 Lebhar Friedman, Inc. Interview Surveys
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Job Title: Production Coordinator
Location: New York, NY
Submitted on: 25-Apr-05
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| Production Coordinator |
My salary was the high 30's to begin with, and an additional 4% more after my
review (16 months after the date of hire). They state that they use market
research to ensure that their salaries are competitive and in-line with other
positions and companies within the trade publishing industry. In comparing
salaries with jobs advertised on online boards, my compensation consistently came
up short, yet any attempts to discuss this with HR or my department head was met
with a firm, "it's fair" and "that's the market value of your position".
The review process for this mid-size company was incorporated approximately
three years ago, upon the entrance of a new head of HR whose background was
working for large-size companies. The review process is highly regulated, and is
begun at the beginning of the calendar year, culminating in a possible raise
approximately 12 months later.
This translates to an excruciating process that requires laying out "goals" for
the year as dreamed up by you, and approved by your supervisor. Then one must
follow up with checks and balances throughout the year that encapsulates your
mid-year review. This in and of itself isn't so bad, except that the company
isn't growing, and so the potential for growth and therefore far-reaching goals
aren't particularly extensive, so it becomes an exercise in figuring out how to
puff-up what you do so the HR department can justify your earning an additional
4% of your salary, which is the cap.
The reason such a system seems utterly a waste of time is I've seen how
confusing these forms are for people at the company, the amount of time that
filling them out and discussing them takes and the difficulty employees have in
reinventing their non-changing position, every year. When departments are ten
people maximum, it seems like LF is purposefully avoiding human-to-human
discussion and conversation in favor of modern methods of 'standardizing
evaluation'. The CEO and president of the company has two secretaries, one of
whom refused to fill out the paperwork as it was a "waste of time" stating that
she would forgo her "raise" to "save herself the aggravation" of the "senseless
paperwork".
There is a year-end bonus if the company is profitable, which is divided up
based upon the band that you fall into. The smaller the band number, the higher
your salary, bonus and position within the comapny likely are. This bonus is paid
in mid-March and is taxed at 50%. For the year 2004 my publication alone was 7
million dollars above budgeted earnings. This amounted to a bonus of $250 for me.
The fact that it was distributed after the end of the first fiscal quarter meant
that employees were left empty-handed come holiday time. However, there is a very
fancy holiday luncheon, where one sits at a fancy hotel listening to executives'
speeches without benefit of alchohol (ok, a half-filled glass of champagne for
the toast), music or entertainment (well, there is the talent show that the
employees are goaded to participate in, but most decline the embarrassment).
The company offers two weeks vacation, seven sick days, three personal days and
nine company paid holidays in the calendar year. Those who have been with the
company receive three weeks vacation pay, ten years equal four weeks, and so on
in five-year increments. Those who have been with the company for a long time are
able to work on flex-time.
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