already have the position titled and filled means that it is (currently) justified. Simply provide documentation on how you fulfill the requirements and expectations as given to you or known by you.

If my tone about justifying your position is off base I apologize. I have been in a couple of instances where I have encountered management's tactic of "Justify my position" or to answer "Why should we keep you employed?" My response is simple. If you percieve that I provide value or continue to provide value to the organization, than I am worth keeping. It has worked well so far.

Regards,

 

[TheBlacksmith]

Your supervisor has a number of employees and his own career to look after, he'd be hard pressed to keep track of all your accomplishments. You need to keep a daily or weekly log of your activites. At my work, part of our job is writing the draft of our performance review, I jsut keep a draft open and add major accomplishments as I go, then edit and turn it in. I am amazed how many times my modest claims have been emphasized by my suprvisor.

 

[KENAT]

Thanks all,

I have to provide a 'status' report regularly (weekly up till June, then Bi weekly for a while and recently whenever my boss remembers to ask for it (I had been preparing it in advance but then I got off track with his schedule so now I wait till he asks for it) so have been keeping track of progress.

Plus I too had to write my draft performance review back in the spring so he's already got that.

In my opinion he should be able to look at these and get a good idea, or what was the point, but he wants a page of bullet points so he can justify us to his boss.

I also have a log although the last few months I haven't been as good with it as I should.

Greg, how I'd put it on a resume, good idea. Not quite what he asked for but I think maybe I could give it a little resume flavour.

PSE, I don't disagree, but given the possibility of layoffs at some point in the not too distant future I figure I'll go the extra mile this time.

Thanks all for some ideas and largely confirming what I'd started.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Ashereng]

Kenat,

Here is another view point.

I have never been able to "justify" my position/pay. What it comes down to (and I have been off-shored too!) is what someone else is willing to accept for doing what you are doing.

So, if you say you saved your company $X Million, done all these great things, you should get $X salary, and Mr. B comes along, and says to your boss he is willing to work for 75% of $X ... get the idea? In some cases, there are engineers in India, China, name your favourite country here, that are willing to do pretty much the same work for about 20-30% of the going rate in the US (allowing for regional differences of course).

I usually ask for a rate that I think I can get, if not here, than elsewhere (where I am willing to work of course). This way, it is more in line with the supply-demand thing.

Not to say what you do is important or not, but, in my experience, pay is usually not related to importance but to availability.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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